Congo Maisie

If you are a fan of the Maisie films you may be surprised (as I was) that this is only the second in the series (out of ten). It's so over the top it feels like the series has "jumped the shark" and the brassy showgirl from Brooklyn finds herself in Africa in an isolated medical camp surrounded by restless natives.

In all her films Maisie gets into hilarious situations, but the best scenes are when her suffering stage acts go horribly wrong just before she gets fired.... In Congo Maisie however the "disaster" stage act comes at the climax when she must out voodoo a native witch doctor with hokey illusions from her nightclub act - and of course this means she has to present her entire show including singing St Louis Woman to the accompaniment of native drums while wearing a showgirl costume. This is mere minutes after assisting in emergency surgery, meanwhile clearing up the relationships of everyone around her.... It's all for laughs at a manic screwball pace. Southern moves briskly from scene to scene holding the energy. By the time she starts doing her nightclub act in the jungle I was in love.

All the Maisie movies are charmers, and as the series progressed Maisie joins the war, works in an airplane factory, goes out west and discovers a hidden goldmine.... Maisie is practically a prototype of Scooby-Doo-esque iconic American adventures, borrowing liberally from trendy plot lines appropriate for a B comedy. They are all feather light and Ann Southern puts so much heart and sweetness into her character, It's wonderful to see same Maisie story progression, her fighting and falling in love with her leading man again and again - even though we know it won't be the same guy next time, poor Maisie!

But Congo Maisie is the one that really stands out as the most outrageous and off the hook. It breaks from the apple pie formula into stylized farce, and pokes fun at so many movie tropes of the day that it stands out from the rest of the series as a funny parody of many films, from Harlow's Red Dust to Ann Harding's Prestige, all painted with broad strokes and with snappy dialog.

Maisie is Maisie. Always enjoyable, but never rising to the level of series like The Thin Man. I like them as much as Blondie and a little better than Torchy. If you liked the first one you can certainly bask in this mix of seriousness and silliness.

Typically, some people are upset that the African characters are not all depicted as surgeons or poets. Oddly, these guardians of the film world end up minimizing the contributions of the black actors and the importance of the African characters (e.g., Everett Brown as Jallah).

Third World riots aren't pretty (they share this quality with First World riots). Hollywood would film it different today, but they'd also ruin the movie with politics. To enjoy old movies we have to accept that things were different then.

My rating (7/10) is measuring Congo Maisie against other movies in the series and against other series movies of the same type.

Ann Sothern does what she can with the material in this far-fetched story set in the jungles of West Africa, but the film never really makes an impact. Although the acting is fine throughout, the fast-talking Sothern is the only character I really liked. And the only sequence I truly enjoyed was the one-minute crash course Sothern gets from John Carroll on how to assist in an appendectomy. I think even I could do it now.

The film has been called a "loose" remake of Red Dust (1932), but it is actually based on a different book, "Congo Landing," which was written by the same author after Red Dust was released. It is similar in plot to it as well as to Torrid Zone (1940).

During the late 30s and through the 40s, Ann Sothern made ten Maisie films. They were clearly B-movies--short, relatively low budget (for MGM) and meant as second films in a double-feature. Yet, despite this, they also were very polished and entertaining. Clearly, MGM made nice looking B-films.

In this second installment, Maisie is inexplicably in central Africa! Why is never really explained well and seeing the blonde Sothern traipsing about what is supposed to be African jungle is rather surreal. As far as the plot goes, it's a reworking of "Red Dust" but due to the Production Code, the sexiness of the remake is much more subdued than the original. In the original, Jean Harlow was a tramp--a nice tramp but clearly a tramp. Here, Maisie is a nice girl--a show girl but a NICE show girl.

When the film begins, Maisie stows away on a boat. Instead of heading down river to Lagos, it heads up river to disease-ridden and superstition-filled jungle. Along the way, she teams up with a grumpy ex-doctor, Dr. Shane (John Carrol), and they head to a jungle hospital--where the "Red Dust"-like plot ensues. There, another doctor's wife is bored and lonely and immediately falls for Dr. Shane. But, Maisie being a good girl, she does what she can to help the lady realize her problems WON'T be solved with an affair. How all this works out you'll just have to see for yourself.

Aside from stealing a few clips from "Trader Horn", the film looks pretty good for a stage-bound B-movie set in the jungle. And, the acting and story work well. Overall, it's an agreeable little film and a decent remake since the story is more a reworking than a direct remake. Worth your time even if it is a bit patronizing in how it depicts many of the Africans.

This time, just call Maisie "Congo Maisie" in this 1940 second entry into the "Maisie" series. Each episode of Maisie's fabulous life is done as a separate entity as if the previous one never happened. So don't get too attached to anyone.

Maisie, stranded as usual, stows away on a ship that doesn't go the way she wants and, in fact, breaks down. She tags along with a rubber plantation manager (John Carroll) when he hikes to his old house where he worked as a doctor (he's since forsaken the Hippocratic oath). Now it's the home of a doctor who does research (Sheppard Strudwick) and his wife (Rita Johnson).

"Congo Maisie" is chock full of adventure, with Maisie assisting in an emergency operation and, wearing a gown and a Carmen Miranda headpiece from her club act, fends off witch doctors.

It's quite funny but as my sister yelled out to me hearing some of it, "Is that a politically incorrect movie you're watching in there?" Uh, yeah.

John Carroll is the new object of Maisie's affections. He talks a lot and uses a monotone that becomes grating real fast. I recall a photo of him where he was presented as a Gable wannabe. Forget it. Rita Johnson is absolutely lovely, and Sheppard Strudwick is very good. Fun.