The Major and the Minor (1942)
I’m not sure you could make a picture like The Major and the Minor (1942) today, and given the Lolita undertones of the story that might be a good thing, although writer and director Billy Wilder couldn’t have predicted the arrival of Nabokov’s controversial novel more than a decade after this movie first appeared. Wilder, of course, wasn’t afraid to present his audiences with absurd and/or risqué situations, and this screwball comedy has both in spades. It’s a wacky, fast-paced directorial debut for the iconic Hollywood writer, whose collaborations with Charles Brackett had already proven their creative talent with screenplays for Midnight (1939), Ninotchka (1939), and Ball of Fire (1941). Fresh from her Oscar-winning performance in Kitty Foyle (1940), Ginger Rogers proves once again that she can carry a picture without dancing or Fred Astaire, and this is really her movie, although we get enjoyable supporting performances from Ray Milland, Diana Lynn, and even Rogers’ real-life mother, Lela Rogers, here making her only onscreen acting appearance.
Ginger Rogers stars as Susan Applegate, a young woman tired of being perpetually propositioned at her jobs in New York City and resigned to taking the train back to her small hometown. Unfortunately, her emergency reserve is not enough to cover an adult fare, so she disguises herself as a rather mature pre-teen and calls herself “Su-Su.” When gallant Major Philip Kirby (Ray Milland) comes to her aid, Susan is immediately attracted to him and wants to tell him the truth, but complications arise to prevent her revelation. Philip takes Susan to his home at a military academy, where she meets his manipulative fiancée, Pamela (Rita Johnson), her quick-witted sister, Lucy (Diana Lynn), and a whole campus of teenage Romeos in training.
Obviously, a grown man being attracted to a twelve-year-old girl is a grossly inappropriate situation, but the audience always knows that Susan is really an adult, and Philip never suggests or attempts anything to undermine our sense of him as a good guy. In fact, he’s the only male of any age to behave himself when left alone with Susan, which is why she likes him in the first place. Having fled New York because of all the adult men who acted like heels, Susan discovers at the academy that they pick up their bad habits early, with every boy there trying his best to court and kiss her. One of them (Frankie Thomas) even turns out to be the son of Albert Osborne (Robert Benchley), the lecherous New Yorker whose attempts convinced Susan to leave the city. In a world full of such swine, it’s little wonder that Susan likes the decorous Philip, but of course Philip believes her to be absolutely out of bounds. The audience is never fooled for a minute, especially with Rogers being in her early 30s and playing a woman in her early 20s who is trying to disguise herself as a girl on the verge of her teens, but it’s fun to watch Rogers attempt the deception with her impression of girlish behavior and her improbable stories about being from “Swedish stock.”
As much as I like Ray Milland, for me the other MVP in this picture is actual teenager Diana Lynn, who plays Lucy with all the wit and sharp commentary of a Pre-Code Ginger Rogers. Lucy is supposed to be a “real” twelve-year-old girl, although Lynn was actually 16 at the time and just starting her film career after gaining fame as a child prodigy pianist. Lucy, a student of biology and the smartest person Susan meets throughout the entire movie, immediately sees through the Su-Su disguise but becomes an ally in Susan’s ruse. With her scientific and worldly knowledge, Lucy serves as a foil to the childish Su-Su idea of adolescent girlhood and the handsy stupidity of the boys, but she also provides Susan with a much-needed friend. Lucy already knows that her older sister is a rotten egg, but Susan’s arrival gives Lucy an opportunity to undermine Pamela’s intention to make Philip miserable for life. Once they’re together, they remind me of the pals Rogers and Una Merkel play in 42nd Street (1933), with a snappy camaraderie that quickly deepens into real friendship. Susan might bring the screwy aspect of screwball comedy into play with her hastily assumed disguise, but Lucy brings the fiendish, chaotic intelligence needed to vanquish rivals and ensure a happy ending. It’s a crucial role in the picture, and I can’t imagine any young actress handling it better than Lynn does.
Billy Wilder would turn to darker fare for his next several films, but he reunited with Ray Milland to make The Lost Weekend (1945), which earned Oscars for both Milland and Wilder and won Best Picture. Ginger Rogers can, of course, be found in her numerous pictures with Fred Astaire, but for more of her other comedies try Bachelor Mother (1939) and Monkey Business (1952). She and Milland reunite for Lady in the Dark (1944), while Rita Johnson also appears with Milland in The Big Clock (1948). Diana Lynn plays a female version of Ray Milland’s character in the gender-swapped 1995 remake, You’re Never Too Young, in which Jerry Lewis is the adult who poses as a child. As a teen, however, Lynn has another memorable role in The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (1943).
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— Jennifer Garlen for Classic Movie Hub
Jennifer Garlen pens our monthly Silver Screen Standards column. You can read all of Jennifer’s Silver Screen Standards articles here.
Jennifer is a former college professor with a PhD in English Literature and a lifelong obsession with film. She writes about classic movies at her blog, Virtual Virago, and presents classic film programs for lifetime learning groups and retirement communities. She’s the author of Beyond Casablanca: 100 Classic Movies Worth Watching and its sequel, Beyond Casablanca II: 101 Classic Movies Worth Watching, and she is also the co-editor of two books about the works of Jim Henson.
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