I due avventurieri

Though Louisa May Alcott's Little Women is definitely the superior book by most standards, Little Men certainly has its supporters and like Little Women it has seen many filmed versions. This particular one from RKO in 1940 starring Kay Francis as the now grownup Jo March is probably the best known.

Jo's a woman now and married to that visiting professor guy played by Carl Esmond here and they're running a school now, the Plumfield School where they try to make young gentlemen out of spirited boys. Back in the day girls were not considered to need an education, but they're kind of snuck in anyway.

George Bancroft and sidekick Jack Oakie stop by one day and deposit Bancroft's son with the school, Jimmy Lydon. Esmond who's not a worldly sort is so taken with Bancroft that he gives him their savings to invest. For all his pretensions Bancroft and Oakie are a pair of amiable grifters.

Oakie gives the best performance in the film, he steals whatever scene he's in. In fact he's the guy who comes up with a unique solution to everybody's problems in the end.

Jo March was one of Katharine Hepburn's earliest film successes back in 1933. If Kate had still been with RKO it might have been interesting to see her naturally age into the part again. As it is Kay Francis does well by Jo.

Little Men also reminds so much of a 19th century Boys Town so much so you keep waiting for Mickey Rooney to pop up. He also would have been a natural for Jimmy Lydon's part.

This version of a timeless literary classic still holds up well and is great family viewing.

LITTLE MEN (RKO Radio, 1940) directed by Norman McLeod, marks the second screen adaptation to the 1871 Louisa May Alcott novel, a sequel to her novel success of "Little Women." Being a long-awaited sequel to the studio's own LITTLE WOMEN (1933) starring Katharine Hepburn (Jo March) and Paul Lukas (Professor Bhaer), the first screen version to LITTLE MEN (Mascot, 1934) followed, featuring Erin O'Brien-Moore and Ralph Morgan to the leading characters of Jo and Professor Bhaer. Six years later, this latest installment, which could have been a scene-by-scene remake, bears little resemblance to the 1934 release. The major characters of Jo and Professor Bhaer, now enacted by Kay Francis and Charles Esmond, still manage a farming boarding school for children, encountering new situations and new characters while struggling to pay off their mortgage to keep their school open.

Set in Connecticut some years after the Civil War, the prologue begins with Major I. I. Burdle (George Bancroft) a confidence man, whose friend, Willie, the Fox (Jack Oakie) arrives with the news that their friend and fellow crook, Teddy, has died, leaving Burdle his orphan son, Danny, to raise. Burdle, who is not fond of children, decides to leave the year old infant on the doorsteps of a state orphanage. Unable to follow through his plan, Burdle has a change of heart and raises the boy as his own. Twelve years later, Burdle has raised Danny (Jimmy Lydon) to become a chiseler like himself, selling medicine bottles that cures alcoholism to suckers who buy them. Advised by a truant officer to give Danny a normal childhood by going to school, Burdle takes her advise against his own judgment. Reunited with Willie, who had escaped prison and left for dead, Burdle and he both take Danny to Plumfield Boarding School run by Jo (Kay Francis) and her Swiss husband, Professor Bhaer (Charles Esmond). Because the school is in desperate need of $5,000 before their lease expires, Bhaer, believing Burdle to be an investment broker, entrusts him his life savings of $2500 for he to invest and double the funds. While living a natural environment with the other boys and girls, Danny hates the place and longs to be with his father. Now on their own, Burdle and Willie continue selling medicine bottles. Burdle loses Bhaer's money to the Omaha Bank that has failed. To save Danny from disgrace, Burdle must come up with a miracle to honestly regain the money and save the school from closing.

The supporting cast consists of Ann Gillis (Nan); Richard Nichols (Teddy Bhaer); Casey Johnson (Robby); Johnny Burke (Silas); Lillian Randolph (Asia, the Maid); Schuyler Standish (Nat, the violinist); William Demarest (The Constable); Sterling Holloway (The Reporter); Lloyd Ingraham (The Judge), Isabel Jewell (Stella), and a cow named Elsie, introduced in the credits as "The moo girl of the New York World's Fair," playing Buttercup.

