Undercover Maisie (1947)

Memorable, crazy movie

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

In all her Maisie films, Maisie Ravier ends up trying some new career and meets and falls in love....and the viewer is left assuming she'll marry finally and settle down with him. But, when the next film came out, any mention of the old boyfriend and career is gone...and she's on to new career and romantic adventures. This final Maisie film starring Ann Southern is no different...and the viewer can only hope that FINALLY Maisie got her happily ever after.Early in the story, Maisie has hitched a ride with a nice old woman...or so she thinks. But the old lady turns out to be a crook and robs her. When Maisie reports this to the police, the Lieutenant (Barry Nelson) is impressed with her ability to recall the woman, her car and other details. So, he has an idea....to hire Maisie and get her to join his Bunco unit. During the course of this, Maisie is wooed by both the Lieutenant and another officer named Chip.Her first assignment involves a fake psychic. Little does she know that he has other criminal enterprises AND his partners are rather bloodthirsty and want to kill her when they discover Maisie is a cop! Can help come in time and will they recognize the clues Maisie's left along the way?Entertaining but far from perfect. The biggest thing against the film is modern sensibilities which make the cops look like first class sexual harassers! Still worth seeing and fun.

The Maisie series came to an end with Undercover Maisie and strictly on a minor key. In this last film, Ann Sothern joins the police force and without proper training gets into a dangerous situation.Barry Nelson who plays her immediate supervisor figures that Sothern being from Brooklyn has street smarts and can deal with trying to catch some con artists so she's assigned to the Bunco Squad.Here's where this picture has a problem. For all the previous films Maisie is quite the shrewd woman. But even the smartest of us need training and she would never be put in the situation she was in for this film.In fact the gang which consists of Leon Ames, Clinton Sundberg and Gloria Holden make quite a chump of her. But that's all Sothern needs, she's going to catch these people if it's the last thing she ever does. And it nearly is.Far from the best of this series.

Final entry in the Maisie series is an inconsequential affair where our gal manages to find herself in a peck of trouble when she joins the police force.As always the main reason to watch these films is the bright and bubbly Ann Sothern and as usual she's far better than the material handed her. The plot is a standard issue flimflam about phony spiritualists bilking unsuspecting dupes out of their dollars. You can see the ending coming from a mile away but the supporting cast contains several excellent actors including Leon Ames and Gloria Holden. Ann's leading men in these are usually competent but not terribly charismatic actors and Barry Nelson is no exception. He gets the job done although he and Ann share little chemistry. Not a terrible way to end Maisie's journey but hardly the best place to see her. None are award winners but the original Maisie, Swing Shift Maisie and Maisie Was a Lady are the serial's best.

Barry Nelson, 27 years old at the time but looking about 18 has a wispy mustache that needs to be seen to be believed. The idea seemed to be to try and make him look older as he plays a lieutenant detective on the bunco squad. Ann Sothern does her usual good job as Maisie although at one point her characters age is mentioned as 25. That is stretching it a bit. It's a shame this film was the last in the Maisie series. They were starting to look and feel like Bowery Boys or Abbott & Costello movies by this time. Cheap with a lot of good character actors.