Ringside Maisie

Ann Sothern is Maisie again in "Ringside Maisie," a 1941 film also starring Robert Sterling and George Murphy. It's possible that this film is where Ms. Sothern met Sterling, her first husband.

The Maisie plots had certain similarities and have to be taken as separate stories, which has always bothered me. It would seem at the end of one film that Maisie had found the man of her dreams, yet in the next film, there would be someone else. Maisie was always the same - a flashy, down in her luck entertainer on her way to a job somewhere, getting stranded, meeting some guy that she hates at first, and then love blooms.

In this entry, the man is George Murphy as Francis, who handles gifted prize fighter Terry Dolan (Sterling). Maisie has a job performing and loses it the same night because she won't sleep with her partner (although obviously that isn't stated). She winds up being a companion to the boxer's mother. Over time, she learns that Dolan wants only to buy a grocery store - he hates fighting and is frightened every time he goes into the ring. With Maisie's encouragement, he confronts Francis, who is also a friend, only to have Francis demand he live up to his contract, with disastrous results.

These movies were, for the most part, very entertaining. Sothern never did anything she didn't shine in, definitely one of the most likable actresses ever - beautiful, warm, funny, always convincing. When her leading woman days were over, she continued her career as a character actress. She was a wonderful star, even if she didn't reach the heights of Jean Harlow or Carole Lombard. She has good support here from the handsome Sterling and the versatile George Murphy.

Good entry into the series.

I have seen many of the Maisie films, and this one was another pleasant entry into the series.

When I watched the first Maisie film, I felt like I was watching Jean Harlow. I later learned that the Maisie character was intended for Jean; however I enjoyed Ann Sothern's performance as the sassy character.

Ann does a great job showing that a woman could handle herself in every situation and always land on her feet. She is smart, sexy, and savvy.

I am so grateful to TCM for showing these films, so that I can get the chance to see them for the first time.

Struggling showgirl Maisie Ravier (Ann Sothern) gets fired as a taxi dancer. As a train stowaway, she's caught and gets thrown off in the middle of nowhere. While walking to her next job, she is helped by young boxer Terry "O'Hara" Dolan. Skeets Maguire is his manager and Cecelia Reardon is his girlfriend. Dolan would rather not box and buy a grocery store instead.

I still like Maisie but the guys are duds. The girlfriend is a blank. Non of the characters are that compelling although I like Terry for the most part. It's a less than compelling melodrama. The boxing isn't thrilling and quite frankly, I fast forward a lot of that. A grocery store has never sounded more pathetic. I keep thinking that this movie is stuck in mud.

When Robert Sterling heavyweight contender confides to Ann Sothern that he really hates boxing all I could think of was the film Twins where Arnold Schwarzenegger confesses to Danny DeVito that he really hates violence. To which DeVito replies, 'but you're so good at it.'

That is the underlying plot premise for Ringside Maisie where our Brooklyn showgirl is stranded on a road and she's offered a lift by Sterling who is out doing road work under the watchful eye of manager George Murphy and trainer Maxie Rosenbloom. These guys prove useful after dancer Jack LaRue won't settle for just a professional relationship.

When Sterling says he wants out of the fight racket, two fights away from a title shot despite what Sothern tells Murphy about being a heel, my sympathies were completely with him. He did invest years of time and money in Sterling and was right to want a return on his investment. And from what I saw looked out for him pretty good.

Sterling is also saddled with Natalie Thompson a real peach of a girl friend who does nothing but eat and get carsick and won't be at his side at the climax. Later for her.

But more than anything else Ringside Maisie shows the weakness of using this kind of plot for a series film. At times she shows interest in both Murphy and Sterling and you know because there will be another film that she won't wind up with either. In real life she did show some interest in Bob Sterling because Ann Sothern took him as her second husband.

On the plus side there is a nice specialty number from Virginia O'Brien. But Ringside Maisie goes down as one of the weaker films in the series.

Ann Sothern is delightful in her Maisie roles (and in virtually everything she did.) This is an especially charming entry in the series.

It has a few small problems that can be attributed to its time. The flouncy desk clerk is one, but prissy, effeminate desk clerks were a staple of movies for a couple decades. (Alas.)

In a way, the notion that prize fighter Robert Sterling would rather die than continue his life as a blind person is dated, too. But this movie is generally good with disabilities. People are still terrified of blindness, though more is known about it now; and the character of Sterling's mother is in a wheelchair and not treated in at all a condescending fashion.

The idea that a smart, pretty, self-sufficient woman like Sothern's Maisie would chose the (to me) thoroughly unappealing George Murphy over the tender character played by the very handsome Robert Sterling is kind of laughable. And apparently the offscreen Sothern felt that way too, since she and Sterling were married two years after this picture's release.