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Little Women

Little Women

List Price: $19.98
Your Price: $15.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: BEAUTIFUL ADAPTATION OF A BELOVED BOOK...
Review: Based upon Louisa May Alcott's beloved book of the same name, this black and white film lovingly captures its charm. It is also a pretty faithful adaptation of Ms. Alcott's classic. Though there may be a half dozen adaptations, of the three that I have seen this one is, undoubtedly, the best. Its writing deservedly won the Academy Award in 1933 for Best Screenplay Adaptation. It is unfortunate, however, that although the film was also nominated for the Best Picture Award, it lost to "Cavalcade", a largely forgotten, lesser film.

Deftly directed by George Cukor, the film tells the story of the March family, whose patriarch has gone off to fight in the Union Army during the Civil War. Mrs. March is left to raise her four daughters, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, in nineteenth century New England. The film focuses on the personal interactions family members have with each other, as well as with their friends and neighbors, in order to create a portrait of an idealized, loving family held together during trying times. It is also a very poignant coming of age film.

The film primarily revolves around the March sisters, with the focus on independent and headstrong Jo, an aspiring writer, as well as a tomboy and second oldest of the four sisters. In addition to the March family, a wealthy neighbor's nephew, Laurie, plays a prominent role in the life of the March family, with a lesser one played by the family's wealthy Aunt March.

This film is beautifully cast, with a luminous Katherine Hepburn perfect in the lead role. As Jo March, Ms. Hepburn captures the essence of this beloved character. Feisty, independent, loving, and intelligent, her characterization of Jo is inspired, though Ms. Hepburn may not have strayed too far from her own persona.

Spring Byington is wonderful as mother to the March daughters, while Frances Dee, Jean Parker, and Joan Bennett are uniformly excellent in the respective roles of Meg, Beth, and Amy, the sisters whom Jo so dearly loves. Douglass Montgomery is superb as Laurie, Jo's best friend, though his painted lips and shadowed eyelids are a bit anachronistic and a style holdover from the silent screen era.

Paul Lukas is endearing as the Professor, Jo's mature love interest. Henry Stephensen is effective as the generous, elderly neighbor, Mr. James Lawrence, uncle to Laurie. Veteran character actress, Edna Mae Oliver, rounds out this superlative cast as cantankerous Aunt March and shamelessly steals every scene in which she appears.

This is a wonderful vintage film that would be a welcome addition to the personal collection of those who love beautifully made, classic films. Bravo!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: BEAUTIFUL ADAPTATION OF A BELOVED BOOK...
Review: Based upon Louisa May Alcott's beloved book of the same name, this black and white film lovingly captures its charm. It is also a pretty faithful adaptation of Ms. Alcott's classic. Though there may be a half dozen adaptations, of the three that I have seen this one is, undoubtedly, the best. Its writing deservedly won the Academy Award in 1933 for Best Screenplay Adaptation. It is unfortunate, however, that although the film was also nominated for the Best Picture Award, it lost to "Cavalcade", a largely forgotten, lesser film.

Deftly directed by George Cukor, the film tells the story of the March family, whose patriarch has gone off to fight in the Union Army during the Civil War. Mrs. March is left to raise her four daughters, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, in nineteenth century New England. The film focuses on the personal interactions family members have with each other, as well as with their friends and neighbors, in order to create a portrait of an idealized, loving family held together during trying times. It is also a very poignant coming of age film.

The film primarily revolves around the March sisters, with the focus on independent and headstrong Jo, an aspiring writer, as well as a tomboy and second oldest of the four sisters. In addition to the March family, a wealthy neighbor's nephew, Laurie, plays a prominent role in the life of the March family, with a lesser one played by the family's wealthy Aunt March.

This film is beautifully cast, with a luminous Katherine Hepburn perfect in the lead role. As Jo March, Ms. Hepburn captures the essence of this beloved character. Feisty, independent, loving, and intelligent, her characterization of Jo is inspired, though Ms. Hepburn may not have strayed too far from her own persona.

Spring Byington is wonderful as mother to the March daughters, while Frances Dee, Jean Parker, and Joan Bennett are uniformly excellent in the respective roles of Meg, Beth, and Amy, the sisters whom Jo so dearly loves. Douglass Montgomery is superb as Laurie, Jo's best friend, though his painted lips and shadowed eyelids are a bit anachronistic and a style holdover from the silent screen era.

Paul Lukas is endearing as the Professor, Jo's mature love interest. Henry Stephensen is effective as the generous, elderly neighbor, Mr. James Lawrence, uncle to Laurie. Veteran character actress, Edna Mae Oliver, rounds out this superlative cast as cantankerous Aunt March and shamelessly steals every scene in which she appears.

