Even though I haven't seen this movie in years, I still think it is the best version of Little Women I've ever seen, particularly for a TV movie. It was very well cast, was fairly faithful to the book, and contained good performances. Susan Dey and Meredith Baxter were excellent in their roles as Jo and Meg, and Robert Young, Dorothy McGuire and Greer Garson gave it class; an added extra is William Shatner as Prof. Bhaer. The care taken with costumes and other period details is obvious. It is an excellent production, and I highly recommend this version to anyone who has enjoyed the book. The other film versions are fine, too, but this one deserves more attention. What I don't understand is why this wonderful family film has not been made widely available to the public on video or DVD.
8 Reviews
Unabridged delight
Dr. Cumin15 March 2005
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.
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.
Wonderful Adaptation
libriarsque10 November 2007
Warning: Spoilers
I was so happy when this finally came out on DVD, I snapped it up and received it on my birthday! Although I wish a truly complete miniseries will appear one day, this version is very satisfying. Of course, many chapters in the novel had to be combined, e.g., Jo and Laurie's meeting and "Meg Goes to Vanity Fair" occur at the same party; and "A Telegram" and "Camp Laurence" happen on the same day. Other events were switched around chronologically; for instance, Laurie's proposal to Jo happens, as it does in all the film versions, before her trip to New York (in the novel, he proposes after she comes home). But on the whole, these changes and the necessary concessions to time constraints are handled smoothly.
Susan Dey is a wonderful Jo, and Eve Plumb manages to portray the strength in Beth's gentleness, making her much more human than earlier Beths. Greer Garson is a treat -- nice to see Aunt March as a product of her era and upbringing rather than merely crusty and bad-humoured. William Shatner's mannered style rather suits the character of Prof. Bhaer, and the rest of the cast is fine.
Some of the language and colloquialisms in the script, and the music Laurie plays on the piano, strike me as being not of the period; but these are minor, piddly flaws in an otherwise highly enjoyable adaptation.
Susan Dey is a wonderful Jo, and Eve Plumb manages to portray the strength in Beth's gentleness, making her much more human than earlier Beths. Greer Garson is a treat -- nice to see Aunt March as a product of her era and upbringing rather than merely crusty and bad-humoured. William Shatner's mannered style rather suits the character of Prof. Bhaer, and the rest of the cast is fine.
Some of the language and colloquialisms in the script, and the music Laurie plays on the piano, strike me as being not of the period; but these are minor, piddly flaws in an otherwise highly enjoyable adaptation.
great
mpgmpg1231 February 2004
This was a wonderful miniseries from 1978. I was a child when I saw it but remember it so well. It was re-run on the network in 1980,but not since then has it been seen to my knowledge. I too wish it was available on video or dvd. The performances were wonderful, especially Susan Dey at her finest as Jo. Also Eve Plumb was a great Beth. Greer Garson was a perfect Aunt March and Dorothy McGuire capped her wonderful career of playing so many mothers by playing one of literatures finest, Marmee of course. All of the other actors were very good as well. This is one of the best versions of Louisa May Alcott's classic novel, and as the other commenters here have noted, it is very accurate to the novel. I still think the Katherine Hepburn version is the best, possibly it feels most genuinely Victorian. The June Allyson version is good too, but mainly the first hour. I think also the Winona Ryder one was also wonderful. But in this one, possibly due to the length, you really felt like the novel was coming to life, if you know what I mean. I hope this comes out on video one of these days. It is a real classic.
Vote for DVD
Msrg193 September 2006
I too haven't seen this Movie (mini-series) since it was first on TV. What I remember most about it was how surprised I was to see who was chosen to play each character. Meg was the only exception. The actors did a wonderful job of bringing people I know so well to life. As a kid I read Little Women so many times I lost count. It's like comfort food to me. When I'm discouraged I pull out my old friends.
I can't remember the specific scene in the show of Beth and Jo at the seashore. But in the book Jo does take Beth to the seashore in hopes of improving her health. There Beth tells Jo she knows she is going to die soon. When they get home their parents see it too.
My husband is so sweet. He payed attention to the fact that Little Women was my favorite book as a kid. He has bought me both the British version that I've seen reviewed and the Wynona Rider version. (I all ready had the June Allison and Katherine Hepburn VHS's.) The first chance he could he took me to see the Rynona Wilder movie when it opened at the theater.
Where to we go to put our votes in to see this series put on DVD?
I can't remember the specific scene in the show of Beth and Jo at the seashore. But in the book Jo does take Beth to the seashore in hopes of improving her health. There Beth tells Jo she knows she is going to die soon. When they get home their parents see it too.
My husband is so sweet. He payed attention to the fact that Little Women was my favorite book as a kid. He has bought me both the British version that I've seen reviewed and the Wynona Rider version. (I all ready had the June Allison and Katherine Hepburn VHS's.) The first chance he could he took me to see the Rynona Wilder movie when it opened at the theater.
Where to we go to put our votes in to see this series put on DVD?
hoping to see it on DVD
dsnow-121 August 2007
This is my favorite Little Women movie I have ever watched. I haven't seen it since it has been on television. I wish they would bring it out on DVD or at the very least play it on television so my daughters could watch it.
