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Little Women - 1994
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1994's "Little Women" is our next look at our series on Louisa May Alcott's classic story of four women who grow up in the midst of the Civil War. This version comes nearly fifty years after its previous incarnation.
The film's cast includes Winona Ryder, Susan Sarandon, Gabriel Byrne, Trini Alvarado, Samantha Mathis, Kirsten Dunst, Claire Danes, Christian Bale, Mary Wickes, Eric Stoltz, Donal Logue, and Beverley Elliott.
As ever, our setting is the town of Concord, Massachusetts, in a bitterly cold winter.
Inside the March family home, the young March sisters live with their mother, anxiously awaiting any news from of their father, who is off fighting in the American Civil War.
Though all of the other films mention and portray it in some variation, this one delves deeply into the world of Jo's imagination and her late night scribbling.
The March girls are full of compassion for their fellow man. On Christmas Day, they decide to give their breakfast to a needy family. "Lovely weather for a picnic!" shouts Jo sarcastically to the neighbors.
Jo wonders incessantly about the boy who lives in the grand house next door. Both Jo and Laurie, as the boy is known, peer at each other through their windows.
To pass away the long winter evenings, Jo and her sisters have formed the "Pickwick Society", where they read stories, act in wild theatricals, and muse about their wishes for life. "We'll all grow up someday. We might as well know what we want," says young Amy.
Eventually, Jo and Laurie get to meet for the first time. In a departure from the other two films, Laurie is not actually ill when Jo meets him. They meet at a dance they both are attending.
The long winter days are filled with trials for the Marches. Meg must work as a governess to a couple of unruly charges. "Lovely children," Jo remarks sarcastically when she sees them making faces through a window.
And Jo must read for "hours and hours" to her Aunt March ("the crabby old miser") and act as her companion. She clings to the hope that Aunt March will take her to Europe one day.
Amy faces her own trials at school when she's struck by the teacher and has to endure peer pressure over trading "limes". She's also obsessed with having her nose shaped.
Jo continues to write little plays for her and her sisters to perform. Eventually, she recruits Laurie to join their group.
And the girls take Laurie straight to their hearts as they would a brother. Laurie accompanies Meg to a dance and kids her about the way she's dressed and made-up. He also delights in telling Jo about a flirtation between Meg and his tutor, John Brooke.
As it happens in all versions of the story, Jo sells her hair when Marmee needs money to visit their wounded father in Washington. "Your one beauty!" moans Amy.
While Marmee is gone, Beth takes it upon herself to visit a poor family that had been looked after by her mother. She contracts scarlet fever and becomes deathly ill.
The entire March family rejoices in her eventual recovery. Mr. Laurence from next door even provides her a better piano than the one she had. Beth lovingly touches the keys before beginning to play a merry holiday tune.
As time passes, things in the March family change. Meg marries John Brooke.
And Amy, who has shown great artistic talent, heads off with Aunt March on Jo's coveted trip to Europe.
When Jo feels she's being left behind in life, she vents her frustrations to Marmee. With her mother's blessing, Jo decides she needs a change and heads to the big city of New York.
There she meets Professor Friedrich Bhaer, and the two get along famously.
He opens her up to new worlds, such as the opera, and also to romance.
Meanwhile, as Amy studies painting in Europe, she meets up with Laurie, who has run off after being refused by Jo after Meg's wedding. The two strike up a difficult relationship, which ultimately ends in their marriage.
Jo leaves New York after hearing that Beth has taken a turn for the worse. Beth's death scene is very well done. Beth talks with Jo and says, "I don't like being left behind. Now I am the one who is going ahead". She slips away peacefully while Jo is laying beside her.
After Beth's death, we learn that Amy is unable to return home from Europe because Aunt March has suddenly become bed ridden. All of the stress of her family situation sends Jo reeling.
In her grief, however, she finds the inspiration to create her greatest work, a novel about her and her sisters. After completing it, she sends it on to Professor Bhaer for his thoughts and impressions.
Eventually, Amy returns home as Mrs. Amy Laurence, now being married to Laurie. She asks Jo if she minds, and Jo warmly smiles and embraces her sister.
After Aunt March's death, we find out that the old lady has left Jo her enormous house. Jo decides to open it as a school.
Professor Bhaer arrives and brings Jo's newly published book. He also proposes, and she accepts happily.
Cast rundown:
Winona Ryder.....................................Jo March
Susan Sarandon.................................Mrs. Abigail March
Gabriel Byrne.....................................Professor Bhaer
Trini Alvarado.....................................Meg March
Samantha Mathis................................Older Amy March
Kirsten Dunst.....................................Younger Amy March
Claire Danes.......................................Beth March
Christian Bale.....................................Theodore Laurence
Mary Wickes.......................................Aunt March
Eric Stoltz..........................................John Brooke
Donal Logue.......................................Jacob Mayer
Beverley Elliott....................................Irish Maid
And that's it for this edition of Little Women. I think out of all the adaptations this one is the most beautifully filmed. It also delves more into the lives of the March sisters as individuals, instead of just in relation to Jo. This version of the film is the only one we profile where Amy is played by two different actresses at the different stages in her life. All of the others use only one actress to portray her from adolescence to adulthood.
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