Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Blistering performances.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

This was my first 'Maisie' movie with Ann Sothern, actually I chose to DVR the film off of Turner Classics because of the boxing theme. There's not a whole lot of ring action but it anchors the story after Terry Dolan O'Hara (Robert Sterling) interrupts his workout to offer Maisie a ride to her hotel. From there, Maisie seems to see-saw her way in a relationship between Dolan and his fight manager Skeets Maguire (George Murphy). I was betting on Sterling's character right from the start, but after reading some other reviewers here, it appears that Maisie finding and not keeping a man was built into the series as a regular story line.This was my first look at actress Virginia O'Brien, appearing as herself and doing that bizarrely executed night club number, which had me baffled until I read that it was part of her schtick. It was so different and unique I had to go back and watch it a couple more times. Now I'll be on the lookout for more of her singing appearances.Say, what exactly do you think Skeets got a ticket for on the George Washington Bridge? It was the middle of the night, no traffic, and he was pulled over to the side of the road. You'd think the cop would be a little more understanding and send him off with a warning and a slap on the wrist. Now if it happened today, well all bets are off.As far as the boxing goes, Sterling as well as all of his opponents didn't look like heavyweight fighters to me, but that's probably a trivial point. Skeets Maguire looked like a gangster in his broad pin stripes but turned out to be a class guy when all was said and done. If anyone turned out to be a heel here it would have been Terry Dolan's fiancé, Cecilia Reardon (Natalie Thompson) after it looked like Terry's career was through and facing permanent blindness following his last match. I wouldn't have minded seeing her get KO'd by Maisie along the way.

As usual, Maisie Ravier (Ann Sothern) is broke and trying to get to her next job--but has no money. When she sneaks aboard a train, she is caught and deposited in the middle of no where. However, she soon meets up with an exceptionally nice prize fighter, Terry Dolan (Robert Sterling), and he helps her get on her feet. However, his manager (George Murphy) takes an almost instant dislike for Maisie, as he doesn't want any 'dames' distracting Dolan from becoming champion. In fact, they dislike each other so much that you KNOW they'll eventually fall for each other--a common old Hollywood cliché.As for Terry, although he is a great fighter, he is hiding a secret--a secret he eventually confides with Maisie. It seems that every time he goes into the ring, he's scared to death--scared that he'll hurt the other guy and afraid he'll end up punch-drunk after repeated blows to the head. This is a normal and healthy concern, but he wants to give up the fight business--even though he could become champion. Maisie advises him to tell his manager and quit--and this is sure to impact on her new romance with the manager. So what's to come of all this? Well, considering that Maisie was in ten films and this is only the fifth, you can pretty much assume she WON'T be getting married and settling down to a life of domesticity--at least not yet (even though it sure looks that way at the end)!I appreciated this film, as "Ringside Maisie" did NOT glamorize the fight business. Few other contemporary boxing films talked about the ugly side of it--the brain damage, detached retinas, the wear and tear and the fact that promoters and managers really couldn't care less about the boxers. And, the film did a wonderfully touching scene with Terry and one of his opponents, Jackie, at the hospital. Because of this, the film has a lot more depth than you'd expect from a boxing film or an installment of "Maisie". Because of this, it's one of the best films in the series and is well worth seeing--particularly if you have any family members who has aspirations of going into the ring.By the way, I thought it very strange that they billed Terry as a heavyweight, as he looked amazingly small and undeveloped for such a weight class (or to be a boxer at all). I know they had a lot fewer classes back then, but he sure looked like a middleweight to me--not that this seriously hampered the story.

This was a predictable plot, but fun to watch because of the beautiful Ann Sothern and real-life boxing characters who played small roles. I particularly enjoyed seeing Eddie Simms (played Jackie-Boy Duffy) who was a journeyman fighter with a great heart. He fought about 8 rounds with Joe Louis before being knocked out in 1935 (I think these figures are about right), and asked the referee to go for a walk on the roof with him after being knocked down. There was another fighter I recognize but can't remember, whom the hero "knocked out" early on. I wish I could remember the name, because he was a great left-hook artist who would devastate the division today.

Ann Sothern is delightful in her Maisie roles (and in virtually everything she did.) This is an especially charming entry in the series.It has a few small problems that can be attributed to its time. The flouncy desk clerk is one, but prissy, effeminate desk clerks were a staple of movies for a couple decades. (Alas.) In a way, the notion that prize fighter Robert Sterling would rather die than continue his life as a blind person is dated, too. But this movie is generally good with disabilities. People are still terrified of blindness, though more is known about it now; and the character of Sterling's mother is in a wheelchair and not treated in at all a condescending fashion.The idea that a smart, pretty, self-sufficient woman like Sothern's Maisie would chose the (to me) thoroughly unappealing George Murphy over the tender character played by the very handsome Robert Sterling is kind of laughable. And apparently the offscreen Sothern felt that way too, since she and Sterling were married two years after this picture's release.