MovieChat Forums > The Major and the Minor (1942) Discussion > Silly Ending - *Spoilers*

Silly Ending - Spoilers

posted 15 years ago by mwmtampa
7 replies | jump to latest

Okay, so here we have Ginger as the "minor" throughout the movie and Mr. Milland as the "major" totally buying into it. Then all of a sudden at the very end of the movie she "lets her hair down" so to speak, and shows up at the train station all grown up as a beautiful, sexy woman.

And the major's reaction - incredulous disbelief? shock? a dream?
No, none of the above. He gives a smile, thinks its cool, and they board the train together. Almost like nothing happened. What the??!!

[–] acrobat06 15 years ago

I agree that old movies seem to wrap up in a charming & neat little package, but check out the ending to Wilder's Some Like It Hot. It kinda' plays with the idea of a neat little ending. But maybe it was a neat ending for the rich guy........

Back to the film in question, I believe that men, of that era, wanted an innocent little girl with a grown up body AND women want to be new and reborn for Mr. Right. Su-su's had it with the Mr. Osbornes of NYC & she seemed to relish (although guiltily) in playing the lost little girl for Uncle Phillip. It might sound creepy and pedophile-like but it's all kept in check by the Beloved Hays Code.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] npaxton-3 15 years ago

The Major was definitely attracted to both the Minor and to her mother (really Ginger). In the scene with Ginger playing her mother, you can see the Major's interest and quizzical expression. In one of the scenes with Su-Su he squints and calls her a knock-out. Of course he wouldn't permit himself to act on either because of the age factors. When he finally sees Susan Applegate standing at the station, she is the right age and it all makes complete sense to him. A perfect ending, I think.

[–] mwmtampa 15 years ago

Hi,,,,OP here. I think it's a good (but silly) ending and a great movie. I think in order to have the "perfect" ending, we needed some sort of an acknowledgement by the "Major". This could have been done in one of two ways:

1) At the end of the movie, he exclaims something to the effect that he thought the whole thing was a gag, especially after meeting "mom", and yes, he is crazy for Su-Su.

or

2) Somewhere during the movie, like the last poster had said,if the Major had confirmed, like in a verbal daydream to the audience stating "hmmm, this is a woman playing along as a gal, okay I'm going to go with this and see where this leads". Then him not saying anything at the end would have made perfect sense to me.

Either of these confirmations would have left me more satisfied and given me the clarification I wanted.

[–] marvelass 14 years ago

"1) At the end of the movie, he exclaims something to the effect that he thought the whole thing was a gag, especially after meeting "mom", and yes, he is crazy for Su-Su."

mwmtampa: I like your first alternate ending better. Unlike some posters here, I wouldn't like the idea that he knew all along. I'd prefer it that he took her at face value at first, but then throughout the movie he begins to notice and make mental notes of how mature she sometimes acts for her age or looks in a certain light and perhaps is even attractive, but he won't let himself think along those lines 'cause she's just a child (he keeps reminding himself). However, once he arrives in Stevenson to pay Su-Su a quick visit he begins piecing things together, especially after meeting the "mom" and noticing the uncanny resemblance (that plants the seed) and then becoming more suspicious when he decides to stop by the school to surprise Su-Su only to find it closed, but then running into someone who knows Susan (an old school girlfriend, perhaps) and learning more about Su-Su and finding that he's smitten with the woman she truly is. I think the ending would work best if it's not so rushed and the movie spends some time (but not a lot) from his perspective as he discovers the real Susan Applegate.

Furthermore, I don't think the film should end at the train station entirely but at her house, as he returns to confront her later that night. But first, he'll play along with this charade. By the way, Susan shouldn't know about his broken engagement just yet. When she hears about the wedding earlier she'll wrongly assume it was his and Pamela's and so won't have a desire or reason to reveal herself anymore. This allows for Susan to continue masquerading as her mother when he comes back ('cause Su-Su is supposed to be at the school play) and after some more chit-chat Phillip could expose her by saying something like, "I fell for Su-Su's prank... (as he takes off her glasses and studies her face a bit) but I fell for Susan Applegate!" She'll be dumbfounded as he leans in and kisses her, and when she comes to she'll stammer, "B-B-But what about P-P-Pamela...?" Then he'll confess that they called off their engagement and fill her in. They share a laugh, she calls down her mother, and he asks her to join him. She accepts and then the scene could dissolve into a shot of the train departing the station, with a shot of Susan and Phillip standing out where she was caught smoking earlier, him embracing her from behind. The end.

[–] heathentart 15 years ago

I happen to believe that Major Kirby (Milland) cottoned on very early to Su-Su's impersonation. Remember the scene on the train at the beginning where they first meet?

The storm comes and a shaft of lightning awakens and frightens(?) Su-Su. Major Kirby lowers himself to the bottom bunk and takes "Su-Su" into his arms. There is NO way a red-blooded man could feel those breasts and not realize she's perpetrating a hoax.

I think he just chose to go along with it all out of his frustration at not getting an active duty billet, and a desire to see where it all would end.

It helps me believe the implausibility of it all.

[–] Rheli 9 years ago

Okay, so here we have Ginger as the "minor" throughout the movie and Mr. Milland as the "major" totally buying into it. Then all of a sudden at the very end of the movie she "lets her hair down" so to speak, and shows up at the train station all grown up as a beautiful, sexy woman.

And the major's reaction - incredulous disbelief? shock? a dream?
No, none of the above. He gives a smile, thinks its cool, and they board the train together. Almost like nothing happened. What the??!!

Agreed, but also it would have been more logical if she had just admitted the truth much earlier on. Once he came to Stevenson there was no reason not to. Why didn't she? Because it's a movie.

Quel dommage -- was enjoying the movie a lot until then.