This is a wonderful vintage film that would be a welcome addition to the personal collection of those who love beautifully made, classic films. Bravo!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Inferior quality of sound and acting
Review: I cannot recommend this video. It should be taken off the market. The sound is so bad that it is not understandable and the quality of the tape and acting is unacceptable. This video was a great disappointment.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Bahhhhh!
Review: I don't lke the book, but this movie was worse. It is completly, outdated, to dark, the sound and picture is terrible, and the actresses remain the same over a ten year time span in the book. How can the same actress play 12 year old Amy and 22 year old Amy? The modern additions, must be better, athough I never quite had the courage to watch them.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Very enjoyable, very good movie
Review: I enjoyed this movie very much. I have read the book and seen the June Allyson and Winona Ryder versions. This is a good adaptation of the book, done with a gentle and loving hand. Katherine Hepburn gave a good performance as Jo, Spring Byington was very loving in the role of Marmee, and Edna May Oliver was a delight as Aunt March! Jean Parker as Beth was wonderful as the noble sufferer. She was not unlike melanie in Gone With the Wind. A good film and a good adaptation of a good story.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Very Good Adaptation of a Classic Book!
Review: I love books and I love movies that are adapted from books so today I watched the 1933 black and white version of Little Women for the first time and it is a very good movie though they left out some very good parts from the book but I still enjoyed watching this and I think Katharine Hepburn was a wonderful Jo but the rest of the cast was good too and I very highly recommend this DVD! I haven't seen the other movie adaptations of Little Women yet so I can't compare them but I do think this is a good movie and being a fan of black and white movies I can't understand why some people are bashing this because it is black and white and not color, I personally think that black and white is a beautiful art form!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Buy the June Allyson version
Review: I was very disappointed by the Katharine Hepburn version. My advice is if you want an older version [than the 1994 Winona Ryder version], buy the 1949 (June Allyson).

The Katharine Hepburn film lacks character development and story detail- to the point of being disjointed, unless you fill in the blanks from having read the book. Although Katharine is (perhaps) a prettier Jo, she doesn't convey emotion or the bond with Beth as believably as June does. I also prefer Janet Leigh as Meg and Margaret O'Brien as Beth, not to mention the actresses for Marmee... 1949 is far better than 1933. Further, in the Katharine Hepburn version the vocabulary is more stilted and repetitive. ("elegant" is extremely over-used in this film... take a scene at Mr. Lawrence's party: Amy played by Elizabeth Taylor says of Mr. L "isn't he perfectionary?", while the Joan Bennett Amy says "isn't he elegant?" Just doesn't have the same impact.)

All-in-all, the June Allyson version is my personal favorite, though the Winona Ryder version is also good... keeping in mind that the characters in the 1994 version have a bit of a modern way about them that doesn't seem in keeping with the attention to historical and literary accuracy that otherwise marks the film. Also, if you are concerned about Christian modesty, the 1994 version has a rather risqué scene (Sally Gardner's "coming out"), complete with innuendo by Laurie.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: delightful experience
Review: Katharine Hepburn stars as the tomboy Jo March in the first screen version of Louisa Allcot's classic LITTLE WOMEN.

Under George Cukor's inspired direction, Hepburn gives one of her best and most celebrated performances. As the quick-witted, sharp-tongued and accident-prone Jo, Hepburn is wonderful.

She later remarked that Jo was a role she always dreamt of playing. She believed that she and Jo were not that different - both were the tomboy and both were highly dramatic.

The supporting cast is first-rate. Spring Byington, Joan Bennett and Paul Lukas are put to good use here, as is the wonderful Frances Dee.

Later re-made with June Allyson, and more recently with Winona Ryder, LITTLE WOMEN is a timeless story of sisterly love and utter devotion.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Kate and Jo
Review: Katherine Hepburn brings the Little Women heroine Jo March alive in a portrayal that truly does justice to the Jo that Louisa May Alcott wrote. Courageous and creative, but socially awkward, Jo charms us with her tomboy attempts to deal with adolescence during the difficulties of the Civil War. Though a film is of necessity a rather shortened version of a book, the essential feel of the book is intact in this film version.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Absolutely Fabulous !!!
Review: Little Women certainly is the first black-and-white movie i have ever seen and certainly is the BEST one!! I used to think black-and-white movies are gonna be very boring and i'll fall asleep while i'm watching it. But Little Women is such a good film that i can't fall asleep and have already seen it for serval times!!! I can't tell you how fabulous this film turly is. It's simply too perfect for words!! So, just buy this dvd if you're looking for a really nice classic film!! Loves it!


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