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THE MAJOR AND THE MINOR
Yes, the story requires a major suspension of disbelief, but it's pretty easy to do with the 1942 classic The Major and the Minor, thanks to the genius of Billy Wilder behind the camera and a sparkling performance from Ginger Rogers in front of it.
Rogers plays Susan Applegate, a former New York career gal who decides to return to her hometown of Stevenson, Iowa but learns the train fare to her hometown has increased and the only way she can get home is to disguise herself as a 12 year old girl, allowing her to buy a half fare ticket. Unfortunately, the conductors on the train catch on almost immediately and Susan ends up hiding in the sleeping car of a charming military man named Major Phillip Kirby (Ray Milland) who actually believes Susan is 12 years old.
Things get sticky when Phillip's flighty fiancee, Pamela (Rita Johnson) meets him and Susan at the train and after getting a phony story from Susan about why she's travelling alone, Kirby and Pamela decide that Susan should return to the military school where Kirby is on staff and Pamela's father (Edward Fielding) is Kirby's commanding officer.
This film features an intelligent and witty screenplay by Wilder and Charles Brackett, which offers consistent laughs that are motivated by the characters' actions, thereby requiring complete attention from the viewer. Of course, the other thing required from the viewer here is complete suspension of disbelief, because we are asked to accept a pretty bizarre premise here. This grown woman pretends to be 12 years old and a couple of conductors on the train catch on almost immediately but our leading man never suspects for a second that this 12 year old girl is a grown woman, not to mention his fiancee and a whole military academy of cadets, yet Pamela's younger sister, Lucy (Diana Lynn) not only catches on to Susan immediately but becomes her closest ally in pulling off this charade?
If you can just roll with all this, this movie is a comic joy, thanks to Wilder's energetic direction and the effervescent performance from Ginger Rogers, which not only requires her to pretend to be 12 years old, but requires her to take on a couple of other personas as well and Rogers nails it all, making a totally improbable story completely winning and hard to resist. I was also impressed with Ray Milland, who I only have exposure to as a dramatic actor, showing a winning touch with light comedy that was an unexpected pleasure. Johnson and Lynn also impressed as the villain and the sidekick in this goofy and often hard to believe story. The film was re-imagined in 1955 as You're Never Too Young with Jerry Lewis in Ginger's role, but I would be hard pressed to believe that film is anywhere near as entertaining as this one...a triumph for Billy Wilder and Ginger Rogers.
Yes, the story requires a major suspension of disbelief, but it's pretty easy to do with the 1942 classic The Major and the Minor, thanks to the genius of Billy Wilder behind the camera and a sparkling performance from Ginger Rogers in front of it.
Rogers plays Susan Applegate, a former New York career gal who decides to return to her hometown of Stevenson, Iowa but learns the train fare to her hometown has increased and the only way she can get home is to disguise herself as a 12 year old girl, allowing her to buy a half fare ticket. Unfortunately, the conductors on the train catch on almost immediately and Susan ends up hiding in the sleeping car of a charming military man named Major Phillip Kirby (Ray Milland) who actually believes Susan is 12 years old.
Things get sticky when Phillip's flighty fiancee, Pamela (Rita Johnson) meets him and Susan at the train and after getting a phony story from Susan about why she's travelling alone, Kirby and Pamela decide that Susan should return to the military school where Kirby is on staff and Pamela's father (Edward Fielding) is Kirby's commanding officer.
This film features an intelligent and witty screenplay by Wilder and Charles Brackett, which offers consistent laughs that are motivated by the characters' actions, thereby requiring complete attention from the viewer. Of course, the other thing required from the viewer here is complete suspension of disbelief, because we are asked to accept a pretty bizarre premise here. This grown woman pretends to be 12 years old and a couple of conductors on the train catch on almost immediately but our leading man never suspects for a second that this 12 year old girl is a grown woman, not to mention his fiancee and a whole military academy of cadets, yet Pamela's younger sister, Lucy (Diana Lynn) not only catches on to Susan immediately but becomes her closest ally in pulling off this charade?
If you can just roll with all this, this movie is a comic joy, thanks to Wilder's energetic direction and the effervescent performance from Ginger Rogers, which not only requires her to pretend to be 12 years old, but requires her to take on a couple of other personas as well and Rogers nails it all, making a totally improbable story completely winning and hard to resist. I was also impressed with Ray Milland, who I only have exposure to as a dramatic actor, showing a winning touch with light comedy that was an unexpected pleasure. Johnson and Lynn also impressed as the villain and the sidekick in this goofy and often hard to believe story. The film was re-imagined in 1955 as You're Never Too Young with Jerry Lewis in Ginger's role, but I would be hard pressed to believe that film is anywhere near as entertaining as this one...a triumph for Billy Wilder and Ginger Rogers.