Little Women

A while back Turner Classic Movies ran two versions of Little Women. Then a couple of weeks later, the third version was run on another station (unfortunately with commercials!). I set my DVR to record them all and today I finally sat down and watched them all . . . back-to-back-to-back. I watched them in the order they were filmed.

I started with the 1933 version starring Katharine Hepburn. I'll start by saying, I enjoyed the movie. I also love Katharine Hepburn. That said, I didn't much care for the way Jo was portrayed. At least for the first 30 minutes or so of the movie. Katharine Hepburn has a husky voice to begin with and the character of Jo is a tomboy but, for whatever reason, that combination wasn't working for me.

After a while though, it seemed like the "butch-ness" of the character was toned down. Jo was still a tomboy and Katharine still had the husky voice but it seemed to fit better. Maybe I just got used to it. Whatever the case, it wasn't grating on my nerves anymore.

Bottom line, I enjoyed the movie.

Next I watched the 1949 version, starring June Allyson. According to my DVR listing, it starred June Allyson and Peter Lawford. When I started playing the movie the opening credits showed that Elizabeth Taylor and Janet Leigh were also in the movie. As I was watching it, I realized that the March's maid was played by the same person who played the cranky neighbor / Little Ricky babysitter from I Love Lucy, Mrs. Trumbell! I guess what I'm saying is that I was surprised at the number of actors I was familiar with in this version of the movie.

That said, I had the same problem with June Allyson's portrayal of Jo as I did Katharine Hepburn's. Her voice is husky and the tomboy-ishness of Jo was overplayed, in my opinion. I think what it is is that they didn't come across as feminine at all to me - and that bugged me. The difference with this version is it didn't seem to go away during the course of the movie.

Despite that, I did enjoy this version as well. There were other distractions too though. For example, this was before Elizabeth Taylor developed her classic good looks - at least in my opinion. But the character of Amy (which is the part she played) was very vain. Kind of funny / ironic, if you ask me. Oh and Janet Leigh. Very understated. I thought she did a great job as Meg. I had to keep reminding myself that it was Janet Leigh.

Then last (but not least), I watched the 1994 version, starring Winona Ryder. I think it's very possible that I liked this one best because it was the first version I ever saw of it.

But then again, I didn't have the distractions about it that I had with the others. From Winona's portrayal of Jo I got that she was a tomboy but she also was very feminine. No "butch-ness" about it.

You add to that that there was more humor in this version of the movie. Overall, the characters were more relatable in this version than in the other two versions. At least in my opinion.

They all three were good movies that I can in good conscious recommend but when it comes down to it, this one was my favorite of the three.

In a related side-bar, I also learned today that there were two silent film versions made based on the book. I don't know if there are copies out there to be had but I think it would be real interesting to see what they did with those. What do you think? Would you watch a silent film version of Little Women? Inquiring minds want to know.

July Book Review

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@Barrie Summy

I originally told Barrie that I was going to review My Life Undecided by Jessica Brody. I love the concept of this book - letting someone else make your decisions for you. It's well written and a lot of fun. And, if you've never seen Jessica's book trailers, you really should check them out because I don't think anyone does a book trailer better than Jessica - and her books live up to the trailer. So, that's my mini recommendation on that book (and Jessica's books in general).

But like the first sentence of this post suggests, I changed my mind about what I wanted to review. That's what happens when you read several good books in a month, and in particular, what happens when you read a great book AFTER you say what you're going to review. :)

That all said, I want to discuss Fairy Bad Day by Amanda Ashby. For starters, I'm a huge fan of Amanda's. Her debut book You Had Me at Halo is still among my top three favorite books of all times. So I was excited when Fairy Bad Day came out.

Here's the back blurb:

My life seriously couldn't get any worse

First, my rightful designation of dragon slayer is STOLEN right out from under my nose by Curtis Green. Sure, he's really cute, but that doesn't give him an excuse.

On top of all that, I am assigned to slay fairies. I know what you're thinking--how hard could it be, right? Wrong! These menacing beasts with their tiny hipster clothes and mocking sarcasm love taunting me. And they won't STOP!

But the thing that tops my list of stuff to ruin my day? That would be GIANT KILLER FAIRY that I have to hunt down and slay because I am the only one who can see it. There is someone who can help me. Unfortunately . . . it's Curtis.

It's going to be a Fairy Bad Day.

It's smart and funny. I loved it. I will say though, that it started slow for me. I was a couple of chapters in and kind of worried that I wasn't going to like it because it really hadn't grabbed me yet. Next thing I knew, I couldn't put it down. I highly recommend it. :)