Teimosa e Bonita

The irrepressible Ann Sothern embarks on one of her signature roles, her defining one until she switched over to TV and Private Secretary, and she a bright and breezy delight. Originally intended as an A picture for the reigning blonde queen of the studio Jean Harlow until her untimely death kicked it around the studio before landing in the lower budget B unit. Still an MGM B picture was a higher quality production than some of the lower rung studios top grade films having as they did the cream of the Hollywood talent pool at their disposal.

So appealing is Ann it's no wonder this was the start of a highly successful series chronicling her exploits in ever more exotic locations. No matter the pickle she finds herself in her pluck and ingenuity carry her though. Robert Young, a man born to wear dinner jackets, is rather preposterously cast as a ranch hand, in the best pressed dude clothes you've ever seen, but his facile charm carries him over any rough spots. Ian Hunter is all warm dignity in his part but the biggest surprise casting is finding Ruth Hussey, usually the wry, wise upstanding lady, playing a rapacious unfaithful gold-digger. This was one of half a dozen films she made the year before her big splash in The Philadelphia Story and Metro hadn't found her niche just yet.

A delightful comedy with a dark turn here and there Ann effortlessly drives the film with her star presence. How she never made it to the top rung of stardom is a mystery.

Why did I like "Maisie"? It was not hilarious and the story seemed to try to feign plausibility. It trivialized a suicide, which is the one thing which bothered me about the film – but by trivializing it, they avoided dwelling on.

That being said, the situation was good and the acting was splendid. I adored Maisie (Ann Southern), liked Slim (Robert Young) as the character surpassed his initial single dimension, and had no time for Sybil (Ruth Hessy) or her paramour (John Hubbard).

The film worked because it is about Maisie in a situation. She is a good and decent person, bothered but not surprised that the world contains sharks and charlatans, and shameless women who marry for money. She'll judge everything personally, but she won't grandstand about it. She'll be put in any number of situations, and she knows how to survive and thrive in each of them.

Wonderful character actor George Tobias makes two excellent appearances in the film, towards the beginning and the end, as a sort of a con man. It was a nice touch.

I am looking forward to seeing the nine other films in the "Maisie" series.

Ann Sothern could enliven any production and any script, gracing both with her talent, beauty and unusual voice. "Maisie," the first in a series of films about one Miss Maisie Ravier, is no exception. Despite being made on a shoestring, watching Ann Sothern is a delight. She plays a showgirl who is left stranded when the show folds before she arrives. Desperate for work, she takes a job in a carnival, where she meets Slim (Robert Young), a woman-hating cowboy. She stows away in his truck and then assigns herself as a maid to the wife (Ruth Hussey) of Slim's boss (Ian Hunter) when they arrive. Mr. and Mrs. Ames are there to repair their marriage, which was nearly ruined by Mrs. Ames' infidelity. It doesn't take long for anyone to realize that she's a tramp and still at it. This leads to tragedy, and it's up to Maisie to save the day.

Sothern makes the film entertaining - Maisie has a smart mouth and is very enterprising. I can't agree with one poster that this was the first series to have a woman as the main character because the Torchy Blane series started two years before Maisie. Ian Hunter gives a very gentle performance as Mr. Ames, Ruth Hussey is appropriately conniving, and Robert Young is miscast. It's not the first time.

Although I haven't seen the rest of the series yet, apparently they're done as separate entities, because from looking at the cast lists, it doesn't appear that the Young character is in the other films, unless the reason is subsequently explained. I originally thought this might be the last film instead of the first. Well, they promise to be interesting. Anything with Ann Sothern usually is.

A very popular series was launched by MGM with Ann Sothern portraying that very wise show girl Maisie. Over the next several years Maisie would circle the globe, find herself in all kinds of situations and would dispense advice that more people ought to listen to, especially in the realm of human relations.]

This first film finds Maisie stranded in some western town where a show she was promised an engagement with has folded. The only thing in the town right at the moment is a rodeo.

Sothern after getting in a jackpot courtesy of carnival sharpie George Tobias hitches a ride in the back of Robert Young's truck. Young is the foreman of absentee ranch owner Ian Hunter and Hunter's coming to town with wife Ruth Hussey. Of course the added benefit for Hussey is she will see boyfriend paramour John Hubbard and Sothern who has befriended Hunter has discovered the relationship.

Later on Young gets himself in quite a jackpot after Hunter's demise and it's up to Sothern to straighten the situation out.

The plot of this inaugural Maisie film is thin and rather obvious. But Sothern puts her character over with skill. Ruth Hussey has the other really meaty part, a cold forbidding gold digger of a woman whom Hunter has fallen hopelessly in love with. It's the basis for tragedy.

There's a happy ever ending in this film, but it was not fated to be because Sothern was on the road again in her next Maisie film.

A meddlesome, but well-meaning Brooklyn showgirl(the wonderful Ann Sothern) becomes stranded and ends up on a Wyoming ranch where she falls in love with a handsome foreman(Robert Young) and attempts to clear him of a trumped-up murder charge. Based on the Wilson Collinson novel, "Dark Dame", the film was intended as a vehicle for blonde bombshell Jean Harlow, who died before the project could be lifted off the ground. The script was then given to another spicy and likable MGM contract player, Ann Sothern, who had charmed her way into the hearts of movie audiences a year earlier with her delightful turn as the wisecracking blonde in the United Artists release, TRADE WINDS. Miss Sothern's winning personality and comedic talents enabled the film to betray its low-budget status, and the picture became such a hit that it spawned no less than nine sequels, all starring the gifted Miss Sothern. "MAISIE" may not be one of MGM's confirmed classics, but it is noteworthy, however, as one of the few film series to feature a lady as the central character.