Rent The Major and the Minor (1942)
3.6 of 5 from 73 ratings
1h 36min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Working girl Susan Applegate (Ginger Rogers) has had enough of' life in New York and decides to head home to Iowa. The trouble is she hasn't saved enough money for the trip home, so she disguises herself as a 12 year old to ride half fare in this romantic comedy.
- Actors:
- Ginger Rogers, Ray Milland, Rita Johnson, Robert Benchley, Diana Lynn, Edward Fielding, Frankie Thomas, Raymond Roe, Charles Smith, Larry Nunn, Billy Dawson, Lela E. Rogers, Aldrich Bowker, Boyd Irwin, Byron Shores, Richard Fiske, Norma Varden, Gretl Dupont, George Anderson, Stanley Andrews
- Directors:
- Billy Wilder
- Producers:
- Arthur Hornblow Jr
- Writers:
- Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, Edward Childs Carpenter, Fanny Kilbourne
- Studio:
- Universal Pictures
- Genres:
- Classics, Comedy, Romance
- Collections:
- 10 Films to Watch if You Like: The Bishop's Wife, All the Twos: 1902-62, Films & TV by topic, Films to Watch If You Like..., Fred and Ginger: Duets and Solos, A Brief History of Film..., The Instant Expert's Guide, The Instant Expert's Guide to: Billy Wilder
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 23/09/2019
- Run Time:
- 100 minutes
- Languages:
- English LPCM Mono
- Subtitles:
- English Hard of Hearing
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Full Screen 1.37:1
- Colour:
- B & W
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- New audio commentary by film scholar Adrian Martin
- Half Fare Please!, a newly filmed video appreciation by film critic Neil Sinyard
- Archival interview with Ray Milland
- Rare hour-long radio adaptation from 1943 starring Ginger Rogers and Ray Milland
- Image Gallery
- Original Trailer
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Reviews (2) of The Major and the Minor
Supposedly a romantic comedy - The Major and the Minor review by LJ
What the hell is this creepy romcom and why did anyone think they should make it? It brushes up against different paedophiliac themes. An adult women dresses as a little girl to get a cheap fair on a train. An adult man mistakes her for the child she is pretending to be but becomes romantically attracted to her. Meanwhile she is forced to attend a school full of actual children (all boys), who start sexually assaulting her (and she is victim blamed for this), but since she is actually an adult, she is in turn assaulting them, and she does deliberately flirt with underage boys to get what she wants. It's just horrifying.
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Roleplay Comedy. - The Major and the Minor review by Steve
Despite the post-millennial popularity of age swap comedies which usually squeeze laughs out of inappropriate romantic scenarios, it's a solid bet that this screwball sitcom isn't going to get remade by modern day Hollywood. It stars Ginger Rogers as a small town girl who has seen enough of the toxic male of the big bad city and decides to go home.
She hasn't enough money for a train ticket and so dresses as a 12 year old girl to qualify for half fare. Then falls in love with an army officer (Ray Milland) with bad eyesight. When taken back to his cadet school, the adult imposter becomes the target of all the schoolboy lotharios.
Though arguably the premise lacks judgement, it is delivered in good faith. There's none of Billy Wilder's trademark cynicism. Indeed, the Wilder/Brackett screenplay is critical of the sexual harassment it assumes is the female burden. There is a plenty of comic craft with some big laughs, and satirical points made too. Plus the pro-war propaganda.
A 31 year old Ginger Rogers could more easily pass for middle aged than pre-adolescent... but it would be creepy otherwise. Ray Milland is likably befuddled in a role quite obviously written for Cary Grant. Diana Lynn is fun as a teenage brainiac. Wilder's debut was a big hit, though maybe it hasn't lasted as well as his many other classics.
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