The Major and the Minor

Susan cannot make it in New York and wants to go home. She does not have enough for the train fare. She finds a solution: she buys a child's ticket. She puts up her hair, changes her clothes and boards the train as a girl of twelve. The conductors grow suspicious and while getting away from them she slips into a compartment. Inside is Major Kirby, an instructor at a military academy. He takes her for a child and puts her under his protection. Then he takes her back to the school with him. Billy Wilder directs and wrote the screenplay with Charles Brackett. Ginger Rogers plays Susan and Ray Milland plays Kirby. It is Wilder's first work as a director in America; he had been writing only, and began directing because he was unhappy with how his scripts were being filmed. The premise is uncomfortable by present measure and that is the main argument about the film; the narrative builds it as comedy and none of the characters knows the others' real position. The sharp sense of dialogue in Wilder's later films is already established; the lines are fast and double edged. Ginger Rogers was among the highest paid actors at the studio and the part depends entirely on her timing. The military academy section is the best thing in it; the young cadets and the order of the school are the source of the comedy. Who it is for: viewers who like classic Hollywood comedy and Billy Wilder. Who it is not for: the premise is troubling seen from now, the humour is of its time, and the ending resolves quickly.