Watch The Major and the Minor For Free

Too much of everything

A Major Disappointment

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Yes. Indeed. I have certainly seen some pretty stupid Hollywood movies in my days - But, believe me - When it comes to stepping over that line into pure preposterous asininity - I'd say that 1942's "The Major and the Minor" really takes first prize in my books.If you can just imagine for a minute a 30-year-old/full-figured woman trying to pass herself off as being only 11 (Yes! That's right! ELEVEN!!) - Then - I think you get a very clear picture of this film's completely contrived plot that (get this) eventually works its brain-dead story into a frickin' romance. (Spare me!)And, worst of all - This movie makes the males out to be the stupidest ones of all - With Major Philip Kirby being the biggest dumby of the lot - Accepting "Sue Sue" (in make-up and revealing cleavage) as a sweet, little tyke of only 11. (Ho-hum!)Anyway - Due to this whole aspect of age deception by the Susan Applegate character - "The Major and the Minor" clearly told me that it was giving an approving nod towards pedophilia... Tsk. Tsk.

I agree with many that THE MAJOR AND THE MINOR is a marvelous light comedy with a few serious undertones, but I doubt that pedophilia has much to do with it. Co-author Charles Brackett's diaries (recently published) give not a hint that he and Billy Wilder had any such subtext in mind. Wilder climbed onto the Lolita bandwagon years after TMATM had been released, but so far as I know prior to Nabokov's notorious success he hadn't said a word about any such thing (Billy also said that Ray Milland had absolutely no sense of humor, which seems unlikely given Milland's success in EASY LIVING as well as here, not to mention his fine handling of the black humor in DIAL M FOR MURDER and in other films). So far as I know, the only hint of such a subtext occurs at the end of the 'light bulb' scene, and I'll try to give an alternate explanation of that in due course.It seems to me that the serious subjects underlining TMATM are the thoughts that people believe what they want to believe and that there is a subconscious part of the mind that can realize things that don't quite break into consciousness. The first is a commonplace, the second an idea that goes back at least to Homer. The main example of the commonplace comes when the college committee lets the Major off the hook for having SuZu in his train compartment overnight. It seems clear to me that they immediately accept Ginger Rogers as a 12 year old child because they want to avoid scandal, they want to exonerate the popular Major, Pamela wants to believe that the whole incident was innocent, etc. The vicar even calls it "a wonderful solution" or words to that effect. What adult has really been fooled by her charade other than the Major with his poor eyesight and infinite gullibility, except when they'd wished to be fooled?Similarly, a lot of people accept consciously what they're told (that this is a 12 year old girl) while subconsciously noticing that something isn't right. Lucy tells SuZu that she isn't 12 because she acts like she's 6. Notice that Susan Applegate never acts like she's 6 again after realizing that she'd been overdoing it. The quips become very mature from that point on ("Are you sure you're not mulling over yesterday's lesson?"). There's no real reason to believe that the cadets were ever told SuZu's assumed age, and they sense that they've lucked into a lot more than a youthful companion! I'd say that that's what has begun to penetrate the Major's consciousness in the Light Bulb Scene, that this really is "a beautiful young lady" rather than a precocious child. Notice SuZu's struggles to keep a straight face while the Major is fumbling over the facts of life. A part of the Major has noticed, too (and we should all notice how subtly brilliant this performance by Ginger Rogers is).Be that as it may, I'd say that the ending of the movie would play better if we assume that the Major realizes the truth before coming to Iowa, having been told by Lucy (after Pamela's marriage to someone else, why would Lucy keep up the pretense?). Then his immediate acceptance of the adult Susan at the end makes sense. However, Milland really doesn't play it that way. Oh well.I'll close by emphasizing that the movie is very funny, Ginger Rogers is superb in it (her use of various voices is terrific) and Milland is excellent, as are all the supporting actors. The switchboard scene is as good as they get. Wilder was off to an excellent start.

