The Major and the Minor Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

The Major and the Minor Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 24, 2019

Billy Wilder had one of the more legendary careers in Hollywood, with any number of classic films to his credit as writer-director (Double Indemnity, The Lost Weekend, Sunset Boulevard, Ace in the Hole, Stalag 17, The Seven Year Itch, Witness for the Prosecution, Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, One, Two, Three). Perhaps because there is such a glut of incredibly well remembered titles in his filmography, Wilder’s very first at bat as both writer and director in Hollywood sometimes tends to get lost in the shuffle. The Major and the Minor is in some ways a rather odd film, which may also account for its relative lack of recognition, and there’s every possibility that in the hypersensitive world of the (post?) #metoo era, a film with an adult woman pretending to be a child and being shepherded by a concerned older male might be completely unthinkable. But that underlying plot element is just one of at least a couple of potentially “objectionable” aspects to The Major and the Minor, as commentator Adrian Martin points out before the film ever really gets underway, with an introductory text card that refers to Native Americans as Indians (as was the custom back in the 1940s), while making a kind of pejorative comment that considering what happened to New York, very few of them (whatever you choose to call them) are sorry they sold it to the Dutch (see screenshot 19).

There’s a rather curious aspect to many Wilder films, where the slightest hint of smarminess is often couched in an otherwise innocent, indeed at times even naive feeling, overall context. That’s once again the case with The Major and the Minor, which begins (after that introductory text card) with a vignette involving a working girl named Susan Kathleen Applegate (Ginger Rogers) who, the film kind of slyly implies, might be a “working woman” in the world’s oldest profession. The truth of course turns out to be considerably more mundane, but it ends in disaster nonetheless, leaving Susan more or less stranded without enough train fare to get her back to Iowa. At least as an adult, that is, which is when Susan hatches the bright idea of passing herself off as a 12 year old so that she can only pay a child’s fare and get to her destination.

Susan actually succeeds in her gambit, for a little while at least, but a bit of adult behavior (in the form of smoking cigarettes) starts to unravel her subterfuge, which is when she seeks refuge in the car of Major Philip Kirby (Ray Milland). It’s here that Wilder and his writing partner Charles Brackett are almost weirdly able to offer a pretty lurid subtext, with a fair amount of sexual charge, but all within the confines of a seemingly innocuous situation built upon a ridiculous lie. Suffice it to say that Philip is completely fooled by Susan’s “act”, and decides to be her protector until he can return her to her family.

Wilder and Brackett seem to be aiming for farce territory at times, especially once the film segues back to the military academy where Philip is stationed, and Susan has to deal with Philip’s haughty fiancée Pamela (Rita Johnson), and Pamela’s little sister Lucy (Diana Lynn), who is supposedly around the same age as Susan. A subplot involving Philip’s wish to pursue active duty underlies some of this section of the film, but there are arguably one two many “star-crossed” couples in this assemblage (Susan attracts the eye of a cadet, among other complications), and things never really build to the levels of hilarity Wilder (writing with I.A.L. Diamond) would enjoy with another, later film built around a character (or characters) pretending to be someone else, Some Like It Hot.

This is on the whole a genial enough enterprise, though, even if it’s completely impossible to believe Ginger Rogers as a pre-teen girl. Wilder has a firm hand as director in his first big Hollywood film, though, and the story glides by effortlessly enough, even though it’s barely credible a lot of the time.

The Major and the Minor Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Major and the Minor is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Academy with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. Arrow's insert booklet has the following information on the restoration:

The Major and the Minor has been exclusively restored by Arrow Films and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1, with mono audio.

The original 35mm camera negative was scanned in 2K resolution on an Arriscan at NBC Universal. The film was graded and restored at Dragon DI, Wales. Picture grading was completed on a Pablo Rio system and restoration was completed using a combination of PFClean and Revival software.

The audio was remastered from the restored combined mono track by NBC Universal.

This is generally a very pleasing looking transfer, one which preserves a healthy grain field while also offering solid contrast and nicely delineated gray scale. There are a fair number of smallish scratches and other blemishes that intrude at times (look at Ray Milland's face in screenshot 5 for an example of the kinds of scratches that show up from time to time). The film does have a rather large number of optical dissolves, where clarity understandably diminishes, but there are other sequences separate from any dissolves or other opticals where clarity is somewhat compromised and there's considerably more damage, as in the first meeting between Rogers and Milland (see screenshot 9). On the whole, though, this transfer boasts nice detail levels and no problems in terms of image stability. My score is 4.25.

The Major and the Minor Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Major and the Minor features a DTS-HD Master Audio Mono mix that is obviously the product of its time, but which still sounds nicely full bodied most of the time. The film has some nice music, including songs that later became standards, and those elements along with dialogue are rendered with good fidelity and no issues with regard to damage.

The Major and the Minor Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary by Adrian Martin


• Half Fare Please! (1080p; 30:44) is a video appreciation of the film by Neil Sinyard.


• Ray Milland Interview (29:51) is an audio supplement dating from 1975.


• Radio Play (59:38) is another audio supplement of a 1943 broadcast version of the film featuring Ginger Rogers and Ray Milland.


• Image Gallery (1080p; 4:10)


• Original Trailer (1080p; 2:13)

As usual, Arrow has also provided a nicely appointed insert booklet.

The Major and the Minor Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Regular readers of my reviews may know about my long involvement trying to sort out the truth behind the Frances Farmer story. Interestingly, long ago on her Indianapolis television show, Frances evidently stated that she was a top contender for the feminine lead in The Major and the Minor, which would have reunited her with Ray Milland, her co-star from one of Paramount's first Technicolor epics, 1937's Ebb Tide. I'm frankly not sure if Frances' tendency toward ultra seriousness would have benefited this often lightweight film, and while Rogers is distinctly unbelievable as a 12 year old, she brings a definite spunk and energy to her performance, with Milland offering decent, if arguably just slightly bland, support. The film is filled with some wonderful character turns by the likes of Robert Benchley, and it's well written and kind of amazingly chaste given its almost unseemly subtext. While probably not the outright classic that many of Wilder's other films are, The Major and the Minor is still undeniably enjoyable, and at least wryly amusing if rarely laugh out loud hilarious. Arrow has provided a release with solid technical merits and some appealing supplements. Recommended.