Part I

This was a very nice production from the late seventies that deserves to be seen. A tad dated, but in a charming way. It is the only version of Little Women that I've viewed that really plays up Jo March's temper, which is this huge issue in the novel. Wynona Ryder was charming in the latest version, but she wasn't Jo. She probably would have been a better Meg. Katharine Hepburn and June Allyson were appropriately tomboyish but they were victimized by time constraints although I love both those versions (save the hideous casting of Margaret O'Brien as Beth)

I once read somewhere that this was Susan Dey's favorite role and she really is very fine although of course too pretty, but I guess no one wants to see a Jo March who is really and truly plain. I believe Edith Head did the costumes and Elmer Bernstein the music and it's plain that a lot of care was taken with this production. I was particularly moved by the scene with Jo and Beth at the seashore. All of the actresses were well cast, Amy was bratty, yet you completely buy into her transformation as an adult, and the romance between Meg and John Brooke was nicely handled. In some of the other versions, again due to time constraints, their romance is underdeveloped to the extreme! The exception is the pretty good BBC adaptation that was also a miniseries. That version had a terrific John Brooke, if you care.