Tomboy

Teenaged orphan Steve lives in a small town with his Aunt Martha and Uncle Matt. Life is tough under his hard-hearted uncle's strict tutelage. Steve's prospects brighten considerably when he befriends new schoolmate Pat Kelly, a motherless tomboy whose father, Charlie, is a famous baseball pitcher. After Uncle Matt wrongly accuses the lad of stealing money, Steve decides to run away from home - but trouble follows close behind.

During the early 1940s Jackie Moran and Marcia Mae Jones starred in a handful of modest productions for Monogram Pictures. Their films were geared to juvenile audiences in small towns and rural areas, and Tomboy reflects that demographic emphasis. This frankly sentimental movie unashamedly manipulated viewers' heartstrings, but to a country just emerging from the Great Depression and on the verge of entering World War II, it provided wholesome and uplifting entertainment.

• drama