Up Goes Maisie

It's after World War II, and Maisie has graduated from secretarial school. But, all the males she goes to see about jobs are wolves who can't keep their minds on their work. So, she decides to change her looks. Some glasses, change of hairdo, change of clothes and no makeup, and she looks more like a plain Jane whom the bosses will leave alone.

In "Up Goes Maisie," she gets a job with a former World War II pilot who's working on inventing a helicopter. Joseph Morton's design was a vast improvement over the first few years of choppers, which still were having problems. This film is worth it just to see the chopper in this movie, and how they use and film it.

Anyway, Morton is the first boss that Maisie didn't have to worry about being sidetracked from his work. With his partners, he is desperate to get his design accepted for production. But, there's skullduggery afoot as some insiders in the company that was fronting his development plan to steal the Morton machine. But this is Maisie Ravier, and they don't realize that she'll foul up the works for them so that the good guys win.

There's some good action in this, and scenes with the helicopter flying and landing in the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena, California. And, guess who's at the controls. Oh, yes, and when Morton suspects Maisie of spying on him for her disguise, it takes some doing before he's convinced otherwise. When she saves his chopper, Morton gets the message. And once again, romance blooms for Maisie.

Here are some favorite exchanges of dialog in this film.

Joseph Morton, "Now, see if I'm not right - you're loyal, capable, dependable?" Maisie Ravier, "You mean I'm not the type of girl that makes you think of soft lights and sweet music?" Morton, "Uh, huh, no." Maisie, "Mmm, and, Mr. Morton, sir, I'm not the type girl who switches your mind from business to monkey business?" Morton, "Why, certainly not, Miss Ravier. I'm amazed at a nice lady like you. What've you been reading?" Maisie, "Me? I beg your pardon, sir." Morton, "Now look, you just forget all those foolish ideas. As long as you're working with me, be assured you have nothing to fear." Maisie, 'Yes, sir."

Joseph Morton, "You're kinda fresh, too, aren't you?" Maisie Ravier, "Sometimes, when I feel good." Morton, "You feel good now?" Maisie, "Mmmm, I seem to, judging from the way I feel."

Maisie Ravier, "Now, just a minute. Don't tell me what I think. I know what I think and it's not what you think." Joseph Morton, "Well, you're on the wrong track, young lady."

Joseph Morton, "Oh, I know about those guys that think one manly smile and a girl should fall right on her knees. They're victims of a super-charged male ego." Maisie Ravier, "Ohhh, so that's what it is." Morton, "Yeah." Maisie, "Well, I never knew the cause but I certainly understood the symptoms."

The casting for "Up Goes Maisie" is rather strange. After all, a few years earlier George Murphy was cast as Maisie's boyfriend in "Ringside Maisie" and here he is again as Maisie's boyfriend--and Murphy is NOT playing the same guy in both films! This must have been a bit confusing to audience members who went to both movies--especially since she becomes engaged to both guys!

Maisie has just graduated from Business School and her prospects are quite good. However, inexplicably, she has trouble getting work because every time she goes to apply for a job she is sexually harassed. It's all very silly, as they portray Ann Sothern as if she's hotter than Rita Hayworth and Lana Turner put together. The bottom line is that they lay this angle on way too thick and it seemed like sloppy writing to have the 37 year-old actress playing such a sexual magnet.

Eventually, Maisie gets a job with Mr. Morton and his team of workers who are trying to build a prototype helicopter. She not only is the secretary but does some of the welding and checks the books. And, since she is a sexual magnet, soon Mr. Morton (Murphy) is head-over-heels for her and asks her to marry him. However, neither is aware that a very manipulative woman (Hillary Brooke) and her rich daddy will do anything to ensure that the project fails--so that the evil woman can catch Morton on the rebound--as well as steal his helicopter plans. So, they need to discredit Maisie and make sure that the 'copter is a dud. Can Maisie and the gang spot the ruse? And, will Maisie FINALLY get her happy ending?

