Main Cast: Ginger Rogers, Ray Milland, Diana Lynn, Robert Benchley, Rita Johnson
Release Year: 1942
Country: US
Run Time: 100 minutes
Plot
A woman's attempt to disguise herself as an underage girl mushrooms into a series of humorous deceptions in this romantic comedy. Ginger Rogers stars as Susan Applegate, a young woman living in New York who, nearly broke and sick of the city, decides to head home to Iowa. Lacking the money for a regular ticket, she pretends to be an unusually tall 11-year old girl named Sue-Sue in order to pay half-price. The train conductors catch on to her scheme, however, forcing her to take refuge in the car of Major Philip Kirby (Ray Milland). The kindly major virtually adopts the "lost little girl," and circumstances force Susan to play along and accompany him to the local military academy. There the fun begins, as she struggles to deal with the unwelcome romantic attentions of countless young cadets and her own increasing attraction to the engaged Major Kirby. The Major and the Minor was the first Hollywood feature helmed by the legendary Billy Wilder. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
Review
Billy Wilder jokes about slipping his American directorial debut, The Major and the Minor, past censors in 1942. Seven years before Nabokov wrote Lolita, Wilder and co-screenwriter Charles Brackett penned a script based on repressed pedophilia -- a grown man takes an undeniable interest in what he deems to be a 12- year-old girl -- and watched it become a mammoth success. The Major and the Minor was one of the year's most popular films, breaking box-office records in both Hollywood and Los Angeles. As a director, Wilder proved that he could render a taboo subject crowd-pleasing, not simply with comic irreverence, but with insight and compassion. The Major and the Minor presages an essential human aspect of what would later be called the "Lolita story": the rejuvenation a young girl inspires in her much older male counterpart. Masquerading as young Sue-Sue, Ginger Rogers unwittingly enlivens Ray Milland's Major Kirby. Wilder and his actors approach this change innocently and naturally; it is appealing and sympathetic. Moreover, Sue-Sue does not only inspire Kirby's rebirth as a man, but also as a soldier. She is a key player in his much-desired return to active military service, a fact that marks the film's sincere acknowledgement of wartime preoccupations. The Major and the Minor, despite its tawdry premise, is a precocious film with a big heart. ~ Aubry Anne D'Arminio, All Movie Guide
Edward Fielding - Col. Hill; Norma Varden - Mrs. Osborne; Frankie Thomas - Cadet Osborne; Raymond Roe - Cadet Wigton; Charles Smith - Cadet Korner; Larry Nunn - Cadet Babcock; Billy Dawson - Cadet Miller; Lela E. Rogers - Mrs. Applegate; Aldrich Bowker - Rev. Doyle; Boyd Irwin - Maj. Griscom; Byron Shores - Cap. Durand; Richard Fiske - Will Duffy; Gretl Dupont - Mrs. Shackleford; George Anderson - Man with Esquire Magazine; Stanley Andrews - First Conductor; Marie Blake - Bertha; Dick Chandlee - Cadet; Bill Clauson; Ethel Clayton - Bit Woman; Billy Cook; Dell Henderson - Doorman; Carlotta Jelm - Little Girl in Railroad Station; Milt Kibbee - Station Agent; Tom McGuire - News Vendor; Freddie Mercer - Little Boy in Railroad Station; William Newell - Ticket Agent; Emory Parnell - Conductor; Edward Peil Sr. - Stationmaster; Archie Twitchell - Sergeant; Guy Wilkerson - Farmer Truck Driver; Will Wright - First Ticket Agent; Mary Field - Mother in Railroad Station; Dick Jones; Tom Dugan - Deadbeat; Alice Keating - Nurse; Gloria Williams - Bit Woman; John Bogden; Ken Lundy - Elevator Boy; David McKim - Cadet; Donald Wilmot - Cadet; Billy Ray - Cadet Summerville
Susan Kathleen "Su-Su" Applegate (Ginger Rogers) is a scalp massager for the Revigorous System who quits her job after another client makes a play for her. This proves to be the last straw for Applegate, she declares that she will return home to Stevenson, Iowa with the fare which she has saved since her arrival in New York. Upon arriving at th train station she learns fare rates have changed and she can only afford a half-fare which is only available for children under 12. Susan becomes Su-Su and after finding a man in the train station to portray her father she boards the train.
On the train, the conductor becomes suspicious of Su-Su; this is only intensified when he finds her smoking. She runs off and find her way to the compartment of Major Phillip Kirby (Ray Milland). She introduces her as Su-Su and continues her infantilied portrayal of a 11-year-old. He agrees to let her stay in his cabin until he reaches his base. In the morning his fiancee', Pamela Hill (Rita Johnson), arrives and finding Su-Su storms out accusing him of cheating on her. Pamela tells her father who is Kirby's commanding officer which prompts Kirby to have Su-Su come to the military school where he is stationed. Lucy (Diana Lynn), Pamela's younger sister, finds out that Su-Su is no child but agrees to keep her secret. Lucy dislikes Pamela and is trying to prevent her sister's sabotage of Major Kirby, to do this she enlists the help of Su-Su. Su-Su pretending to be Pamela calls a friend in Washington to ask her to aid in having Kirby reinstated to active service. Pamela finds Su-Su out after running into her former scalp massage client. She threatens to reveal the truth unless Susan leaves and never reveals her true identity.
Susan returns home but continues to fantasize about Major Kirby. This behavior prompts Will Duffy, the young man she'd agreed to marry, to storm off in a huff. Major Kirby calls and this prompts Susan to reveal this incident to her mother who is confused by the story. Susan decides to disguise herself as Su-Su's mother and meet Major Kirby. After learning that he and Pamela had not wed, she rushes to meet him at the train station as Susan. The two board the train to the West Coast, planning to stop in Nevada to be wed, before Kirby goes abroad.
