Up Goes Maisie

Another enjoyable Maisie movie starring the delightful and lovely Ann Sothern. Maisie has just graduated from business school and wants to get a job as a secretary. However, everywhere she goes the men who interview her are only interested in her looks. So Maisie puts on some glasses, pins her hair up, and tries to dress like a woman with her mind on nothing but business. In the movie this is supposed to make her less appealing. But it's pretty hard to buy as Sothern is so adorable you could put her in a potato sack and she would still be attractive. Anyway, Maisie gets a job with Joe Morton (George Murphy). When Morton learns who she really is and that she used to work assembling airplanes, he invites her into his secret helicopter project. It's always fun to watch Ann Sothern in these Maisie films. They're cute, funny, lightweight entertainment. This isn't my favorite in the series, but it's a good one.

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."

These MAISIE films were churned out with alarming regularity by MGM, obviously intended to amuse post-war audiences as the second feature on a double bill. They passed the time pleasantly enough, but it's hard to review them by today's standards since much of the material is as dated as can be.

Let's just say that ANN SOTHERN dispenses her usual charm and breezy style in the role of Maisie Revere, a gal who gets a job with an inventor (GEORGE MURPHY) who is trying to get his automatic helicopter on the market. Needless to say, Maisie and the inventor, played in his usual bland way by Murphy, soon find they have romance on their minds but little else in this silly script. Of course, she ends up saving the day by solo piloting the helicopter over downtown Los Angeles and landing in the Pasadena Rose Bowl for a grand touchdown.

It's as silly as all the other Maisie movies, but not as hard to take as some of them. STEPHEN McNALLY and HILLARY BROOKE are capable at playing the villains, but Maisie getting the wolf whistle routine from every other male in the cast is a bit much.

Trivia note: Watch for DON TAYLOR in soldier's uniform in an uncredited bit.

This is Maisie's second to last film in the series starring Ann Sothern that ran from 1939 to 1947. Some of them were better than others. This one is in the category of okay. During the war, Maisie was a riveter (Swing Shift Maisie and Maisie Goes to Reno, when she was burnt out and needed a vacation). Now post-war, she needs a new job, something steady. After graduating from business school, she eventually gets a job with an inventor (George Murphy) who is building a helicopter using his own secret invention. Little does he know, someone on his team (who is so obvious it's ridiculous) is trying to steal the drawings from him. Stephen McNally, Ray Collins and Hillary Brooke are featured.

The Maisie movies are, of course, very dated today, but the premise is good - Maisie is a performer who occasionally gets work - usually she's stranded on the way to a job and ends up somewhere else, like in the Congo or on a farm. Ann Sothern is delightful as the street-smart, flashily dressed man magnet. These were B movies churned out probably in days, and the scripts vary from good to lousy along with Sothern's costars, which included James Craig, John Hodiak, Lee Bowman, John Carroll, Lew Ayres and Red Skelton - how's that for variety of up and comings and down and goings? Mildly entertaining.

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.