The set-up is a comic spin on the romantic longings of older men pining for little girls; and for young boys longing for older women. It's amazing that some of this made it past the censors.The scene where Miss Rogers' character is passionately kissed by an underage boy; and the earlier scene where Mr. Milland's character comforts her in bed on the train and how he begins to admit he is developing feelings for what he believes to be an 11 year old girl, is depraved. The film subverts wholesome values with a story that is heavy on the Freud mumbo jumbo and too clever and too ridiculous for its own good.Again how did some of this material make it past the censors? Is it because the elements are presented in the guise of a comedy, and that comedies are not supposed to be taken seriously?

And I mean may. If 2 minutes after the introduction of Diana Lynn's character (Lucy Hill), you do not know how this film is going to end, then you have not been paying attention.If you are one of these people who see the humor in pedophilia, --- and who doesn't, huh? --- then you are going to love this movie. And I am not talking about some phony outrage over a 17-year-old dating his or her 22-year-old teacher (actually quite common in the years following WWII). No siree!!! I am talking about honest-to-goodness, pre-pubescent pedophilia. You're gonna die laughing!Our story starts with our heroine, Susan Applegate (Ginger Rogers) deciding that she has had enough of the decadence of the Big Apple and wants to go home to Iowa. Unfortunately, she had not allowed for a price increase in the train ticket, and so she pretends to be 11 years old in order to get her fare at half price. As in typical leftist Hollywood style. You know, stealing from a big, bad, evil corporation like The Railroad is perfectly acceptable. Note to those of like-minded convoluted thinking: Being a thief is like being pregnant. Either you are, or you are not. There really is no gray area. But I digress.Having boarded the train, our heroine is subjected to the constant harassment of the evil agents of The Railroad (conductors) who are not buying her ruse. And so she ducks into the stateroom of our hero, Major Philip Kirby (Ray Milland) in order to hide out. He buys her story about being 11 years old and agrees to help her out. He even convinces his fiancé, Lucy (Lynn), that he is just helping out some poor little girl who is traveling alone. And when the train is halted by flooded tracks, our heroine is put up by Lucy's family at the Military Academy where our hero teaches.And here is where you aficionados of this type of fare are gonna be rolling on the floor. Throughout the course of the next hour or so, this grown man, a Major in the US Army, lusts after what he thinks is an 11-year-old girl. Sometimes subtle, sometimes not so subtle. Oh, that Billy Wilder. Doesn't he just know how to massage the funny bone?And let's not forget our heroine. Just to make sure that our hero doesn't get all the laughs, she, a grown woman, plays on the sexual frustrations of a bunch of 14-year-old male military cadets. I mean, you just gotta split a gut, dontcha? Of course, in 21st century America, especially if the genders were reversed, the police would be setting up a sting for such a person. But again, I digress.And finally, how does our little saga end? Well, as I said, if you didn't see this coming you haven't been watching the same films as the rest of us. Let's just say that our hero strolls off into the sunset knowing that he can fantasize about sleeping with an 11-year-old for the rest of his life.Some fun, huh? I mean does anyone with half a brain think that this movie could even be made today? I cannot even imagine this film airing on broadcast TV without Congress putting someone in jail. Absolutely unbelievable.And so you say, "Lighten up, Francis! It's just a movie." Yeah, right. And the Inquisition was just a phase. Consider that when Nabokov's Lolita came to film, Lolita had to be at least a biological adult which is why Sue Lyon was chosen. And even then, all of the characters were shown to be deeply flawed, to be scorned for their unacceptable behavior. (No one would even show the 1997 remake until Showtime finally picked it up.) Imagine the Farrelly brothers making a comedy version of Lolita, and you get a feel for The Major and the Minor. Poor taste, indeed.Even if you dismiss the overtones of sexual perversion in this film, consider doing this to two of the most gifted, Oscar-winning actors of yesteryear. Give the beautiful Ginger Rogers a jaundiced face, ugly clothes, a god-awful hairstyle, an annoying name (Su-Su) and an irritating falsetto voice. And then take the sophisticated Ray Milland and turn him into a bumbling, perverted idiot. Sound like something that you would want to watch for an hour and half? Me neither.As the reviewer of another film put it, I am going to give this movie a rating of 2 because I don't want to admit that I watched a film rated 1. Of course, in my case, that means a rating of 2 out of a 1000. If you ever want to watch a Ginger Rogers film again, without thinking about this garbage, then avoid this piece of trash like the plague. You have been warned.