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.