Congo Maisie (1940)

Director:

H.C. Potter

Writers:

Wilson Collison (book)
Mary C. McCall Jr.

Release Date:

19 January 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

In this reworking of "Red Dust," showgirl Maisie Ravier is left stranded in an African village. She's given refuge by Michael Shane...

Plot Keywords:

Doctor | Showgirl | Africa | Magic | Surgery

Cast

Ann Sothern	...	Maisie Ravier
John Carroll	...	Dr. Michael Shane
Rita Johnson	...	Kay McWade
Shepperd Strudwick	...	Dr. John 'Jock' McWade
J.M. Kerrigan	...	Captain Finch
E.E. Clive	...	Horace Snell
Everett Brown	...	Jallah
Tom Fadden	...	Nelson
Lionel Pape	...	British Consul
Nathan Curry	...	Luemba
Leonard Mudie	...	Farley
Martin Wilkins	...	Zia
Ernest Whitman	...	Varnai
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
William Broadus	...	Third Witch Doctor (uncredited)
Tom Farrell	...	Sergeant (uncredited)
Buddy Harris	...	Second Witch Doctor (uncredited)
Darby Jones	...	First Witch Doctor (uncredited)

Directed by
H.C. Potter

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Wilson Collison		book "Congo Landing"
Mary C. McCall Jr.

Produced by
J. Walter Ruben	....	producer

Original Music by
Edward Ward

Cinematography by
Charles Lawton Jr.		(as Charles Lawton)

Film Editing by
Fredrick Y. Smith

Art Direction by
Cedric Gibbons

Set Decoration by
Edwin B. Willis

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Gilbert Kurland	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Walter Strohm	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Gabriel Scognamillo	....	associate art director

Sound Department
Douglas Shearer	....	recording director

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Dolly Tree	....	wardrobe

Other crew
Ralph Donaldson	....	technical advisor (as Ralph F. Donaldson)
Val Raset	....	African dances (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Loew's
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1940) (USA) (theatrical)
• Hosh Posh Video (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Hosh Posh Video (2005) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2012) (USA) (DVD) (DVD-R)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

71 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Company:

Loew's

Trivia:

"The Screen Guild Theater" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on May 29, 1944 with Ann Sothern reprising her film role.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Dr. Shane is trying to hold off the natives at the end, Maisie comes out and does some magic tricks - a color-changing scarf, and cards appearing from nowhere. Dr. Shane tells her to do more, and she says that's all she has. Yet earlier, she was doing a trick with a disappearing ball. And later she comes out doing a water trick.

Movie Connections:

Followed by Maisie Goes to Reno (1944)

Maisie Multi-Tasks in the Rain Forests -- Backwards and without the Manuel

Quick-witted, fast-talking, wise-cracking and often penniless, Miss Mary Anastasia O'Connor undauntedly takes her nightclub act on the road--usually the very long road--persevering, and performing by the stage name of Maisie Ravier.

Chapter Two of the resulting ten-film series bearing her name, and recounting her saga, finds her itinerary set in the wilderness of the Congo, hence "Congo Maisie" (MGM 1940).

While much of its cast (including J.M. Kerrigan, E.E. Clive, Everett Brown, Tom Fadden, Lionel Pape and Nathan Curry) appears in its story's periphery, the lion's share of this jungle tale concentrates upon its second leads (Rita Johnson, as Kay McWade, and Shepperd Strudwick, as Doctor John 'Jock' McWade), its leading man (John Carroll, as Doctor Michael Shane) and, especially, its ever-lovely leading lady (Ann Sothern, as Maisie Ravier).

This time around, Maisie books her nightclub act at a remote village up river from a western African port. Again impoverished, she cleverly stows away upon a river barge to attempt to reach her destination but is soon discovered by its renter, Doctor Shane (John Carroll).

Evicted from his quarters, but remaining on board, she pawns trinkets for morsels of breakfast, about which time it is learned that the barge must dock for several days because of rising waters.

Stranded from the raft, Doctor Shane reluctantly "rescues" Maisie, by inviting her to accompany him on a three- or four-mile hike through the uninviting wilderness to the nearby fortified medical research station, which he once managed.

Here, Maisie is welcomed by its current operators, Kay and Doctor John McWade (the pretty Rita Johnson and the kind and gentlemanly Shepperd Strudwick). Miss Johnson is often cast as a "foresaken first wife" or "a possessive and haughty other woman." Here, she combines the types in gentle fashion, forlorn from her station in life, and seeking the advances of a handsome suitor.

And Maisie, with her present bag of resources and presence-of-mind perception to figure the score, suddenly finds herself with her hands full, facing the breaking down of her hosts' marriage, a patient in need of emergency surgery, treacherous weather conditions, an impending attack on the fort by tribal natives, simultaneously, while trying to resolve her feud and feelings for Doctor Shane, before the raft sets sail again.