She's Got Everything (1937)

With classic films there is always one guarantee: the main actress and actor will come together at the end despite whatever obstacles come their way. Sometimes that plot gets a little tedious to watch over and over again especially with comedies. With comedies things can get too silly and too out of hand with the obstacles or even the plot is too much and too silly. She’s Got Everything is one of those types of comedies.

            Carol Rogers (Ann Sothern) has just come back from Europe to find her house in complete chaos. Her father has just died and all the people he owed money to from the grocer to the dressmakers to the furniture store are all packed in her house taking their things back. She scares them out of the house so she can be alone. Carol tells her aunt Jane (Helen Broderick) that she wants to get a job so she can start paying some people back. She feels bad that she never asked her father if he needed help instead she ran off to Europe.

            A man named Waldo Eddington (Victor Moore)snuck into the house and stayed when everyone else left. He talks to Jane about a rich miner in South America that was crazy about Carol but she did not like him. Waldo owned some horses that her father had kept and wants her to marry the miner so he can be paid as well. To do this, he says, they must get backing from a few people just so that Carol has some money.  Jane likes the idea but neither of them want to tell Carol of their plan. Waldo goes to three of the people who the father owed money to and they are suckered into giving five hundred dollars each.

            Waldo puts in a call to Fuller Partridge (Gene Raymond) who owns a coffee company. He wants to sell one of the horses to him but Fuller does not want a horse. Fuller happens to mention he needs a secretary and this gives Waldo the idea to tell him about Carol. Carol gets the job as Fuller’s new secretary. One of her job requirements is that she will have to test the coffee the company makes so Fuller can have an idea of what women think of it. The only problem Carol hates coffee. After her taste testing Fuller takes Carol out for a walk in the park. It starts to rain and he immediately comes down with a cold. Over a few days she helps him to get better.

            A few days later at work Carol faints. A doctor tells her and Fuller that she is overworked and underfed. She needs a vacation. Fuller sends her away for a while to get better. The three backers follow Carol, Waldo, and Jane on their vacation. Waldo finds out that Fuller is worth more than the minor and now their plans change to trying to bring Fuller and Carol together. Waldo calls Fuller with the story that Carol is so sick she is delusional and keeps asking for him. Now the problem is trying to get Carol to look delusional and sick and call out Fuller’s name. He happened to meet an illusionist and hypnotist. The hypnosis does not work on Carol but it does somehow work on Jane.

            Waldo and Jane have fun dancing and spending time together. He wants to marry her but that all changes when he reads the newspapers the next morning and thinks Carol was just setting him up. Instead of coming straight out with the situation with her, Fuller tries to get her to be the one who walks away. He orders weird things for breakfast, wants to buy her clothes and picks the ugliest ones, and even goes out in the rain and gets them both a little sick. She gets fed up with him and he finally tells her what is wrong. Carol swears she had nothing to do with what was said in the papers. When he gets back to the hotel Fuller sees Waldo talking to the press and realizes he is the one who spilled to the papers.

            Waldo explains everything to Fuller. Fuller tries to call Carol to talk to her bust she does not want to. He goes to her house and asks her to marry him. She says yes but she is not too happy. The next day Carol leaves Fuller jilted at the altar which was her plan the whole time. He finds out that Carol and Jane are leaving for Europe. He manages to get his trucks to block the car Carol is in and needless the say that they fall back in love and get married.

            She’s Got Everything was alright. This was a B movie for RKO. It was made very well and the cast was very good. You can tell the story was definitely a subpar B movie story. Ann Sothern was wonderful she is always a delight to see in a film. Gene Raymond just does nothing for me but I will say he was better and more entertaining than in some of his other films I have seen. Helen Broderick and Victor Moore are hilarious together. I did not really like the characters of Fuller, Waldo, and Jane. I found them annoying. They were all using and wanting Carol for their own purposes and that I did not like… probably because I like Ann Sothern a lot and I did not like seeing her taken advantage of. The entire plot got too out of hand with the supporting characters they were too silly and, I felt, barely moved the story along.  She’s Got Everything I only suggest watching if you like Ann Sothern or the other three leads. 

