Uniformes et jupons courts

Ray Milland plays the army Major (Philip Kirby) who meets Ginger Rogers (Susan Applegate) on a train as she is pretending to be a 12-year-old. That's quite a stretch for an actress who is age thirty, but director Billy Wilder found that audiences will accept such credibility testers in a comedy. And Ginger shows some versatility in the role.

"Little" Susan is on her way back home to Iowa after rejecting the values of the big city. Along the way, her trip is sidetracked as are her intentions. Diana Lynn (Lucy Hill)is a teen who sees through Susan's ruse and sets her on another path. This is Miss Lynn's second credited role and her talent is readily apparent. (Six years prior, at age 10, she was a child prodigy as a pianist; she was also a recording artist.)

Miss Rogers earned her Academy Award for "Kitty Foyle" only two years earlier. Ray Milland's famous portrayal in "The Lost Weekend", which will win him the Oscar, will follow in only three years. Both of them were well cast in "The Major and The Minor". The script, written in part by Billy Wilder, is full of humor and heart. About the filming, Ginger Rogers wrote, "I believe I had more fun playing this role than any other, with one exception...'Kitty Foyle'." She reported that Billy made things easy and respected her as an actress. The joy the actors experienced making the film may have contributed to the final product's enjoyability. Ginger also enjoyed her mother being on set, playing the mother of her character in a small role.

This American directorial debut by Billy Wilder shows the promise that his later films would deliver on.

This Billy Wilder film stars Ginger Rogers as a grown thirty year old woman passing herself off as a twelve year old kid, PLEASE!! The storyline is unbelievable BUT....made very funny and watchable by its stars.

Susan is a woman who is fed up with New York. She left her little hometown to find happiness in the big city, only to find it filled with disappointment. So she decides to head back home on the train. When she gets there she finds that she is short funds. Not knowing what to do she gets a hairbrained idea that she could simply pass herself off as a kid to pay less!! When the conductor on the train gets wise, she runs and hides in the compartment of Ray Milland. Ginger makes little SuSu(Susan) so cute and delightful and Milland is funny and sweet as the(obviously blind) military school teacher.

It sounds stupid but it isn't really. Give it a chance and you'll love it. ENJOY!!

I have to admit, when I first read the synopsis for this movie, it sounded so ridiculous I almost didn't watch it. I want to urge others not to make this mistake. This is one terrific film. Ginger Rogers is absolutely perfect. No, she doesn't really LOOK like she is 12, but who cares, it's a comedy. There are many humorous moments, and Rogers' character is quite well developed. Ray Milland also comes off well. This is one of Billy Wilder's finest efforts!

Ginger Rogers plays Susan Applegate who wants to leave New York behind and go back home to Iowa.But she doesn't have the railway fare so she disguises herself as a 12 year old girl to ride half fare.At the train she meets Major Philip Kirby (Ray Milland) who takes "the little girl" with him to military school.There little Susu is surrounded by all the boys because she is a knock out for a 12 year old. The Major and the Minor from 1942 is a Billy Wilder comedy with some funny moments.It's not his best work but it is much better than many comedies nowadays.Ginger Rogers is brilliant in the lead.She makes a great kid even though she doesn't seem like a kid.In 1955 they made a remake for this called You're Never Too Young with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, which was also funny.This movie is a must see for every Billy Wilder fan because this was his American debut.

Paramount Pictures finally gave Billy Wilder a chance to direct his own material with The Major And The Minor. This rather interesting comedy depends a great deal not on just Wilder's writing and directing, but on the considerable comedy talents of Ginger Rogers to put it over. It's not easy for an actress in the full flower of maturity to pretend to be an adolescent, but Rogers was certainly up to the task.

Rogers plays Susan Applegate from Stevenson, Iowa who has had just about enough of New York. After trying several professions and making no headway in any of them, she's ready to cash it in and go back to Stevenson, maybe marry a local guy there. But cash is the problem when she comes up just short of the fare from New York to Stevenson. What to do, but pretend she's a child and travel for half fare.

A rather interesting set of circumstances has her stopping off as a guest of Ray Milland whom she has 'fooled' into thinking she is only an early teen. That doesn't sit well with Milland's fiancée Rita Johnson, a real ice princess who suspects something's up. And Johnson's sister Diana Lynn knows there is, but doesn't care. Milland is an instructor at a boy's military school and the sight of his female guest sends the cadets into hormonal overdrive. Milland's feeling a bit antsy around Rogers though he can't quite figure out why.

Wilder showed that even in his first film he was a master at slipping stuff by the censors. In a recent biography of Billy Wilder that was more important on this film than most because the subject matter was weaving dangerously close to pedophilia.

Paramount was disposed to let Wilder have this project especially after another of their writers a couple of years earlier showed he had the directing chops. But Preston Sturges was given a tryout in the studio's B picture unit with The Great McGinty. The Major And The Minor was an A film all the way because Wilder was able to sell Ginger Rogers on the story. He also brought the film only slightly over budget which definitely insured he would have a directorial career at Paramount.

Robert Benchley is also in the film as a lecherous old goat who is the one who finally sends Rogers packing to Iowa after putting the moves on her while she is trying the profession of masseuse. Wouldn't you know it, he turns out to be the father of a chip off the old block in the person of Cadet Frankie Thomas. Benchley's scenes in the film are precious indeed.

The Major And The Minor still holds up very well after over 60 years, no doubt because of the risqué subject matter. It's a film definitely guaranteed to make you a fan of the talents of its director and its stars.