Little Women
by Mervyn LeRoy
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Actor: Elizabeth Taylor, Janet Leigh, June Allyson, Margaret O'Brien, Peter LawfordDirector: Mervyn LeRoy
Brand: Warner Brothers
Cinematographer: Charles Edgar Schoenbaum
Producer: Mervyn LeRoy
Writer: Andrew Solt
Writer: Louisa May Alcott
Writer: Sally Benson
Writer: Sarah Y. Mason
Writer: Victor Heerman
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; Cantonese (Subtitled); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Japanese (Subtitled); Korean (Subtitled); Portuguese (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); Taiwanese Chinese (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dubbed, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 121 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-08-26
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Reviews of Little Women
DVD Review: A Good Old Fashioned Fun Film
Summary: 4 Stars
Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888)was an extremely controversial woman, the product of parents associated with the transcendentalist movement, a rabid abolitionist, an early feminist, and possibly lesbian as well. Even so, between 1868 and her death she generated a series of novels for juvenile readers which were extremely popular and which continue to be read today. Easily the most famous of these is LITTLE WOMEN, first published in 1868; it has been adapted to the dramatic stage, to the musical and opera stages; and was filmed no fewer than twelve times during the 20th Century alone.
Three of these films have been particularly famous: the 1933 film with Katherine Hepburn; the 1994 film with Winona Ryder; and sandwiched in between them the 1949 version. Released by MGM and produced and directed by Mervyn LeRoy, like many films of its era it was driven almost exclusively by star power--regardless of whether the actor in question was right for the role or not--and given every bright and colorful visual possible--whether it was appropriate or not.
The story, of course, focuses on the March girls, four daughters growing up during the Civil War under their mother's care while their father, a Union Chaplin, is away at the front. Meg (Janet Leigh) is the oldest and perhaps most sensible; Jo (June Allyson) is headstrong, boyish, and very determined to be a writer; Amy (Elizabeth Taylor) is beautiful but vain and affected; and Beth (Margaret O'Brien), the youngest, is of a noble but extremely shy disposition. Mother "Marmee" is played by the always memorable Mary Astor; father Mr. March is played by Leon Ames; and the supporting cast includes Lucille Watson, Peter Lawford, and Rossano Brazzi.
The 1949 LITTLE WOMEN isn't in the least plausible: the actresses are much too different in coloring and build to be believeable as mother and daughters, and although Mary Astor, Leon Ames, and Lucille Watson score extremely well in their performances, the rest of the cast tends to overplay wildly. Of the sisters, Janet Leigh is easily the most believeable. June Allyson is seen here at her most brash, Elizabeth Taylor is truly jaw-dropping in a blonde wig, and Margaret O'Brien too often veers into a sticky-sweetness. And yet, curiously, the whole really does work and is tremendously entertaining, the sort of thing we mean when we talk about "a good old-fashioned fun film."
Although the script leaves a lot to be desired, the story presented here is really closer to the book than the 1933 and 1994 films, and it has considerable power and authority; in watching it, you get the feeling that of all the many film versions, this is the one that Louisa May Alcott herself would have liked best. The Technicolor images are typically over the top, seeming overdone in the austere Marsh home but very on target elsewhere, and the production values are MGM at its most glossy. Mervyn Le Roy is hardly in the same league with George Cukor (neither is Gillian Armstrong for that matter), but he keeps the show moving at fast clip, and in the end it is extremely enjoyable if somewhat shallow fun. The DVD is "good" rather than fine--but whatever the case, it's a lot of fun.
GFT, Amazon Reviewer
Description of Little Women
MEG, JOSEPHINE, AMY AND BETH ARE THE LITTLE WOMEN WHO, TOGETHER WITH THEIR MOTHER, KEEP THE HOME FIRES BURNING WHILE THEIRPREACHER FATHER SERVES WITH THE UNION ARMY DURING THE CIVIL WAR.Bestsellers in DVD
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