Up Goes Maisie

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.