Under Cover Maisie (1947)

Undercover Maisie is the tenth and last film in the Maisie film series. Our hero Maisie Ravier (Ann Sothern) is stranded in Los Angeles trying to get back home to New York City. A woman offers to give her a ride. In the car the woman manages to get Maisie to take off her jewelry and leave her suitcase in the back seat. When they stop at a gas station Maisie gets out and the woman takes off. Maisie is literally left with only the clothes on her back.

            Maisie goes to the police station to report what has happened to her. She gives such a vivid and detailed description of the con artist that Lt. Det. Paul Scott is left incredibly impressed to the point where he thinks it is a good idea for the department to hire to her. Lt. Scott wants to put Maisie’s skill of observation to work in the bunco squad. The chief is not thrilled with the idea but he gives in and has Maisie rushed through training at the police academy. In physical training all the men cannot concentrate on their assignments and the trainer has her moved to do one-on-one training. Lt. Scott tells Maisie that she needs to learn the science of pick pocketing. Maisie thinks she knows how to do so and picks Lt. Scott’s pocket. Later on Maisie tries to get Lt. Scott to think his wallet is missing but he pulls a fast one on her and tells her she did a lousy job picking his pocket and got his dummy one.

            Maisie passes her exams and the next day she is put on a case dealing with a fortune teller who is taking a family’s money. She dresses up as a rich woman with furs and jewels to see the fortune teller who goes by the name Amor. Maisie tells the woman who opens the door that she is in trouble and needs to speak to Amor that he is the only one who can help her. She is brought into a room and Amor comes out to tell her he can help with her problem. The teller brings Maisie into another room where they are alone. She tells Amor that she needs help deciding what to do with money left to her by a man she was supposed to marry. All the sudden he goes into a trance and tells her that she will meet someone who could help her invest her money. After hearing her fortune Maisie tells Lt. Scott about meeting someone. Hell has her go to a restaurant at a certain table. Soon enough a man named Rogers claiming to be a real estate broker comes to her table.

            The idea is to have Maisie look at several places and decide to invest in a building. Then when she has decided which building to put her money into she is to take Rogers down to the bank where Lt. Scott will be waiting. The plan goes well for some time until in her apartment Maisie drops some papers and when she bend down her dress comes up a little bit revealing her petticoat which has her real name written on it. Rogers then pretends that he is working for the police that he is used to test out the new recruits. Maisie buys into this because it happened to her before. Needless to say the chief is furious at her for letting Rogers and the others in the crew get away. Lt. Scott is upset but he says Maisie can do this she will come back from this with more will and conviction than she did before. Lt. Scott talks her out of resigning and she decides to work harder to get Rogers and the others.

            At her apartment Maisie finds an invitation to veterans benefit. She goes and runs into the man who played Amor and whose real name is Willis. He is running the benefit as a way to scam money from the veterans. Willis has Jane, the woman from the fortune teller scam, tie Maisie up backstage. After the benefit they take Maisie down to a basement where no one can hear or see her. Jane does not like Maisie at all especially after they got into a brawl backstage at the benefit. She wants to kill Maisie and Willis as well. Maisie hears Jane’s plans for her. She heard on the radio Lt. Scott’s plea for her return. Using her quick thinking she writes a note on a place in her lipstick that she is the officer the police are looking for then douses the plate in ketchup. The plates are picked up by a kid and brought to his house where he cleans them. He finds Maisie’s message and shows his parents.

            Lt. Scott and the police come to the house. The kid brings the police to the house where Maisie was being kept. Lt. Scott finds another plate with a message from Maisie that she is being taken to a pier. Jane and Guy, another member of the crew, knock Willis out in the car. Maisie gets out of the car and makes it like she ripped her petticoat. Then she pretends to faint. When Guy picks her up she throws her petticoat on the sign for San Bernadino where they are all now headed.

            In the cop car someone notices the petticoat on the sign. Lt. Scott has the car turn around and go down that stretch of road. Jane and Guy stop the car so they can kill Maisie and Willis. Maisie pretends to trip and grabs a handful of dirt. She throws in their faces and tries to run away. Jane catches up to her and they roll around in a brawl yet again. Lt. Scott and the police arrive just in time.

