The Major and the Minor

[mahlerii]

I am happy to announce that Billy Wilder's first movie as director is being shown starting at 10:30 Central Time. I think today was its debut release on DVD also. Ginger Rogers masquerades as a little girl to pay less for a train ticket and ends up in a millitary academy. I read a good article about it in Ed Sikov's biography "On Sunset Boulevard". Apparently they had some trouble with Ginger Rogers' "womanly assets" while filming, and there was some discomfort that she had to endure. It seems to be a flip flop of "Some Like It Hot", although Ginger is not masquerading as a man. Wilder co-wrote the script with Charles Brackett.

[Mr. Arkadin]

The Major and The Minor is one of my favorite comedies. I'm glad it's finally arrived on DVD.

[Ollie]

I saw this, for the first time ever, a month or so ago and this was probably the film that smacked me alongside the head (it's a VERY tiny target, evidently) and made me say GINGER ROGERS over and over. At least until Wifey's very sharp elbow makes its point, "Mitty, wake up!"

She'd never let me finish my time machine, I'm almost certain of it.

Especially when she discovered I was trying to set the Go-To Date as 1939 Hollywood.

She doesn't mind me being in love with all of those actresses of that era, but she seems intent on refusing to let me go back. She, oddly enough, offers another destination for me. Hmmm... "and for eternity!" Jeepers...

Anyone know where I can get SPF-10,000?

[Ayres]

One of my all-time faves. I think the most delightful scene is the one in which Ginger impersonates Ray Milland's girlfriend (Rita Johnson) on the telephone, using to the hilt Rita's favorite word, "beguiling," and generally convincing the person on the other end of the line. Throughout all this, she's side-splittingly funny. Earlier in the same scene, she even does a bit of tap-dancing.

[Sue Sue Applegate]

As a young teenager, I was thoroughly riveted with the way one person could play a child, a woman, and a mother with such verve and style.

And the adept manner that Milland dealt with the young 'Su-Su' kept it from crossing the line on acceptable demeanor when dealing with an "admitted" adolescent.

The sequined dress Ginger wore in that last scene at the military school was so dreamy! I couldn't wait to grow up and wear something that glamorous.

Her imitation of "Pamela" was a hoot and a half, and as previously stated, ever so "beguiling."

But the funniest moment for me was also the moment that made Miss Applegate giggle onscreen as all the young ladies at Miss Shackleford's school were revealed to have a Veronica Lake "do."

As one cadet so callously put it, "We use 'em for women."