I dig the LeRoy verison.
Posted by robyngiannini on February 27th, 2007
By the way Dr. Campbell was going on about the 1949 version of Little Woman, I thought it would be something that could contend with “Punch Drunk Love” or “Marie Antoinette” for the most worthless movie ever. But I was pleasantly surprised! (I won’t be at the screening tomorrow so I watched it today) I think the LeRoy version of Little Woman had a lot of really good things going on. Okay, the use of music, weather, and scenery to relate to the plot was extremely cheesy at best. And Elizabeth Taylor as Amy was obviously insane. She was tremendously awful. But besides that, I really had little to complain about. I don’t know that much about movies–maybe it’s not technically up to par or something, but I really loved the portrayal of the characters and their interactions with one another (again, with the exception of Amy). Joe was no Katherine Hepburn, but I thought she was much more realistic, in an unrefined way. And younger. The characters were generally more believable. The 1949 version I think really captured the fact that they are just kids. The girls have these high aspirations and standards for themselves, but they are just kids.
I enjoyed the chemistry between Laurie and Jo too. It was lighthearted and jovial with some subtle deep meanings behind it–I could really see the complicated web of emotions that was going on between them–their friendship, Laurie falling for her, her uncertainty and general avoidance of romance and growing up, etc. The characters and their interactions aren’t one dimensional, and I saw the varying levels of personality in this version of Little Woman.
Beth was adorable too. I didn’t like Beth in the book or the first movie; but she seemed like an actual human in this movie.
Can I just say, my favorite quote from the movie was that random weird guy who asked Jo to dance. She said that she wasn’t fond of dancing, and he replied with the goofiest grin imaginable, “I’m enthusiastic for it!”
Wow.
Also–the BEST character was Sophie. I mean, what was her deal? I just couldn’t figure her out. She was great.
And of course the ending. For those of you who havn’t seen the screening yet, I won’t give it way, but oh boy. That was beautiful. Just beautiful.