            Undercover Maisie was good but it was not the best if what I have seen of the series so far and felt it was not the best send off to a wonderful spunky character. All I can say is that it was nice to see Maisie with a steady career after all the traveling and solving mysteries she did for almost ten years. Ann Sothern is as always lovely as Maisie. Maisie is such a great film character all women and girls should look up to. 

Maisie Gets Her Man (1942)

Maisie Gets Her Man finds the heroine Maisie Ravier (Ann Sothern) in Chicago in a stage show as an assistant. The man she was working for goes out of his mind over a woman who left. He takes his frustration out on Maisie by almost killing her, not on purpose, when he tries to perform a stunt by throwing knives at a board behind her. Backstage Maisie has enough of the guy’s carelessness and frustration and she punches him. After the punch she gets fired.

            The following day Maisie heads down to a casting agency. In the casting office she comes across Hap Hixby (Red Skelton). He pulls a goofy gag that does not put Maisie in a good mood. As she walks out of the casting office Maisie comes across an old friend named Pappy Goodring. He had seen her in an act years ago and really liked her. Pappy walks Maisie around the building which he is manager of. He gives her a small job around the building. Pappy takes Maisie out to lunch at a small pool hall. All the guys think Maisie is with Pappy but she quickly changes their minds. Of all the places to have lunch Hap shows up and just gets into trouble by trying to show Maisie some tricks. During the course of lunch, though, Maisie softens up to Hap when he tells her that he gave up on a decent job to pursue his dream of being a performer. Maisie decides to work with Hap on a new act he wants to try.

            Their practice goes well and all seems well until they actually get on the stage. Hap completely freezes up and blows their chance at a gig. He runs back to the hotel where Maisie finds him. She gives him a good pep talk and they are still on good terms. Maisie winds up talking Hap into trying to get a job with a Mr. Denningham who has an office in Pappy’s building. Hap gets the job and asks Denningham if there might be a job for Maisie and she gets one as well. Denningham claims to be selling a mineral water but really it is bathtub gin.

            Pappy loses his job after the building’s owner, Mr. Stickwell, becomes upset with him for not being able to collect rent from the building’s tenants. Maisie and Hap try to help by talking to Stickwell. They give him some of Denningham’s water and they drink some themselves and all of them wind up getting accidentally drunk. Maisie and Hap wind up getting Pappy his job back. Also they wind up confessing to each other that they have feelings for each other. Maisie tells Hap to tell her he loves her the next day so she knows his feelings for her are true and not just a drunken confession. Unfortunately for both of them Hap’s fiancée Elsie comes into town that day. Neither Hap nor Maisie are very happy to see Elsie. As Maisie leaves the office the police come looking for Denningham. Only Hap is there and he gets arrested since he was made president of the company.

            Some time later Maisie is part of a pretty successful singing/performing act. At a benefit down in Georgia she sees Denningham mingling with the guests. She gets a hold of Pappy in Chicago to have him get in touch with the police in Georgia. To keep Denningham around she tells him that she had been trying to swing Hap for her own job but he got to Hap first. This puts Maisie on Denningham’s good side and makes him stay close to her until the cops come.

            Hap is released from jail and is serving in the army. Maisie and her group perform for his company. Hap comes on stage and performs an impromptu gag which was the one he was supposed to perform back in Chicago.

            Of course Hap and Maisie wind up together.

            Ann Sothern is as always an absolute delight and absolute panic as Maisie Ravier. She gets to sing and dance in this film. I was not a fan of her singing too much. Red Skelton really does not usually do anything for he is too goofy but he was good in this. I liked him paired with Ann Sotherm.

            Maisie Gets Her Man was cute but it is not the best Maisie I have seen so far. I do not think I liked it as much because Maisie was not really a tough cookie it seems as if her attitude and determination and toughness were toned down. But I will say Maisie Gets Her Man is worth seeing because the character of Maisie Ravier is wonderful.