Little Women will not be in the theaters until Christmas, but the reviews are starting to appear and they are generally quite good. While there have been at least eight cinematic versions of the great Reconstruction Era Young Adult novel, Slate says this is the best one ever. From the review:
“Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents,” begins the first line of Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel Little Women—words that can be seen in close-up, being copied out in looping 19th century script, at one point (not the beginning) of Greta Gerwig’s very 21st century adaptation. Glad tidings for audiences who, like the book’s tomboyish protagonist Jo March, might be grumpily anticipating a holiday season devoid of pleasures: Gerwig’s first film since her solo directing debut, Lady Bird (she had previously co-directed a movie with Joe Swanberg), arrives as a present in itself. Set to roll out on Christmas Day, as crammed with gorgeous movie stars in luscious period costume as a fruitcake is with candied nuts and cherries, this is the kind of holiday blockbuster that would likely haul in the seasonal family crowd even if it weren’t hugely entertaining—as it is—and didn’t seal the deal on Gerwig as a major new filmmaking talent—as it does…
Alcott’s story has a long history on screen as well. In addition to two silent versions, both now lost, there was George Cukor’s sparkling 1933 adaptation with Katharine Hepburn as Jo, which won an Oscar for best screenplay, Mervyn LeRoy’s lukewarmly reviewed but very successful 1949 remake with Elizabeth Taylor in the role of Amy, and Gillian Armstrong’s fondly remembered 1994 version starring Winona Ryder, Christian Bale, Susan Sarandon, and Kirsten Dunst. But no Little Women movie until Gerwig’s has pulled off the feat of finding just the right actor for nearly every role. Hepburn, for example, made a convincingly fiery Jo, but Douglass Montgomery as her neighbor, best friend, and eventual suitor Theodore “Laurie” Laurence was something of a damp rag.
Follow Reconstruction Blog on Social Media:
