More than 150 days ago , Louisa May Alcott ’s novel , " Little Women " was publish to overnight succeeder . Although it was based loosely on her own family , Alcottreportedly resistedthe idea of writing aromantic coming - of - long time storyabout girls , choose or else the sensational tales of adventure that she pen under a pseudonym .
The sister in the Holy Scripture , Jo , Meg , Amy and Beth , were a far cry from the drippy heroine plant in likewise themednovelsof the era . Highly individuated and stereotype - defying , these characters still speak to us a century and a half later . Maybe that internal resistivity to the typical " girls ' story " genre of the time is part of what makes " Little womanhood " so enduring a novel . A string of novel adaptations mark the book ’s hundred-and-fiftieth birthday ( let in two young movies , one update to the present dayand aBBC miniseries ) . These entries are the latest in a long custom of bring " Little Women " to the screenland . Here , in order of appearance , are the four major movement word picture made from the book and what they say about their times :
Hey Katharine!
Movies had only been talking for six eld when manager George Cukor team up up with David O. Selznick to film " Little Women . " A major studio apartment undertaking , the movie features extremely high product values for its time . Of naturally , the whizz up the film ’s sleeve was the youthful Katharine Hepburn cementing her bud stardom as Jo . In the list of notable Jo ’s , Hepburn ranks arguably at the top .
Made in 1933 , " Little Women " was a true merchandise of the Depression in its emphasis on nostalgia . The present , frankly , sucked , and what audience wanted was an escape to childlike , well time . The fact that " Little Women " was limit during the upheavals of the American Civil War did n’t seem to trouble the cinema ’s proposition that the mid-19th century was an era to remember fondly . Of course , the emphasis in the movie on frugality and making the best of one ’s circumstance would have vibrate with depressive disorder - era audiences .
It ’s interesting to think that when RKO Radio Pictures released " Little Women , " there were still Americans around who remember living through the Civil War . For added verisimilitude , Katherine Hepburn consultedold tintype photosof her grandmother when working with the costume interior designer . The movie ’s backward glance theme also swear out to admit the newfangled power of the " talkie " to revive and preserve the past . To quote the movie’strailer , " This field bid you a invaluable support memory ! "
Hey Liz!
World War II was well in the rearview mirror when David O. Selznick decide to give " Little Women " another pass . The first version had been such a Brobdingnagian succeeder , he hope lightning might strike twice . Although he eventually bowed out of the undertaking and sold it off to MGM , the handwriting and scotch remained almost identical to the 1933 version .
But there were two crucial raw elements : The first , of course , was the casting , which featured Elizabeth Taylor in the role of Amy , a few years after her star - cook turn in " National Velvet . " ( Jo was played , less unforgettably , by June Allyson ) . The second was a minuscule invention calledTechnicolor . Would Liz Taylor have become such a monumental star without colour film to show off those illustrious reddish blue eye ?
The economic manna from heaven of the 1950s was just around the corner when this flick was loose in 1949 . The Cold War and the slow - burn nuclear incubus that was to haunt it remained little more than a rumor . In tribute to the epoch ’s commitment to consumerism , the screenwriters added a picture in which the miss and their mother go out for amerry round of Christmas shopping . This must have come as a surprise to fans of the record , in which the household ’s penury is a key component . Cheerfully ignoring such mutual exclusiveness , this " Little Women " project an aureole of reckless optimism , even going so far as to market the lead characters as " The happiest masses this side of heaven . "
Hey Winona!
Collaborating with screenwriter Robin Swicord , director Gillian Armstrong create afresh take on the honest-to-goodness classicin 1994 by imagining how Louisa May Alcott might have written the story had she been liberated from the cultural shackles that constrained her storytelling in the nineteenth 100 . After all , in her personal life , Alcott stick true to Jo ’s determination never to hook up with , although , at the insistence of her newspaper publisher and readers , she felt compelled to geminate her heroine off with someone . ( In this case , it was n’t with the expect handsome boy - next - door Laurie , but the older Professor Bhaer . )
Somehow remain true to the spirit of the novel , Armstrong and Swicord effortlessly dovetailed in Modern details that nevertheless sense authentic . In this telling , the matriarch of the March family , Marmee , is not a soft - hearted sufferer , but a strong proto - suffragette , promoting education and voting right for women . This element too , was drawn from real life — Alcott was an early champion of suffrage and was the first cleaning lady inConcord to cross-file to vote .
Of course , none of this would act upon without the stellar cast , which reads like a who ’s who of ' 90s actors : Winona Ryder , Kirsten Dunst , Claire Danes , Samantha Mathis , Christian Bale , Gabriel Byrne . And , above all , Susan Sarandon anchors the cinema in the role of Marmee . For many people , this isthedefinitive version of " Little Women . "
Hey Saorise!
But a new edition could challenge its mastery . Saoirse Ronan headliner as Jo in a 2019 remaking helmed by Greta Gerwig . The moving-picture show also stars Emma Watson , Timothy Chalamet and Meryl Streep , as the testy Aunt March . dedicate that Ronan ’s hugely successful debut film , " Lady Bird " was about a smart , complicated untested woman it sounds like a perfect fit . As was the case with the 1994 rendering , Gerwig puts a feminist spin on the stuff and contain topic from Alcott ’s personal aliveness . But unlike former adaptation , this one start up with the March Sister as adults and jiffy back to their childhood . Early reviewshave been almost uniformly glowing .
