THE UNDERPUP

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 38, 15 March 1940, Page 30

THE UNDERPUP

(Universal) Comparisons may be odious, but Universal seem to me to have gone out of their way to invite them in "The Underpup." They appear to have done everything possible to label their newest child prodigy, 11-year-old Gloria Jean, as a pocket edition of Deanna Durbin. It is surely not merely a coincidence that both "The Underpup" and the Deanna Durbin pictures are made by the same director and producer; that the stories have much in common; that Nan Grey, who has often acted as Deanna’s screen sister, should act in much the same capacity for Gloria Jean; and that the new "discovery" should be dressed, made up, photographed. and recorded in such a way that you are inevitably reminded of the first and youngest of the Three Smart Girls. All this, I feel, is hardly fair to Gloria (quite apart from loading the poor child with such an impossible title as "The Underpup"). She is a clever enough lixtle actress in her own right, and a fine enough little singer, to give an indication of what she might become if allowed to develop as herself and not as

the reflection of someone else. But will she ever get the chance? I doubt it. It’s probably too late now. In fact, this picture epitomises one of the greatest faults and tragedies of the Hollywood cinema- its slavish copycatting; so that a bright new personality is seldom hdiled as having any special merits of her own, but. merely as a "Second Somebody-or-Other." Thus success breeds stagnation. It’s a solemn thought. However, I wish little Gloria Jean the best of luck. I hope that next time a director tries to make her look like Deanna Durbin she behaves with some of the engaging toughness she exhibits in "The Underpup" and kicks him in the shins. I only hope she doesn’t take the moral of this particular story too much to heart and really become like one of those obnoxious, snobbish little Penguins whom, as one of the underprivileged classes, she strives so hard to emulate. The Penguins, you see, are a club of horrid little rich girls who, just to show their superiority, invite a poor little girl from the slums to be their guest at a summer holiday camp. They make her life thoroughly miserable with a display of catty bad manners; but the dear child takes it all on

the chin and comes up smiling. Her behaviour, which is a composite of hitting back and turning the other cheek, proves so effective that in the end she softens the meanest hearts and is accepted as one of the snobby sisterhood, complete with uniform and Penguin badge. It doesn’t seem to occur to anybody that, considering everything, becoming a Penguin might be a doubtful privilege.