Maisie Gets Her Man

 Maisie Gets Her Man isn't one of the all time classics, but it's an enjoyable little rmp all the same. After watching the movie I discovered this is the sixth entry of a ten movie franchise.  Not having seen the previous five movies didn't take anything away from the experience at all. The movie mostly holds up as a fun little romp. It may not be "great cinema", but it's good fun.

We start with Maisie working in a knife throwing act on vaudeville with a man whose woman just left him, making him wish all women dead. She barely gets out intact, but now she has no job. She visits an agent, where she meets a would be comedian named Hap Hixby. She also befriends the manager of the building where the agent is located, and he gives her a job out of sympathy. The job doesn't work out because of the building being in bankruptcy, so Maisie decides to join Hap in his act. Hap has money from selling his business back home.

Hap and Maisie rent rehearsal space in the building and soon are friendly with all the charactes there, the elevator operator, the janitor, the agent, the man who runs a costume rental, and a man they think is a legitimate business man running a startup company selling mineral water. Of course romance blossoms between Hap and Maisie, but there is a complication. He is engaged to a girl back home. On top of the will they, won't they and show business shenanigans, the movie has a double cross and crime angle that plays out during the last act. It's all pretty predictable, but still satisfying. At least for me, as I am not someone who believes that subverting expectations is a necessary ingredient for an entertaining movie.

The movie has many charms, not least of which is the actress playhing Maisie, Ann Sothern. I am normally not a huge fan of Red Skelton (I know some will find that blasphemous) but he worls really well in this movie. There is an element of "showbiz fold working together to see each other through hard times" that is remeiscent of Busby Berkley musicals. And the supporting cast is filled wiht likeable, quirky character actors. One can't help but be charmed by this group, making a movie that might otherwise feel like a wate of time become elevated to being pretty enjoyable.