I agree that the one who played Amy seemed a little too old for the part but since she marries Laurie (Jo's first boyfriend) in the end I'm sure they didn't want her looking too young.
I think Susan Dey did a great job as Jo. It wasn't interesting to watch her and Eve Plumb be sisters in this show since they were in two different shows back to back on Friday night.
I agree that the one who played Amy seemed a little too old for the part but since she marries Laurie (Jo's first boyfriend) in the end I'm sure they didn't want her looking too young.
I think Susan Dey did a great job as Jo. It wasn't interesting to watch her and Eve Plumb be sisters in this show since they were in two different shows back to back on Friday night.
When you make a film version of a classic novel, make it look like a classic movie!
mark.waltz9 February 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Having seen pretty much every theatrical movie version of the Louisa May Alcott novel, as well as several stage adaptions (a Broadway musical and an Off-Broadway re-telling that modernized the style, keeping the time frame), I know this story inside out and appreciate all the different variations of how the story is told. This two part TV movie is one of the longer versions, clocking in at over three hours. Hardly boring, however, it is perfectly cast, and it seems like somebody transplanted the 1949 Technicolor while inserting a 1970's cast mixed with some glorious veterans in who were big stars when that MGM version came out.
It wouldn't surprise me if MGM contract player Greer Garson was offered the role of Marmee in that version, and turned it down. Dorothy McGuire, a free lance actress at that time, takes on the role here and is absolutely windrtful, a mix of heart, humor and spunk, determined to keep the family together during the early years of the Civil War. Garson plays the crotchety Aunt Match, a far cry from Edna May Oliver, Lucile Watson, Elizabeth Patterson, Mary Wickes and Angela Lansbury, who have played that part in other filmed versions. She's beautiful but her sternness adds a sadness to her character, playing the character slightly like Miss Haversham from "Great Expectations". The other veteran is Robert Young as Mr. Lawrence, the March's neighbior, stern grandfather to Richard Gilliand ("Designing Women"), shocked when he gets pushed back after striking Theodore during an argument.
Part one goes into detail over the relationship of the four sisters, Susan Dey as the tough Jo (not really as tomboyish as in other versions), Meredith Baxter Birney as the romantically incluned Meg, Eve Plumb as the tragic Beth and Ann Dusenberry as the vindictive Amy who angrily burns Jo's manuscript after an argument. The casting of Dey and Plumb as sisters makes for a great trivia question of "What Partridge and what Brady girl played sisters in a TV movie?" The crisis of the first part details how the family deals with news that the father has been injured in battle and is in a hospital in Washington D. C. This is a gorgeous production that has moments of great drama, amusing humor and a big heart, especially from the imperious Aunt March whose own heart still beats bright under all those petticoats and corsets.
It wouldn't surprise me if MGM contract player Greer Garson was offered the role of Marmee in that version, and turned it down. Dorothy McGuire, a free lance actress at that time, takes on the role here and is absolutely windrtful, a mix of heart, humor and spunk, determined to keep the family together during the early years of the Civil War. Garson plays the crotchety Aunt Match, a far cry from Edna May Oliver, Lucile Watson, Elizabeth Patterson, Mary Wickes and Angela Lansbury, who have played that part in other filmed versions. She's beautiful but her sternness adds a sadness to her character, playing the character slightly like Miss Haversham from "Great Expectations". The other veteran is Robert Young as Mr. Lawrence, the March's neighbior, stern grandfather to Richard Gilliand ("Designing Women"), shocked when he gets pushed back after striking Theodore during an argument.
Part one goes into detail over the relationship of the four sisters, Susan Dey as the tough Jo (not really as tomboyish as in other versions), Meredith Baxter Birney as the romantically incluned Meg, Eve Plumb as the tragic Beth and Ann Dusenberry as the vindictive Amy who angrily burns Jo's manuscript after an argument. The casting of Dey and Plumb as sisters makes for a great trivia question of "What Partridge and what Brady girl played sisters in a TV movie?" The crisis of the first part details how the family deals with news that the father has been injured in battle and is in a hospital in Washington D. C. This is a gorgeous production that has moments of great drama, amusing humor and a big heart, especially from the imperious Aunt March whose own heart still beats bright under all those petticoats and corsets.
Great acting by all, but one...
Warda20 January 2001
First I'd like to say that the only drawback in this movie, is Ann Dusenberry as Amy...I didn't at all like the way she portrayed her character, she looked too old for the part and I felt she played her very coldly. With that said, I'd like to say that I've seen two other versions of Little Women, and this is the best one yet. This version's story line is closer to the book than the other two (1956 & 1994). All the actors did a wonderful job playing their roles...especially Susan Dey as Jo, Robert Young in the part of Mr Lawrence and Greer Garson as Aunt March.
For those of you who enjoy long period dramas, I'm sure you'll find this movie very entertaining!
For those of you who enjoy long period dramas, I'm sure you'll find this movie very entertaining!
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