{"id":19131,"date":"2019-09-22T18:47:24","date_gmt":"2019-09-23T01:47:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=19131"},"modified":"2019-09-22T18:47:24","modified_gmt":"2019-09-23T01:47:24","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-the-major-and-the-minor-1942","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=19131","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! Blu-ray Review: THE MAJOR AND THE MINOR (1942)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This \u201cSpecial Edition\u201d Blu-ray release from Arrow Academy\nwill be available for purchase (www.arrowvideo.com \u2013\nwww.facebook.com\/ArrowVideo\/) on September 24th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Over recent months, there have been some great Blu-rays of\nfilms from writer\/director Billy Wilder. Criterion put out a snazzy high\ndefinition upgrade of Some Like It Hot<\/em> (1959) and Arrow Academy did a\nphenomenal job presenting Wilder\u2019s Best Picture winner The Apartment<\/em>\n(1960) on Blu-ray. Now, Arrow have dug even deeper into the filmmaker\u2019s\ncatalog, releasing his very first Hollywood feature. The Major and the Minor<\/em>\nmight not stand as his best work, but it is a very breezy and entertaining\ncomedy that is not only superior to most features of its era, but displays\nWilder\u2019s wit and technical skill. The disc arrives with some great extras that\nreally add even more depth and analysis to themes hinted at over the running\ntime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Susan Applegate (Ginger Rogers) is a woman trying to survive\nin New York City. Unfortunately, it hasn\u2019t gone well, with the working girl\nmoving from job to job to make ends meet. Even worse, she finds herself\npropositioned and accosted by every male client in the city she encounters.\nFrustrated, Susan decides to leave the Big Apple and return home to Iowa, only\nto discover that train fares have been raised. With no other options, she dons\nan elaborate disguise to get a half-price ticket\u2026 that of a 12-year-old girl\nknown as Sue-Sue. Once onboard, the lead befriends the kind, polite and, well,\nsomewhat visually impaired Major Philip Kirby (Ray Milland). Susan finds\nherself having to keep up the elaborate act through various scenarios in order\nto get herself home.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It\u2019s admittedly a hard concept to sell, given that all the best costuming and make-up in the world can\u2019t really make Rogers look 12. At least the movie seems aware of this as well, deriving humor from the absurdity of the situation. Most adults give her double-takes and confused looks which add some laughs, and a few do explicitly challenge her identity. When they find out, especially in tight spaces like the train, there\u2019s plenty of entertaining physical comedy as Susan tries to avoid getting caught. These gags continue once Sue-Sue and the major are witnessed by his angry fianc\u00e9 Pamela (Rita Johnson). Naturally, Susan feels obligated to help sort out the confusion by maintain the rouse at visiting a military academy. As time passes, she begins to develop an affection for Kirby and attempts to help him fulfill his dream of being approved for active military service in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There\u2019s plenty of sharp and witty banter throughout between\nall the characters, including Susan and Major Kirby. He\u2019s earnest, sweet,\nprincipled and trusting\u2026 the very opposite of every man the lead has\nencountered.  And the change in locale\nhelps add new comic shenanigans as a group of cadets get in Sue-Sue\u2019s way and try\nto lock lips with her. While they\u2019re more an irritant than a threat, it does\nadd even more complications to her stay (as well as suggest the next generation\nof men exhibiting the very same bad behavior of their fathers). The movie also earns\nsome laughs during a big dance party where Susan must avoid one of her last\ncustomers who is the parent of an attendee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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While a romantic comedy about a simmering romance between a\nman and a woman pretending to be a child certainly wouldn\u2019t play today, the\ncharming cast and innocent tone manage to minimize the more unsavory\nundercurrents of the scenario. In fact, much of its success is due directly to the\nwork of Ginger Rogers. This is her movie through and through as she showcases\nan incredible amount of comedic skill. The performer charms as an adult who verbally\nminces her grabby customers, then effectively acts like a child\u2026 and at one\npoint is even forced into having to impersonate her own elderly mother. Rogers\nwork in creating multiple personas onscreen is reminiscent of greats like Alec\nGuinness and Peter Sellers. She is simply excellent in the feature. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This might have been a fun but forgettable experience, but\nWilder manages to add a great deal of subtext to the goofy story. While comic\nscenes are played with a light touch, the director reminds viewers of the war overseas.