I agree with some of the things people were expressing about June Allyson. She, unlike Hepburn, seemed to become Jo, and just seemed to fit into the role much better. Of course, as Dr. Campbell noted, she takes out any inner struggle or intellectuality, but I feel that there isn’t much to begin with from the novel. Don’t get me wrong, Jo is my favorite character, no matter what anyone says, I am biased from my opinions as a child, and am obstinate. When I reread Little Women it shocked me how different Jo was than I remembered and had turned her into after growing up enjoying the 1949 version. Maybe that I was exposed to this travesty of a film first has ruined my ability to critique fairly, but after reading it again, I feel that Jo was more one-planed than I remember. She “prances” around, is boyish, has a quick temper and likes to write. There is only one time that she is even exposed to a gathering of “intellectuals,” and until the Professor steps in, she is completely doubting her faith in God and taken by the pompous philosophers. She sees through some of them and is disappointed, but still questions all that she has based her life on. That’s not exactly the character I had imagined her as, or the one other people try to portray her as. She is not experienced, and simple, as the narrator would much prefer, and most importantly, she has a good heart and is willing to work. I don’t really like any of the three films’ depiction of Jo, but I still think that Allyson’s was the best. Though it’s an awful film, it is easier for me to imagine her as Jo. As I said in my earlier post, Hepburn was unnatural and too “big” for the role, and Winona Ryder was just boring. I like her as an actress, but she seemed to (and this may be the screenwriter’s fault) be the matured and subdued Jo after Beth’s death-the ENTIRE movie. She doesn’t capture Jo’s spirit, and though she is a great actress, she didn’t offer the vibrancy and the confidence that Jo should exude. …finally, this is all my OPINION on choices in actresses, so please don’t crucify me people, I realize I have my biases.