The Major and the Minor

In the not so typical romantic comedy, The Major and the Minor, the story begins as a New York working girl, Susan Applegate (Ginger Rogers), becomes fed up with the way her life has turned out in the big city. In light of this, she decides to move back to her home town in Iowa. However, Susan does not have enough money to buy an adult ticket, so she decides to pose as a 12-year-old girl, in order to pay the child fare. By some wonderful twist of fate, Susan is actually quite believable as a minor, and is allowed to board the train.

Along her trip home she meets Major Phillip Kirby (Ray Milland). The Major, being the kind gentleman he is, looks out for "12-year-old," "Su-Su" along the voyage. The Major has no idea that he is actually preoccupied with a grown woman. Major Kirby's fiancee, Pamela Hill (Rita Johnson), sees the Major with Susan, and automatically thinks that the Major has been having an affair. Failing to find the best words to communicate exactly who this "young girl" is, Major Kirby is forced to take Susan with him to the military school to prove she is a 12-year-old girl.

Soon, Pamela's younger sister, Lucy (Diana Lynn), catches onto the fact that there are several things about this "child" that seem just a little too grown up (like her smoking habit and adult mannerisms). The Major finds out through the course of events that this "minor" is actually a full grown woman. As you may expect, after loads of conflict surrounding the matter, Major Kirby and Susan eventually fall in love.

Although the plot sounds rather unbelievable, it all flows together nicely and appears very realistic. Billy Wilder's directional talent is exceptional in this film, as it is in every film he directed. Wilder took this film and made it flow together perfectly. However, it's no secret that the acting performances in this film carried it through. All the regard in the world goes to the wonderful Ginger Rogers, for her hilarious and spot on portrayal of a 12-year-old. Although you can pretty much notice that she is not the age that she claims to be, watching her scramble through is quite entertaining. Ray Milland also deserves just as much credit for his performance as well, having to treat the 31-year-old Ginger Rogers as though she is only 12.