So is this film any good? Well, it does have its problems. As I mentioned above, making Maisie so sexually appealing was pretty dumb and was handled poorly. Additionally, Stephen McNally's character was obviously evil he first time the camera hit him. He was just too obvious and made you wonder why the characters didn't recognize this. The same could be said for Hillary Brooke. There is also a sequence near the end where Maisie is supposedly flying the helicopter--and you can pretty clearly see the string on the model! Despite all this, it's still a cute film and is quite watchable--as are all the Maisie films. But it does suffer from a few problems which should have been ironed out first. It's just not up to the usual higher standards for the series.

Sothern's sparkly Maisie is always a treat. Looks like MGM was injecting a bigger budget and longer runtime into the series. That's okay, but here it means more plot and fewer Maisie spotlights. The first part is typical our gal. She's trying to get a job, but every office in town has a guy with more than a job in mind. Nevertheless, the tricky antics are amusingly handled. Then the job she does get is with a no-nonsense experimental lab, where Murphy's developed a cutting-edge helicopter. Trouble is one of his crew, McNally, is conspiring with a rival outfit to hijack the secret project. Anyway, turns out that it's a good thing Maisie knows how to pull levers.

Sothern gets to show more moods than usual, while Murphy makes a convincing idea man. The second half features special effects that are pretty well done, along with a look at Pasadena's empty Rose Bowl. To me, the brief highlight is Maisie's catfight with the formidable Hillary Brooke. Brooke can be so snooty, it's fun to see her get a humiliating comeuppance. Too bad, however, we don't see more of that post-war phenomenon, the drive-in café. The brief look of the one here appears lavish, with its array of comely car-hops that includes Maisie. And, oh yeah, dish me up a burger while you're at it.

Overall, it's a rather suspenseful entry with a sprightly first part that, depending on viewer taste, soon turns plot-heavy.

World War II is over and Maisie Ravier is now finished her Rosie the Riveteer thing and is looking for more traditional employment for women. She's even enrolled in a business school and got her diploma. But when she goes job hunting all the potential bosses see a former showgirl and a quick roll in the hay. In order to get a job and keep the wolves at bay Ann Sothern dresses down and gets a job working for George Murphy.

Where to her complete surprise she finds her past experience in a war plant a real asset. Murphy is designing a brand helicopter and it's a hush hush project. But he doesn't know that tycoon Paul Harvey and his daughter Hillary Brooke are looking to steal it for themselves. Murphy's even got a Quisling in his own ranks.

This is one of the best of the Maisie series with Sothern given some really good comic bits to work with. She gets slipped a Mickey Finn and does a great drunk act with tips no doubt from Red Skelton until she plunges into a swimming pool. The climax of the film is having Sothern fly Murphy's helicopter. It must be a good machine if a flying novice can handle it.

One of the problems of the Maisie series is that she's gotten involved with some man in each of the films. But this is the first one where Sothern actually got a formal marriage proposal. And you know it once again didn't take because there was one more in the series that was so popular at MGM.

But as Maisie Sothern is at the top of her game in Up Goes Maisie.

The Maisie series at its best found our heroine, a showgirl, stranded in some atmospheric spot, like a dude ranch out west, where she had to rely on her wits to find some kind of employment. In the course of the proceedings, she often united lovers, reconciled parents and children, told off snobs, and fell in love with some good-looking guy.

The Maisie pictures were always enjoyable due to Ann Sothern's great performance as a regular gal who could take care of herself, and the sharp writing that had a healthy dose of common sense and understanding of human nature. A good egg who often let her niceness get the better of her, until she woke up and told off some stupid or selfish individual who should have known better, Maisie was a terrific person whose adventures were very popular.

This one came late in the series. It starts out enjoyably, but gets bogged down in a lot of plot. It winds up with Maisie (who has no flying experience) piloting a helicopter that figures centrally in the story. She even manages to take a call from a land-line phone handed out a window to her while the craft is hovering in the middle of downtown Los Angeles!

Unfortunately the bad guy is obvious to the audience from his first appearance, but not to the characters. Which strains credibility to the breaking point. And it's hard to believe that George Murphy (no spring chicken, at this point) could portray a grown man who is so naïve in so many ways.

I guess I prefer the Maisie pictures where she stays on the ground and deals with more or less believable problems, though this one is pretty well done overall.