New Blu-ray debut for that Billy Wilder delight, THE MAJOR AND THE MINOR

How this film buff and Billy Wilder enthusiast managed to miss THE MAJOR AND THE MINOR -- one of the noted director/ writer's most ebullient and charming films -- remains a mystery to me (did I not realize it was a Wilder movie?), but thanks to Arrow Academy's new Blu-ray transfer of the film, I have now caught up. And what a delightful surprise -- unusual, too, considering that it comes via Mr. Wilder (shown below) -- this made-in-1942 movie turns out to be.

Folk around the advanced age of TrustMovies probably best remember this noted auteur for films that seemed singularly cynical, if often darkly (sometimes downright nastily) funny: from Ace in the Hole and Sunset Boulevard through The Apartment, Kiss Me Stupid, and The Fortune Cookie. His most famous and popular work may be Some Like It Hot, but that dark cynicism adheres to most everything in his oeuvre. Except maybe to The Major and the Minor.

Mind you, this little darling of a movie is perfectly aware of how the world works. Note how the very "connected" fiancee of the one of the leading characters (played by Ray Milland, below) does everything in her power to keep her man from serving active duty during World War II. Not particularly patriotic!

The other lead character (Ginger Rogers, below, in one of the best of her many fine performances) scams just about everybody she meets in the course of the movie. Yet there is such a genuine sweetness -- honesty, too -- at the heart of this film (its co-writer was Charles Brackett) that you'll find it difficult to escape its singular, enticing hold.

I suspect that it's Wilder's wry wit and unending skepticism pressed upon what would seem to be an awfully "cute" tale that consistently keeps the film from turning saccharine. The result is a real and highly original classic comedy of disguise and disinformation (not unlike Some Like It Hot in this regard, but one hell of a lot sweeter).

The story begins with a much put-upon Ms Rogers giving up her try at living and working in New York City and instead returning to her midwest home. Because the train fare has risen since she arrived in the city, however, she doesn't have enough money to buy a ticket. How she circumvents this becomes one of the cleverest, long-running comedic situations in movie history (The moment at which Rogers reappears, after entering the ladies room, is hilarious and magical.)

Her disguise leads her into the life of military man Milland, his fiance (an excellent Rita Johnson, above, left, with the very funny Robert Benchley) and a bevy of smitten military cadets (below).

How this comedy of manners, military and otherwise, resolves proves both surprising and surprisingly smart -- encompassing an unexpected array of emotions and ideas in its final several minutes,

while allowing both Rogers and Milland to demonstrates their rich versatility. What fine actors these two were! Milland in particular is so wonderfully loose and easy here, you may find yourself amazed of what he is capable.

In a wonderful supporting cast, the stand-out is probably young Diana Lynn (below), who absolutely nails her character, the worldly-wise younger sister of that nasty fiancee. The terrifically-written scenes between Lynn and Rogers sparkle like crazy.

From Arrow Video, distributed here in the USA via MVD Visual/MVD Entertainment Group, and running 100 minutes, the Blu-ray -- in a wonderful restoration from the original negativer that makes the film seem new all over again -- hits the street this coming Tuesday, September 24, for purchase and (I hope) rental. The plentiful Bonus Features include a must-see-and-hear, newly filmed appreciation of the movie by critic Neil Sinyard. What Mr. Sinyard has to say -- about so many things -- is very much worth hearing. And he says it all so well.

Arrow's Blu-ray debut of Billy Wilder's THE APARTMENT proves a multi-faceted delight

TrustMovies had not seen THE APARTMENT -- the multi-Oscar-winning and now classic Billy Wilder movie -- since 1960, the year of its initial release. He was 19 at the time and far too untutored in life to begin to appreciate the film's unusual mix of compassion and cynicism that marks it, even today (hell, especially today), as something rather special. To say that this movie "holds up" is putting it far too mildly. In our current times of me2 and the off-the-charts political correctness that makes an intelligent person want to stop the world and get off, the film is like a slap in the face that wakes you and sets you back on course.

That said, its cynicism -- about male prerogative and the role of women in the workplace back in mid 20th Century America -- still startles.

Mr. Wilder (shown at left), who directed and co-wrote the film with his long-time collaborator, I.A.L. Diamond, pulls no punches in his depiction of the ways in which the male corporate executive treats the female as chattel/accessory -- and worse, how totally accepted all this is by both sexes.

It's the latter, however, that will probably raise viewers' pulses and redden their faces. Come on now, was it ever really like this? Yes, dears, it was.
And kind of still is. For the most wealthy and powerful.

That Wilder was able to make to make both a comedy and a love story from material that ought to creep us out was just part of his skill set. His and Diamond's attention to detail and just the right amount of repetition (to remind us but not club us senseless) plus their ability to set up situations, surprises, jokes and emotions in a manner in which they eventually coalesce and pay huge dividends down the road is, I think, unequalled in American movie history.

The film stars two of the most talented and popular actors of the day -- Jack Lemmon and Shirley Maclaine (above, right and left, respectively) along with an impressive third wheel, Fred MacMurray (below left), playing against his usual happy-family-man type (though some moviegoers will recall his work in Wilder's Double Indemnity).

The tale tells of a corporate schlub (Lemmon) who is good enough at his accounting work but is "getting ahead" by allowing his married corporate bosses to use his apartment as a sex pad for their assignations with their mistresses. Maclaine plays one of the elevator operators in the corporate building who seems to have managed to keep herself aloof from these predatory males.

Much of the comedy arises from the bone-deep hypocrisy and denial of the males, as well as from the enormously adept stars, who make almost everything we see and hear both comic and sad. Even the film's "happy ending," while delicious enough, comes slightly curdled if you allow yourself to consider the character of its protagonists.

He is all too willing to bow to power for a little recognition, while she's ready to use suicide as a way out of a failed romance. Sure, maybe they've changed a bit along the way, and we do get the clinch and the kiss at the finale. But tomorrow? Better not think about that. Yet Wilder has built all of this right in.

The filmmaker is both compassionate enough to see these folk as fallible humans and cynical enough to know how little real long-term change is likely to happen.

Filmed in widescreen black-and-white, the movie's a pleasure to view and hear in this new 4K restoration from the original camera negative, with original uncompressed PCM mono audio. As usual with Arrow Video, the Special Features are many and wonderful. Especially good is The Key to The Apartment, a new appreciation of the movie by film historian Philip Kemp.

From Arrow Academy (released here in the USA by MVD Entertainment Group) and running exactly two hours, the new Blu-ray disc is available now -- for purchase and (I would hope somewhere) for rental.