An average production that mixes sentimentality and family values in the similar fashion to BOYS TOWN (MGM, 1938) starring Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney. It is Jo who takes in every wayward child into her wing, including her own and sister's children as well. Those who remember Jimmy Lydon as the comical teenager in the "Henry Aldrich" movie series for Paramount (1941-1944), will get a glimpse of him in a serious role. That of a troublesome teen who becomes a problem to others. Of the major characters here, Jack Oakie comes off best as the bank bandit with amusing one-liners and amusing situations definitely not existent in the Alcott book. Ten minutes longer than the 1934 edition, LITTLE MEN, at 84 minutes, is satisfactory entertainment.

A public domain title, over the years, this 1940 edition of LITTLE MEN has become available on both video and DVD formats, with frequent showings on public television in the 1980s. There were limited broadcasts on cable television, such as CBN in 1987, and Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: April 16, 2007) as well. The premise of LITTLE MEN was retold again in 1998, first as motion picture and then a short-lived television series. Whether it be LITTLE WOMEN or LITTLE MEN, Louisa May Alcott's stories of family values are quite relevant today. (**1/2)

I was a little disappointed in this one as it didn't live up to my expectations. It was not nearly as good as Little Women - also written by Louisa May Alcott.

Part of the problem was the poor quality of the film itself on TCM. It had lots of scratches and white spots, as well as a soundtrack that dragged at times (especially noticeable during music). There was also frequent jumping to the film which was distracting.

I wonder the reason they replaced Katherine Hepburn's character, Jo March, with Kay Francis? Hepburn made the character so spirited - whereas Francis played it like milquetoast. The only resemblance was when Jo says the familiar "Christopher Columbus!" exclamation.

Jo March is married now with children. Her and her husband run Plumfield School Boarding school for children. George Bancroft plays a former shyster, Major Hurdle, who is "bequeathed" a baby boy, Dan, from a former hoodlum who was murdered. He grows fond of the boy and tries to live straight. When he is finally made to enroll Dan in school, he takes him to Plumfield.

There is one scene that was meant for humor - but I didn't find it at all funny. Hurdle's crooked buddy that visits the school with him gets his coat stuck in the school safe when he accidentally opens it. They go on and on with him trying to get it unstuck, finally cutting his coat loose, then trying to even the coat up - yawn, yawn, yawn.

The best thing the film has going for it is an adorable boy named Teddy (Richard Nichols) and Elsie the cow, who has the biggest, most expressive eyes. Apparently she was quite famous from the New York World's Fair and Borden milk ads.

Overall, I found the plot boring and the pace extremely slow. Not much to see here - unless you are a huge fan of Alcott and want to complete more of her film adaptations.

Not a faithful adaptation of the Louisa May Alcott book. Plumfield, originally in Maine, is now apparently in the south or a border state? Jo has lost all her spunk and vitality, and the professor (a Ph.D., for that matter) takes all the money he has and gives it over, without a thought, to charlatans because they are "good investors"? What has happened to the wise, lovable Fritz Bhaer of the earlier novel?

Nothing happens at Plumfield, except Bessie the Cow gives birth and Danny, the new boy, gets into fights. Instead, the main emphasis is on the non-Alcott material: the charlatans who sell snake oil to the masses and who crack some interesting jokes along the way. It's watchable, but not a good movie. And it's certainly not an adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women".

Jo March and her husband Professor Bhaer operate the Plumfield School for poor boys.

When Dan, a tough street kid, comes to the school, he wins Jo's heart despite his hard edge.

And she defends him when he is falsely accused.

Dan's foster father, Major Burdle, is a swindler in cahoots with another crook called Willie the Fox.

When the Plumfield School becomes in danger of foreclosure, the two con men cook up a way to save the home.

It's not a bad movie. Starts out very funny but then drifts away into schmaltzy.