The Major and the Minor
Director: Billy Wilder
Year Released: 1942
Rating: 2.0
Since she's short on money, Ginger Rogers has to pose as a 12-year-old to get on a train to go back home in this coy, one-note Billy Wilder film - Ray Milland, who she stumbles upon trying to evade the authorities, is drawn to her. Bizarre sexual undertones aside - the boys (and men) are all drawn to Rogers-as-pre-teen; it's "safe" because "we" know she's not really a child, so their advances are not deemed "improper" - it's really just a harmless pre-War movie with some cute in-jokes (the Veronica Lake hair, the Garbo reference) and running gags (the cadets using military history to steal a kiss). Not much in terms of long-lasting effects, and mostly implausible all around - not only is it unlikely that Rogers can pass for that young (everyone but the men in the military figure it out ... maybe all that time away from women made them dense), but the abrupt ending is a real let down.
