Ringside Maisie

An intelligent script and very likable characters played by superb actors, including especially the adorable Ann Sothern, combine to make this an excellent movie.

Even if it's not perfect, it's excellent.

Maisie gets a chance to demonstrate her own character, her strength, her determination. One speech to a certain cynic gives us a chance to cheer -- literally cheer -- this gutsy and decent young woman who gets knocked down because she is decent.

But, like a champion boxer, she keeps getting up.

Hollywood had an unfortunate tendency to cast flabby or, well, let's say "underdeveloped" men as "heavyweight" boxers, such as Stu Irwin or, in this case, Robert Sterling, an otherwise good actor, and a good-looking leading man.

But he's no Sylvester Stallone.

In this boxing movie, Hollywood didn't make the mistake it did in "Cinderella Man," in which a real-life boxer's character was slimed in order to make a dramatic point.

Of course there's conflict, or it wouldn't be drama, but there are no two-dimensional straw-man villains.

Instead there are real people, with their own goals and dreams, trying to fit into the real world, trying to get ahead within the context of what seemed possible, and to do it while remaining decent and true to themselves.

Ann Sothern just outdid herself in this, a role that gave her a chance to show strength as well as charm.

The rest of the cast, from "Slapsie Maxie" Rosenbloom, in one of his best roles, to Margaret Moffatt and John Indrisano, the latter two pretty unknown today, to the great George Murphy, were just super.

Honest: You ought to see this one.

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.

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.

This was a predictable plot, but fun to watch because of the beautiful Ann Sothern and real-life boxing characters who played small roles. I particularly enjoyed seeing Eddie Simms (played Jackie-Boy Duffy) who was a journeyman fighter with a great heart. He fought about 8 rounds with Joe Louis before being knocked out in 1935 (I think these figures are about right), and asked the referee to go for a walk on the roof with him after being knocked down. There was another fighter I recognize but can't remember, whom the hero "knocked out" early on. I wish I could remember the name, because he was a great left-hook artist who would devastate the division today.

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.