Major and the Minor (1942)

"A fine entertainment and proof that Billy Wilder had what it took from the very start of his career.  Channel 4 Film
"A sparkling and effervescing piece of farce-comedy.  Variety

Editor's Note One wonders how greatly Billy Wilder's farce about an older man's unusual interest in a teenaged girl would have to be altered to be remade now. It stars Ginger Rogers as Susan Applegate, a young woman forced to disguise herself as a 12-year-old girl to get a half-price ticket while traveling from New York to her home town. En route, she meets Major Kirby (Ray Milland), an instructor at a military school who is unable to figure out the mysterious quality which draws him to the seemingly innocent young girl. Flooding on the tracks on the outskirts of town brings Kirby's fiancee Pamela (Rita Johnson) to the train, where she finds that he allowed Susan to spend the night in the lower berth of his compartment. To prove his story he brings her back to the school, until she can be taken home, housing her with Pamela. Although her younger sister Lucy (Diana Lynn) sees through the ruse, her hatred for her sister creates a bond with Susan. The light romantic comedy, Wilder's first American film as a director, features his favorite motif of disguise and deception. Despite the genre, the scenes between Roges and wised-up child prodigy Diana Lynn are the best in the film.

	Ginger Rogers
	Ray Milland
	Rita Johnson
	Robert Benchley
	Arthur Hornblow, Jr. - Producer
	Billy Wilder - Screenplay
	Billy Wilder - Director
	Charles Brackett - Screenplay
	Doane Harrison - Editor
	Edward Childs Carpenter - Based On Play By
	Hans Dreier - Art Director
	Leo Tover - Cinematographer
	Robert Emmett Dolan - Original Music By
	Roland Anderson - Art Director

Entertainment Weekly
"...[Rogers] adds tang to the fluffy farce....A delight..." -- Rating: A- 05/29/1998 p.82

Classic Film Guide 8 of 10
A very amusing Billy Wilder directed comedy featuring Ginger Rogers and Ray Milland. Rogers plays a woman working in the big city, who's tired of all the "come ons" from all the men, particularly the married ones. So, with the money she saved for just this purpose, she goes to the train station to buy a ticket home. When the train fare is more than it was, she must pose as a child in order to afford the ticket home. On her journey, she meets soldier instructor Milland, whom the woman in her is attracted to, but unfortunately he's engaged & thinks she's a teenager. However, she ends up being a guest of his fiancee (Rita Johnson), rooming with Johnson's younger sister Diana Lynn (whose performance is great!). And, she's a hit with all the cadets at the academy where Milland teaches; they literally fall over one other to date and dance with her. When Rogers learns that Johnson has conspired against letting Milland realize his dream of joining the fight overseas, she decides to disrupt things. Can it possibly lead to Milland and Rogers getting together?