Gold Rush Maisie

Gold Rush Maisie finds Ann Sothern as the good hearted show girl from Brooklyn going out west with a family that looks remarkably like Joads of Oklahoma. All that was missing was Henry Fonda.

In fact the subject matter was just like The Grapes Of Wrath. Uprooted farmers moving about the country looking for odd jobs in crop picking. Only here rumors of a gold strike are sending a bunch of them west to the Arizona desert. After a bit of kindness on Maisie's part, she hooks up with the Davis family which consists of parents John F. Hamilton, Mary Nash and kid Virginia Weidler, Scotty Beckett and an infant.

All the same problems that John Ford so graphically illustrated and John Steinbeck so graphically wrote about are present in Gold Rush Maisie. Pity that no one with a head as level as Maisie's was around in The Grapes Of Wrath. Many social problems would be solved.

Who'd have thought a film of social significance would have come from the Maisie series, but it did.

The Quick Pitch: On her way to a gig in Phoenix, Maisie's car breaks down in the middle of the desert. She finds herself stranded in an old mining town. When gold is rediscovered, Maisie helps a dirt poor family in their attempt to strike it rich.

I've got to agree with what a lot of others have written on the internet - Gold Rush Maisie definitely has a Grapes of Wrath feel to it. For me, that's one of the films biggest flaws. I enjoy these Maisie films for their comedy and ridiculousness. And while Ann Sothern gets in a good one-liner here and there, the overall tone is terribly somber. When you're dealing with dirt farmers who have no idea where their next meal is going to come from, laughing at Maisie's hijinks just doesn't feel right. Gold Rush Maisie wasn't the kind of entertainment I was expecting or looking for.

My other big complaint is with the ranch owner, Bill Anders, played by Lee Bowman. My problem Isn't with Bowman (in fact, there's something about him that I like more than any of the other male leads Southern played opposite in the first three Maisie films). Instead, my problem is with the character, Lee Anders. One minute, he's in love with Maisie - the next, he can't stand her. One minute, he wants to help the farmers - the next, he wants to throw them off his land. The wild swings the character goes through make no sense at all. It's a pretty poor job of writing.

So far, all I've talked about are the negatives. Based on my rating, it should be obvious that I didn't find Gold Rush Maisie a total wash-out. When the script allows Maisie to be Maisie, those moments really shine. Southern is such a joy to watch as Maisie with her perfect comedic timing and infectious nature. Maisie is always a treat.

5/10

Maisie (Ann Sothern) heads west where she helps a poor family trying to strike it rich as prospectors. Sothern is as delightful as ever. Lee Bowman is fine in yet another crappy male lead role in this series. For some reason they always paired Maisie up with jerks. Maybe so people wouldn't complain when she moved on to another guy in the next movie. Slim Summerville is great as Bowman's friend. He does some classic double takes. Virginia Weidler is likable as the little girl who takes a shine to Maisie. Rest of the cast includes Scotty Beckett, Mary Nash, Irving Bacon, John F. Hamilton, and Eddy Waller.

Another enjoyable Maisie movie. Not the best but solid. The Maisie-meets-the-Joads element is nice. One odd moment that stood out to me was when Maisie told the family she's helping that she took a swing at a guy once for daring to call her a gold digger, followed by awkward nervous laughter from the family. Such a weird scene.

Well, it wasn't Alaska but Arizona where Maisie Ravier winds up next in MGM's third film of 10 for the blonde adventuress. While Arizona does have a history of gold mining, I don't know if there ever was another rush around 1940 as this film portrays. But that's the setting for "Gold Rush Maisie."

Enroute for another job singing in the Hula Parlor Café in Truxton, Arizona, Maisie's car breaks down. That leads to a night with a very unhospitable Bill Anders and his sidekick, and then to an adventure with a horde of prospectors who come in search of quick riches. These are mostly families that travel the farm planting and harvesting cycles in the Western states.

Maisie helps the folks set up a tent camp and file their claims, and in the end Anders melts a little. Some good drama and good neighborliness in this film. Ann Sothern continues to please audiences, and Lee Bowman is the grouchy Anders who finally softens up. The rest of the cast all are very good.

There's more drama than comedy in this film. Here are the better funny lines.

Maisie Ravier, "When I first saw you, I thought you were a stinker. Now I've changed my mind. You're not that good."

Maisie Ravier, "I'm not really ignorant - just uneducated."

Maisie Ravier, "As I look back on it, you've been awfully, awfully kind, in a sort of nasty way."

As usual, Ann Sothern is the excite-able "Maisie", stranded again, SOMEWHERE. They show joshua trees, so she must have been somewhere in the mojave desert. Although that was probably just a backlot with a backdrop. When her car breaks down, she bumps into Bill (Lee Bowman) and Fred ( Slim Summerville), who get her car going again, but success is short lived. Now Maisie bumps into the Davis family, scratching for gold. Virginia Weidler is the daughter... you may recognize her from "The Women", where she was over-the-top, saccharin sweet and emotional. Here, she's just a normal kid. This one has a pretty thin plot... they had a couple ideas, and put lots of talking in between. Takes a while to get going, but does get better in the second half. Just my opinion. Could be wrong. It DOES have the moral lesson, as Maisie films usually do. See what you think. It's on Turner Classics now and then. Writer C.W. Collison had come up with "Maisie", but then he croaked young in 1941. Collison's death didn't stop them from making movies about Maisie... they were still making them in 1960! Collison had also written the Oscar nominated "Mogambo", with Clark Gable. This Maisie chapter directed by several different folks, apparently due to illness.