Masterpiece Theater: Little Women

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TheLittleLady

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I’ve so much heavy stuff in my life right now, can we discuss something fun?

Have been anticipating the premiere of Little Women for some time now.

I am happy to see they are staying very true to the novel so far.

Some casting decisions are going to take me awhile to get used to. And I think that the Beth and Amy actresses are too old for the parts.

Not thrilled with the direction, do we REALLY need that many super tight close-ups?

Costumes and set design are spot on.
 
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My absolute favorite book as a kid. I’m not totally in love with this version, but I didn’t have to turn it off. 🙂 Jo was my favorite character, and I’m just not feeling it with this actress.
 
My daughter is a big fan of Louisa May Alcott and couldn’t wait for this series to begin.

She loves it and said it brought tears to her eyes watching it.

Must be a chick flick. I watched it, but found it a little on the boring side. 😃

Jim
 
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I watched it and found it quite good. I just love the actress who plays Marme. So far it is close to the book.
As an aside: Louisa May’s father Bronson Alcott was a true nutcase in his Utopian dreams. At one time he almost starved the family in one of his commune back to the earth schemes. Even Emerson and Thoreau thought he was crazy.
 
True, Bronson forced his family to be vegetarians.

In the 19th century New England, living as a vegetarian was near impossible.

As it was, when he was away on trips to Boston, the girls and their mother ate meat.

Jim
 
I have a confession to make. 😔
I tried reading that book years ago. My sister loved it, so I tried reading it.

😴 So boring. Never finished it. Maybe a film version would be better, I don’t know.
 
Winona Ryder was the perfect Jo, and in that same production Claire Danes played a very good Beth. 1994

Richard Gilliland the perfect Laurie. 1978
 
TheLittleLady said:
Winona Ryder was the perfect Jo, and in that same production Claire Danes played a very good Beth. 1994

Richard Gilliland the perfect Laurie. 1978
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So long ago, and yet it doesn’t seem that long ago to my mind.
 
I was so looking forward to this production, but ended up being a bit disappointed with it. It was very rushed and didn’t leave enough time for character development. A longer mini-series, maybe around six parts instead of three, and a better script, would make for a much more satisfying and faithful adaption.

The actress who played Jo was not very convincing in that role–although again, the script didn’t help. Take, for example, the famous scene in which she sells her hair to raise money to send her mother to Washington: the whole point was that she came by the money honestly and didn’t “beg, borrow, or steal it”–but in this adaption, she basically begs the man to take her hair and give her the money, even though he doesn’t think her hair is worth $25. Why the unnecessary change?

The one thing I thought this adaption did well was the development of Jo and Professor Bhaer falling in love. In other productions, this has often been rushed and unrealistic, but here it seemed perfectly natural and sweet–and the actor who played the professor was perfect as well.
 
I did not realize there were only three episodes! That explains why it was not over at 8 PM last night. I lasted through 90 minutes and simply had to go do other things (I rarely watch TV, had sat aside one hour on Sunday evening to watch this). As I told my husband, it is not like I don’t KNOW what happens 🙂
 
I actually didn’t realize that either; I thought it was supposed to run for one more week.
 
When I turned it off, Amy had just gone to Europe and Jo to NYC. I doubt they wrapped it in 30 minutes after that, but, maybe?
 
They did wrap it up pretty fast, actually. Last night’s episode (probably technically two episodes back to back) ran from 7:00 to 9:00 where I live, so that sounds about right if you watched 90 minutes of it.
 
I found the 2nd half last evening better than the 1st half.

I have never read the book, but my daughter is a big fan of Louisa May Alcott.

We’ve visited the Alcott House in Concord, MA many times.

FYI, she loved the series.

Jim
 
Missed this version, but I saw the Winona Ryder version and the Katherine Hepburn version.

Love the book!
 
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