This lightweight musical depicts a world we would all like to think actually existed. It's a depression-era film that was made to give audiences some fantasy escape from harsh reality. Pip-Emma, the girl played by Gloria Jean is not really a tomboy, but she's a tough yet vulnerable, spunky kid who wants more out of life and isn't afraid to stand up for herself and take what she can, as long as nobody gets hurt. Her moral crises in the film comes about when she loses her nerve after repeated rejections by the power elite to which she has attempted to prove herself. The film is essentially about standing up to adversity and believing in oneself. The fact that it's filled with bright and shinning young people and pretty music just makes the moral that much more palatable. It hard to say just how well it would play with young people today, but it's so inherently sweet and honest, I would like to think they would enjoy it as well as the audiences of the time.
Review of The Under-Pup
