utgard14 Maisie (Ann Sothern) heads west where she helps a poor family trying to strike it rich as prospectors. Sothern is as delightful as ever. Lee Bowman is fine in yet another crappy male lead role in this series. For some reason they always paired Maisie up with jerks. Maybe so people wouldn't complain when she moved on to another guy in the next movie. Slim Summerville is great as Bowman's friend. He does some classic double takes. Virginia Weidler is likable as the little girl who takes a shine to Maisie. Rest of the cast includes Scotty Beckett, Mary Nash, Irving Bacon, John F. Hamilton, and Eddy Waller. Another enjoyable Maisie movie. Not the best but solid. The Maisie-meets-the-Joads element is nice. One odd moment that stood out to me was when Maisie told the family she's helping that she took a swing at a guy once for daring to call her a gold digger, followed by awkward nervous laughter from the family. Such a weird scene.

ksf-2 As usual, Ann Sothern is the excite-able "Maisie", stranded again, SOMEWHERE. They show joshua trees, so she must have been somewhere in the mojave desert. Although that was probably just a backlot with a backdrop. When her car breaks down, she bumps into Bill (Lee Bowman) and Fred ( Slim Summerville), who get her car going again, but success is short lived. Now Maisie bumps into the Davis family, scratching for gold. Virginia Weidler is the daughter... you may recognize her from "The Women", where she was over-the-top, saccharin sweet and emotional. Here, she's just a normal kid. This one has a pretty thin plot... they had a couple ideas, and put lots of talking in between. Takes a while to get going, but does get better in the second half. Just my opinion. Could be wrong. It DOES have the moral lesson, as Maisie films usually do. See what you think. It's on Turner Classics now and then. Writer C.W. Collison had come up with "Maisie", but then he croaked young in 1941. Collison's death didn't stop them from making movies about Maisie... they were still making them in 1960! Collison had also written the Oscar nominated "Mogambo", with Clark Gable. This Maisie chapter directed by several different folks, apparently due to illness.

Man99204 Let me preface this review by saying that I have watched ALL Of the other nine "Maisie" movies. There are reasons this is the least often seen film in this series. This is not a comedy. This is a serious film on the plight of migrant farm workers which pretends to be a comedy so the general public will watch it. As a movie on "social comment' is is not a bad movie. As a comedy featuring the Maisie character it is dreadful, just dreadfully bad. The Maisie character is one of the most beloved characters in B films of the 1940s. Here she is totally and completely out of place -- a bubbly showgirl wannabe plonked down in the middle of the Arizona desert. This is also one of the most depressing movies I have ever seen from this period. The entire movie moves from one disturbing theme to the next, with little to ease the tone. There are some especially disturbing scenes. There are scenes of children starving. families who are forced to sleep in tents without adequate water to drink. .ANd n and on Never has "real life' be so present in a 1940s movie.I love Ann Sothern. I love the Maisie series. I do not care for this movie.

blanche-2 "Gold Rush Maisie" has Maisie (Ann Sothern) prospecting in this 1940 entry into the series. Maisie's car breaks down, and she becomes stranded and has to ask for help from an isolated, nasty rancher (Lee Bowman) who shares his house with another sourpuss (Slim Somerville). These films all followed the same formula - Maisie's charm, no-nonsense attitude and warmth melt the icebergs she meets. Later on, she meets a family of farmers who have lost their farm and become migrant workers. Now they're on their way to prospect for gold. Maisie is stunned at how little they have and sets out to help them.The atmosphere of "Gold Rush Maisie" is a little more down than usual, and the actions of the rancher played by Lee Bowman are inexplicable. First he's nasty, then he abruptly puts the moves on Maisie, becomes nasty again and later, after she tells him off, he becomes nice. Bowman was Sothern's leading man in the series more than once, as was James Craig - I prefer James Craig, who had more energy and variety in his acting.One does really feel for the family, and that helps to hold one's interest. Sothern does her usual bang-up job. The previous reviewer has it right - she would have been a bigger star in an earlier era. But if huge movie stardom eluded her, she still played some wonderful roles, and her two series are a treasure, as is the actress herself.