Arms and the Man was George Bernard Shaw's first commercially successful play. It is a comedy about idealized love versus true love. A young Serbian woman idealizes her war-hero fiance and thinks the Swiss soldier who begs her to hide him a terrible coward. After the war she reverses her opinions, though the tangle of relationships must be resolved before her ex-soldier can conclude the last of everyone's problems with Swiss exactitude.The play premiered to an enthusiastic reception. Only one man booed Shaw at the end, to which Shaw replied: "My dear fellow, I quite agree with you, but what are we two against so many?"
Adaptations (2)
Arms and the Man has been adapted into 2 films, from 1933 to 1958.
Arms and the Man1933 · film · 85 min · dir. Cecil Lewis · IMDb ↗IMDb6.5Which soldier will the naive, impressionable Raina choose to love - the unromantic, hard-nosed, tough Bluntschli, or the handsome, dashing, reckless (and extremely stupid) Sergius?
Arms and the Man1958 · film · 96 min · dir. Franz Peter Wirth · IMDb ↗IMDb6.21865: Swiss captain Bluntschli fights as mercenary in the war between Bulgaria and Serbia. When his group's attacked by a few Bulgarian troopers, he learns that he's got the wrong ammunition for his cannon and has to flee. His flight leads him right into the bedroom of his enemy's fiancée.
