Por Fim Mulher

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.

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.

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.

Maisie Ravier (Ann Sothern) has just graduated from business school. She has to constantly rebuff men's advances. She changes her looks and gets hired by Joseph Morton (George Murphy) who invented a new helicopter.

This starts with an interesting premise of sexual harassment. It's downright modern and possibly feminist. It does transition into the standard Maisie story where the bad guys trick her and she has to fix everything. I can see that part as becoming tired as this is Maisie's ninth movie. They really should modify the formula a bit to freshen up the franchise. The big evil trick isn't so great and it seems easier to steal the plans instead. The story is not the best and this formula is getting old.

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."