Lumsdal Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

ChicDragon It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Sabah Hensley This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

JohnHowardReid Director: HARRY BEAUMONT. Screenplay: Mary C. McCall Jr. Story: Harry Ruby and James O'Hanlon. Based on the character created by Wilson Collison. Uncredited screenplay contributors: Harry Clork, Howard Emmett Rogers. Photography: Robert Planck. Film editor: Frank E. Hull. Art directors: Cedric Gibbons, Howard Campbell. Set decorators: Edwin B. Willis, Helen Conway. Music: David Snell. Songs by Ralph Freed and Sammy Fain. "Panhandle Pete" number choreographed by Sammy Lee. Additional photography: William Daniels. Unit manager: Hugh Boswell. Assistant director: Charles O'Malley. Sound supervisor: Douglas Shearer. Western Electric Sound System. Producer: George Haight.Copyright 20 July 1944 by Loew's Inc. A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer picture. New York opening at Loew's State: 28 September 1944. U.S. release: September 1944. U.K. release: November-December 1944. Australian release: 22 February 1945. 9 reels. 8,069 feet. 90 minutes. U.K. release title: YOU CAN'T DO THAT TO ME.SYNOPSIS: Maisie goes to Reno? Before seeing the picture, we presumed she was dying to get a divorce from the schnook she married in Ringside Maisie. No? What's she doing in Reno, then? Oh, I see. She's taking a well-earned rest from that super-boring airplane factory job featured in Swing Shift Maisie.NOTES: The 8th of the nine Maisie pictures. COMMENT: Needless to say, this entry, the best of the Maisie pictures was also one of the least popular with audiences. The cast is great. John Hodiak who had a small role in the previous entry has a different part in this one, but it's the lead. Hodiak was always one of my favorite actors. Rejected by the armed services because of the hypertension that eventually led to his fatal heart attack, Hodiak always invested his performances with an appealing intensity. A sort of middle-class equivalent of John Garfield's firmly working- class protagonist, Hodiak always gave the impression of playing on the edge. He always invested his characters with depth — no matter how superficially they may have been written. And of course there's Ava Gardner, definitely Hollywood's top siren as far as I'm concerned. You can keep your blonde pin-up girls. Ava Gardner, like Simone Simon and Ingrid Bergman, always projected class, with a capital "C". Admittedly, her role is small, but vital. She plays it with total conviction and looks most attractive too. (Maybe William Daniels photographed her scenes?)I could go through the rest of the cast, ticking through the performers one by one, but I'll content myself with praising Byron Foulger. Always a number one character player with me since I first caught him as Professor Henderson in the Universal serial, "The Master Key". In fact for years, not knowing his real name, I used to call him, Professor Henderson. Here Foulger gives us a comic near- sighted psychiatrist, a delicious impersonation that raises more laughs in ten minutes than Miss Sothern contrives in the entire picture. As for the director, Harry Beaumont, a neglected master if ever there was one. You don't agree with me? I appeal to Orson Welles. Isn't Harry Beaumont one of the greatest? Orson fidgets. He knows what I'm getting at. But he's eventually forced to admit that he greatly admired Beaumont's handling of the courtroom scene in this movie. So much so that he imitated it, throwing in a few more tricks for "The Lady from Shanghai".But these are not the only terrific moments in Maisie Goes to Reno. With a plot fashioned by Harry "Three Little Words" Ruby and James "Calamity Jane" O'Hanlon, we know to expect the delightfully unexpected. For instance, what about that running gag with the little black dog? And what about the delightful "Panhandle Pete" number? And how about the usually meek Donald Meek as a wonderfully grouchy manager with no warmth in his testy heart at all?Production values with their big crowd scenes at the bus depot, the hotel and the court-room are mighty impressive. Only Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer could dress up a "B" movie with such style and finesse.

dougdoepke Plot-- Maisie takes a vacation to Reno from her demanding wartime job. At the train station she gets caught up with a likable soldier being sent abroad. There she agrees to take a letter to his wife in Reno pleading with her to stop divorce proceedings. Trouble is things are not what they seem at the wife's Reno household.Lesser entry in the Maisie series. The series draw, of course, is Sothern's spunky turn as the sassy blonde. Problem here is that the supporting roles are all sober-sides (except for Byron Foulger's last-minute goofy doctor), who too often squelch Maisie's comedic spark. Thus the amusement doesn't spread. Then too, the slender plot gets dragged out over 90-minutes minus needed comedic mood. Then too, the storyline meanders rather than builds.On the other hand, the opening scenes are a good taste of wartime America, with crowded trains, ration cards, and Maisie the Riveter. I wish that had carried over to the body of the movie. Also, I thought we'd get more swing-time band numbers given Maisie's employment with a band.Anyway, the tall, striking Hodiak is made for film noir not comedy, while the equally striking Gardner is largely wasted in a lesser role, still early in her career. At the same time, 1944 was a big year for all-American boy Tom Drake, what with his key role in the classic Meet Me In St. Louis (1944). Too bad his career never flowered. And what about that Mickey Rooney look- alike as the bellhop. I kept having to tell myself it's really not Rooney.All in all, the series and actress Sothern are better than this particular installment.

utgard14 Overworked and exhausted, Maisie (Ann Sothern) heads to Reno on a vacation. She meets a soldier on the way and hears his sob story. Once in Reno she tries to find the soldier's rich wife (Ava Gardner) to stop her from divorcing him. This proves to be more difficult than it seems and Maisie winds up investigating a plot to steal the wife's fortune. But there's always time for romance and Maisie's love interest this time is a blackjack dealer (John Hodiak).Enjoyable eighth entry in the Maisie series. Ann Sothern's adorable as ever. She even gets to sing a song: "Panhandle Pete." Early role for Ava Gardner, who's very pretty but gets nothing to do. The running gag throughout the picture is that Maisie has developed a nervous tick from overworking and all the men think she's winking at them. It's a funny bit that never gets old, especially with the cute way Sothern sells it. A fun movie that fans of the series should enjoy. Don't forget: skittle-dee-ruff-ka-doo!

boblipton This middling entry in MGM's answer to Warner's Torchy Blaine series has Maisie going to Reno, getting involved in a mystery surrounding a divorcing couple.It is a rather dull entry, the result of an uninvolving script and bland characterizations. Harry Beaumont, one of MGM's longtime B directors, does his best with the visual story telling, but even Anne Southern, aided and abetted by some up-and-coming players like Ava Gardner and John Hodiak can't do much with the story but talk fast.MGM, once Thalberg was dead, never quite knew what to do with unglamorous characters and a smattering of 40s jive talk dates the story and gives an infantile air to the entire operation. For completest of the talent involved, but if you miss this, you won't suffer.