I'm probably not the target audience for this movie, so take my review with a grain of salt. I've also never read Louis May Alcott's novel, so I can't speak to how good an adaptation this is. But as a stand alone movie, George Cukor's 1933 version of this classic story is just too saccharine to bear.
To modern audiences, Katharine Hepburn is obviously the draw, and this was one of two movies released in 1933 -- the other, "Morning Glory," featuring the first of her record four Oscars -- that vaulted her to stardom. It's easy to see why -- her fiery, take no prisoners screen presence immediately places anyone else she happens to be in a scene with under her shadow. But Cukor would have done well to reign her in a bit in this film. Her Jo is a frantic, spastic creation at first, and Hepburn's performance is all over the place when trying to portray her as a young woman on the cusp of adulthood. As Jo matures, Hepburn settles down and her performance becomes more assured. But even without that, the story is just so maudlin and sentimental, and all the characters so goody goody, that I don't think a better lead performance would have made the movie any more enjoyable for me.
"Little Women" won the Oscar for Best Writing-Adaptation at the 1932-33 Academy Awards, and it also won nominations for Best Picture and Best Director (Cukor). Bit of Oscar trivia: 1932-33 was the last year the Academy split the award year over different calendar years. Beginning with the 1934 awards, the eligibility period would run from January 1 through December 31 as it does now. But in order to correct the schedule, the 1932-33 eligibility period ran from August 1 of 1932 through December 31 of 1933, meaning a whopping 16 months worth of films were eligible, the only time in Oscar history when an eligibility period was longer than 12 months.
Grade: B-
To modern audiences, Katharine Hepburn is obviously the draw, and this was one of two movies released in 1933 -- the other, "Morning Glory," featuring the first of her record four Oscars -- that vaulted her to stardom. It's easy to see why -- her fiery, take no prisoners screen presence immediately places anyone else she happens to be in a scene with under her shadow. But Cukor would have done well to reign her in a bit in this film. Her Jo is a frantic, spastic creation at first, and Hepburn's performance is all over the place when trying to portray her as a young woman on the cusp of adulthood. As Jo matures, Hepburn settles down and her performance becomes more assured. But even without that, the story is just so maudlin and sentimental, and all the characters so goody goody, that I don't think a better lead performance would have made the movie any more enjoyable for me.
"Little Women" won the Oscar for Best Writing-Adaptation at the 1932-33 Academy Awards, and it also won nominations for Best Picture and Best Director (Cukor). Bit of Oscar trivia: 1932-33 was the last year the Academy split the award year over different calendar years. Beginning with the 1934 awards, the eligibility period would run from January 1 through December 31 as it does now. But in order to correct the schedule, the 1932-33 eligibility period ran from August 1 of 1932 through December 31 of 1933, meaning a whopping 16 months worth of films were eligible, the only time in Oscar history when an eligibility period was longer than 12 months.
Grade: B-