The Theater: Old Play In Manhattan, Oct. 15, 1951

Saint Joan (by George Bernard Shaw;* produced by the Theatre Guild) is often hailed as Shaw's greatest play. Very likely none is greater; yet few are more uneven. Broadway's first Saint Joan in 15 years can hardly help suffering from the mechanical flaws of the play, and never quite measures up to the best of it.

Joan's story has been better told elsewhere. The point with Shaw is that he was telling more than a story. One of the play's great virtues is that Shaw looked beyond the pathos and heroism of its events to the magnitude of its issues. He saw...