Little Women

I thought this was a beautiful movie, and very entertaining. My only real complaint is Elizabeth Taylor as Amy, (Amy is supposed to be the YOUNGEST??)I liked June Allyson as Jo, and I really liked Margaret O'Brien as Beth. I've seen the three versions of the book, and even though the one with Winona Ryder is my favorite, I really enjoyed this movie. There was one aspect that I noticed about this film. The sets are the exact same as the one with Katharine Hepburn!!!!!

This version of Little Women was the third film I ever saw, after Oliver! and Jane Eyre (1943), so that makes it special and remembered with affection. I wouldn't compare it with the 1930s and 1990s version, or the TV serial, because that wouldn't be fair. It's a product of its time, 40s MGM, and it shows. Sentimental, yes. But its almost perfect casting (many of the St Louis family including Astor and O'Brien, plus Allyson, Leigh, Lawford and Taylor) and its good heart keep it a constant favourite. I finally got a video copy last year and made my acquaintance with this peach of a film again. Highly recommended and a good tribute to all involved.

The opening scenes of Little Women are so beautifully captured on film that it looks almost like a Currier and Ives post card. It is so magically evocative of a New England in the early 1860's that the viewer is transported to that time visually and emotionally. The characters are so well crafted, warm and human that you truly wish you knew them. The way the movie glides through the season's, from the deep snows of winter, to the bright flowers of spring, through the summer into the golden hues of autumn each season is so wonderfully captured that viewers one hundred years from now will feel that they time tripped to that age so long ago. With the brutal civil war as the backdrop to the play, the movie tells the sensitive and gentle story of four young sister's on the homefront. Each sister is defined and likeable. Brought to life brilliently by June Allyson, Janet Leigh, Elizabeth Taylor and Margaret O'Brien. Each actress captured fully the innocents, decency and depth of their roles, imprinting forever the definitive characterizations that would have made Louisa May Alcott proud. I love this most beautiful work of cinematic art so much that I never tire of watching it. It is a treat for the eyes, the heart and the soul and at the end when the camera pans back to view the sky festooned with a glorious rainbow your emotions leap for joy that a movie can so utterly express the simple elegance of human decency and goodness.

I can't see why so many people writing here liked this version. I can only guess they never actually read the book. Why was Amy changed from being the youngest daughter? Why are whole threads of a very well known story changed? For example, the party scenes didn't include Amy and Beth so why put them on the stairs.

What I find even more flat about this version is that it took away all the edge in the story. This was a feminist story that dealt with issues such as slavery that aren't even addressed in this version.

Not to mention that none of the actresses look the age of their characters.

If you have to watch a film version watch the 1994 version it is better acted and appears to be adapted by someone who actually read the book and not just the cliff notes.

Out of all of the versions of "Little Women" that I've seen, this one is the only one that I've really enjoyed. I think I first saw this one when I was about 10. There isn't any one particular aspect of the movie that I like, the whole thing is marvelous. Acting, cast, costumes, you name it. I watched it again for the first time in years the other day (13 years from the first time I saw it) and it is just as good as ever. "Little Women" in my opinion, is a classic. It's a great movie for all ages. Probably not a movie most guys would want to watch being a chick flick, but great for a bunch of girlfriends hanging out, or sleepovers (that's where I first saw this version of "Little Women").