Gold Rush Maisie

The movie may not have done much for comedic Maisie, but it' a worthy reflection of Depression era straits. I like the way Maisie's slowly drawn into the Davis family plight. They're a hard-scrabble family who've lost their farm, along with thousands of others, and are now living hand to mouth. The city-bred Maisie meets up with them as they along with other dispossessed farmers are traveling as part of a rumored gold rush. Though separated at first by a cultural contrast, Maisie's drawn into the family by the common humanity their plight represents, especially by winning little Jubie Davis (Weidler). Together, they share their meager money, along with hopes of a gold strike that will lift their fortunes.

Though MGM has hired a big crowd of extras and costumed them in appropriately seedy clothes, Maisie still stands out. But what about those tacky exteriors that fairly shout studio sound stage. Why make the costuming so realistic, then background them with such outdoor phoniness. After all, this is MGM. At times, Sothern's a little shrill for my taste, but manages to remain likable, while actor Bowman as the reluctant benefactor makes for a churlish and unusual leading man. Too bad little Weidler is largely forgotten. She made for a charmingly plain-faced youngster, without being cutesy. Anyway, the overall result is a curious combination of Depression era drama and Maisie type spunk minus the series' usual laughs. So, fans of the series may find this entry too pointed for their liking. But I enjoyed it for its strong moral and as a reflection of the desperate times.

(In passing-- My dad owned a Colorado gold mine many years ago, and I remember as a boy how eagerly he awaited assay office results so he would know where next to tunnel. In fact, with a few notable exceptions gold in its natural state is unrecognizable. Instead, it's blended into ore that must then be tested for its gold content. So the movie's element of suspense is not fictional.)

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.

Showgirl Maisie Ravier (Ann Sothern) gets stranded after her rundown car breaks down. She is forced to stay with local dirt farmer Bill Anders and his help Fred Gubbins. He claims the abandoned town nearby is haunted by ghosts. She heads off to the next town to find work and is told about the ghost town with gold. She joins the Depression era Davis family on their search for the gold.

I like the Maisie character after watching the first three movies. There is no need to overplay her jokes. The termite driving a beer truck joke is fine but there is no need to point and laugh. It steps on the joke. What I like most is that she is the lead of her own franchise. She is finally not defined by her romantic male lead. I like that she is the hero of that downtrodden family. The writing is a bit clunky like her $25 car but it still has its fun.

Back in the old big studio days MGM didn't send their expensive cast and crews out on location if they could possibly keep them back home on the Culver City lot, especially if the story was set in the Arizona desert as this one is. This 1940 studio-bound production is a curiosity: full of phony sound-stage sets pretending to be exteriors, obvious painted backdrops and fuzzy process shots. Ann Southern and Virginia Weilder even have a big sister-little sister talk while walking on a treadmill as a process-shot desert background is projected in the background. No production shot today could get away with all this fakery. On the plus side, the good-hearted screenplay co-written by Mary C. McCall, Jr, president of the Screen Writer's Guild, is one of the few scripts, other than "The Grapes of Wrath," to have dealt sympathetically with the plight of Dust-bowl farm families who moved west in search of a better life.

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.