Saturday, April 21, 2007

Movie review - "The Major and the Minor" (1942) ***

So funny and yet so wrong. There are some films which you can make today which you couldn't in old Hollywood (eg sex, violence) but there are some films which you could make in old Hollywood which you could today (eg pro British Empire films, this one). 

It is funny but there is no doubt that Ray Milland's face lights up a bit too much at the prospect of sharing a cabin with 12 year old Ginger Rogers. And at the end when he finds out Ginger is actually old Ginger - he was definitely more excited about the younger Ginger. 

The other main flaw of the film is Ginger's motivation to masquerade as a girl - to get home -is a bit thin; it lacks the urgency of say Some Like It Hot. Some very funny moments, though, with the smooth flow of structure that was the hallmark of Wilder-Brackett scripts; ditto the cynicism and gallery of impressive support characters. Few Hollywood films have so explored lechery amongst the 12 year old set - watch the way the cadets at the military school all squabble over her... all this years before tween mania set in Hollywood.

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