\nFianc\u00e9 Pamela is portrayed as an isolationist who doesn\u2019t care about the rise\nof fascism or what happens to those in Europe. Instead, she is more concerned\nwith her social standing and keeping her future husband at home. The conflict\nalso adds a sense of poignancy to Susan\u2019s growing feelings for Major Kirby. She\nknows that his bride isn\u2019t a good person, but also realizes that her plan\u2019s success\nmay result in her love interest leaving home and potentially losing his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Director and co-writer Wilder had helmed one film in France\nin the mid-1930s before emigrating to the US and working exclusively as a\nscreenwriter for close to a decade. Despite the lengthy break, his Hollywood\ndebut is very accomplished on a technical level. There\u2019s absolutely nothing\nabout the lengthy and well-choreographed master shots and clever editing that\ndoesn\u2019t look like the work of a skilled master; all the jokes are perfectly timed.\nAs such, it doesn\u2019t look like the work of a Hollywood studio newbie filmmaker.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The picture quality is very strong thanks to Arrow Academy\u2019s\nnew presentation, transferred from the original film elements. There\u2019s a bit of\ngrain present in a shot or two, but most of the footage looks noticeably sharp\nand crisp. Those wanting to know more about Wilder and the early days of his\nHollywood career will also get some intriguing information. There\u2019s a very\ninformative film scholar commentary track which examines this romantic comedy\u2019s\nunusual elements and details many recurring themes which the director would\nreuse in later pictures. This is an excellent track. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There\u2019s also a newly filmed video appreciation with another\ncritic who offers some stories about Wilder and his own take on the film\u2019s\ndeeper meanings. This includes the filmmaker escaping Europe during the rise of\nthe Nazi party. He makes his opinion about WWII clear and uses his storytelling\nabilities to help Americans understand the seriousness of the situation (they\nwouldn\u2019t have to wait long, as Pearl Harbor was bombed after the film was\nshot).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bonuses also reveal that the filmmaker had returned to\ndirecting because he had been frustrated with other filmmakers and stars taking\nhis screenplays and butchering them. He is quoted as saying, \u201cI set out to make\nan entertaining, commercial picture I wouldn\u2019t be ashamed of, so my first\npicture as a director wouldn\u2019t be my last.\u201d Even though both critics on the\ndisc point out that there are some odd and less-than-commercial elements to the\nstory, Wilder was ultimately right. The movie was a critical and commercial\nhit, no doubt encouraging him to go on and make some of the greatest titles in\nHollywood history (Double Indemnity<\/em>, Sunset Blvd.<\/em>, Ace in the\nHole<\/em>, Sabrina<\/em>, The Seven Year Itch<\/em>, Witness for the\nProsecution<\/em> in addition to those listed at the top of this article).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Additionally, the Blu-ray includes a 60-minute radio play of\nthe film performed by stars Ginger Rogers and Ray Milland. Additionally,\nthere\u2019s another lengthy audio interview with Milland as he talks about his\nentire career and many of his experiences on set. An image galley as well as a\ntrailer is also included. In the end, viewers will learn a lot about the film\nand the filmmaker behind it.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you enjoy the work of Billy Wilder, there\u2019s plenty to\nenjoy here and Arrow Academy have done an excellent job with the Blu-ray, which\nnot only gives the film a visual upgrade but adds informative trivia that add\nanother level of appreciation. For fans of classic cinema, The Major and the\nMinor<\/em> is most certainly recommended.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This \u201cSpecial Edition\u201d Blu-ray release from Arrow Academy will be available for purchase (www.arrowvideo.com \u2013 www.facebook.com\/ArrowVideo\/) on September 24th. Over recent months, there have been some great Blu-rays of films from writer\/director Billy Wilder. Criterion put out a snazzy high definition upgrade of Some Like It Hot (1959) and Arrow Academy did a phenomenal job […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":19133,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[76,1834,1835,2775,3073,4483,4660,8329,12946,16697,16941,21491],"class_list":["post-19131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-76","tag-arrow-academy","tag-arrow-films","tag-billy-wilder","tag-blu-ray-review","tag-classic","tag-comedy","tag-ginger-rogers","tag-major-and-the-minor-blu-ray","tag-ray-milland","tag-review","tag-the-major-and-the-minor"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19131\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}