the audience applauded

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Don't listen to the negative reviews

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

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.

Final Maisie film sees Maisie (Ann Sothern) ripped off by a con artist. She files a report with the police and mustachioed police lieutenant Barry Nelson thinks she's a natural detective. So he talks her into joining the police academy and learning to be a cop. This leads to one of the more amusing segments of the movie, where Maisie learns self defense. After becoming a cop, Maisie goes undercover to help stop a phony psychic (Leon Ames).The Maisie series comes to an end with a pleasant, enjoyable episode. Sothern is great as usual. Dependable Leon Ames is good as the fake psychic. Barry Nelson, here sporting a risible mustache, is OK. Maisie's love interests in these movies never seemed to match her charisma and Nelson is no exception. I enjoyed the Maisie series a lot. They're simple, fun stories with the adorable Ann Sothern at her most lovable.

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.