Stephanie H.'s Blog

It is amazing how funny and cheesy the 1949 movie seems when view by today’s audience.  I found the first half of the movie to be quite amusing.   Especially when Jo’s dress catches on fire and Laurie is whacking her butt to put it out.  That got a laugh out of everyone.  The phrases used are silly. Liz Taylor as Amy is a riot.  She was definitely miscast.  When she gets punished by her teacher, it seems almost like a sexual game between two adults, not a child being reprimanded.  Jo is a little too brazen and obnoxious in this version.  I don’t feel like she is annoying like that in the book. 

I watched the 1994 version again this weekend, and I would have to say that it is definitely my favorite out of all the movies.  The casting accurately portrays the characters the way that I picture the girls in the novel. Winona Ryder embodies perfectly the characteristics of Jo.  I also feel that Beth is finally shown in a way that demonstrates her importance to the family. 

I think Jo had goods reason to marry Professor Bhaer.  It would seem strange for someone in today’s time to marry someone so much older, but back then, it was not as unusual.  I think that he seems ideal for Jo because of all the knowledge he possesses, and his experiences overseas.  These are both things that she yearns for and she is getting them vicariously through his stories.  He is intriguing to her because he is so complex.  She refuses Laurie because he cannot give her that intellectual challenge that she longs for, and when she meets Bhaer, she finally gets what she is looking for. 

I was shocked in class today that so many people hate Beth and feel that she is insignificant.  I think she is a large part of the story and is an interesting character.  Beth represents another side of Jo. She is her mysterious, quiet side.  Beth may not be outgoing and strong like the rest, but Alcott would not have included her in the book if she wasn’t so important in relaying the story. 

Beth is childlike and innocent, and I think that is why we all can relate to her.  Every single one of us in this class was like that at one point during childhood, so to say that you cannot relate to her is wrong.  I think that sometimes we all would like to go back to seeing the world through “Beth’s eyes” because there is so much out there that is devastating, but to a child, things are not so complex.

For me, I think that the reason why people don’t really care for Meg and Amy is that they are too worldly with their thinking.  They are both shallow, and care too much about what other people think and want, instead of following their own hearts.  Meg does redeem herself when she goes against what society would expect of her by marrying the poor Mr. Brooke for love, not money.     Amy continues with her selfish ways by marrying Laurie for his money.

I remember watching Armstrong’s version of Little Women when I was in fifth grade.  I instantly loved it, and it has remained one of my favorite movies ever.  I had to read the book, and I loved that as well.   Then, I was required to perform one of the scenes for class.  Of course I just had to be Jo, and my friends agreed to let me play her.  I can’t remember what scene we performed, but I do remember practicing for it in a long, old dress.  I am excited that we get a whole unit focused on this story that I absolutely love. 

I think the graph analyzing the scene from Miller’s Crossing was quite interesting.  I would have never thought about it that way if I hadn’t seen the cuts broken down like that.  In fact, I didn’t take 245, so today was the first time I have ever heard of a “cut.”  Once I learned what a cut was, it was easy to spot out in the clip we watched in class. The graph was right on and I found myself checking to see how long each cut was, and if it corresponded with the graph.   It is amazing to me that a filmmaker can take all those little clips and transform them into a movie.  I will definitely pay more attention to the cuts of a movie in the future.

Out of all the movies we have watched so far, I have enjoyed Miller’s Crossing the most.  I guess because it is newer, and seems more similar to the kind of movie making that I am used to seeing.  One thing in the movie that really stands out to me is the reoccurrence of the hat.  Also, the ice in the glass is an image that we see quite frequently throughout the movie.   Gabriel Byrne’s portrayal of Tom is right on and shows the nonchalant air that Ned has in the novel.  This movie is more about the gangster side of the story, and Tom really shows the quick thinking characteristics that Ned has more so than some of the other “Ned based characters” in the other movies.  

Sanjuro and Ned have a lot of in common.  They both seem like lost wandering souls who need a goal in life. Once each of them fulfills their purpose, they leave their respective towns, I would hope in search of a new adventure.  They both appear to be thrill seekers because they each sought out a problem to get involved with.  Ned didn’t have to get caught up in solving Taylor’s murder, but he did so because of the gamble involved.  Likewise, Sanjuro came into a strange town looking for some action, and he got it by placing himself in the middle of the mob wars. 

 I haven’t seen a Japanese movie before, or a film with subtitles throughout the whole movie, so that was hard to get used.  At first, I thought the movie was boring, but then as the plot thickened, it got interesting.  The samurai is tough and everyone is so scared of him, yet he uses his mind, more than his strength to defeat the evildoers in the town.  I also noticed that the fight scene where the samurai is beat up is very similar to The Glass Key, and his escape was also like Ned’s escape. 

I found there to be a likeness to Kill Bill as well, and I know that Tarantino took a lot of inspiration from this type of movie.  The first thing that I noticed is that the wife’s name is Oren, and that is the name of Lucy Liu’s character in Kill Bill too.  Both characters are strong women, who eventually get killed.  Also, Oren in Yojimbo runs a brothel, and Liu’s Oren posed as a prostitute to kill an enemey.  Oren is the wife of a mob boss in Yojimbo, and Oren is the Japanese mob boss in Kill Bill.  Based on these similarities, I think that there is a good chance that Tarantino might have based Liu’s character on Kurasawa’s Oren.

I also found another scene in Yojimbo that I think Tarantino used in Kill Bill.  At the end, the samurai scolds the boy whom he encounterd at the beginning of the film, and sends him back to his family instead of killing him.  The bride in Kill Bill,  has a similar scence when she fights the crazy 88.  She spanks a young man, and then lets him go, instead of killing him like she did the rest of her attackers. 

Paul is really a character in the movie.  He provides comic relief in the film, whereas I didn’t really get that impression from the book.  He cracked me up throughout the whole movie.  First, in the beginning, he gets slapped by Janet, and seems to enjoy it.  Then, he throws a boy out of the window.  He also throws a shoe at Nick’s thug.  I thought that he came off as a horny schoolboy the way that he pursues Janet.  The killer was definitely at the end when Ed thinks that he wants to shake his hand, but then Paul tells him that he wants Janet’s hand, and he shamelessly takes the ring from off her finger.  Hilarious. 

After watching the first half of the movie, I noticed several differences from the novel.    For instance, in the movie Ned’s name is Ed, and Shad’s name is Nick.  Opal is Paul’s sister instead of his daughter.   Also. right off the bat, the order of events were not the same.  At the beginning of the movie, Shad (Nick) meets with Paul after his building have been closed.  Also, Paul goes to Ned’s  (Ed) room early on in the movie, and this doesn’t happen until the end of the book.  Paul has brown hair in the film, which I thought was strange since Hammett makes it a point to keep repeating that he has blonde hair. 

It is funny to see how Janet comes on so strongly to Ned.  She bats her eyes, and flirts with him every chance she gets.  It is very obvious that she is completely taken by him.  I don’t feel that the book really shows this until the hospital visit .  In the movie, Ned seems equally attracted to her right from the start.