My wife and I sometimes laugh about how very similar and yet somehow completely different our lives were growing up. We shared the same conservative religion, had caring yet eccentric parents, and had two siblings each. We both grew up in small towns in deeply red states.
Buy Little Women (1994) 4K UHDBut pop culturally, we were worlds apart. My wife’s parents are proud of the fact that they didn’t even own a television until she was a teenager, and even then, they never subscribed to cable. Whereas I was practically raised by TV. When we first got married, I was constantly asking her if she’d seen some show or movie or watched a particular music video and her answer was always “no.” She grew up listening to Broadway musicals and reading Jane Austen. I watched movies with Freddy Krueger and Snake Plissken and my favorite book was Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris.
Through the years, she has often tried to teach me about the things she loves and I have shown her the things I adore. We have both had little success in winning the other to our side. I have tried to read Jane Austen on several occasions and never made it past the first chapter. I did enjoy Jane Eyre many years ago and maybe that was my first step inside her world. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come around a little to her way of thinking. A few years back she made me sit through the A&E miniseries adaptation of Pride & Prejudice with Colin Firth (it was her third try to do so) and I found myself enthralled.
As I get older, the more in tune I am with the romantic carryings-on of the genteel poor in the 18th and 19th centuries. That was previously always one of my problems with these stories. They are always about fine young women who decry their wretched poverty while living in fairly large houses with at least one servant and whose daily needs are always met. Their only real hardship is finding a man to marry. Not even that, as there always seems to be at least one suitor, the trouble is finding a man who is of the right class, has plenty of money, and with whom they are in love. In my youth, I had a hard time finding a way to care about these difficulties. I guess I’m becoming an old sap, for I do find myself not only caring about these troubles but being utterly moved by them.
And here, finally, we come to Little Women. Despite her not actually wanting to write it, and initially thinking it was not very good, Louisa May Alcott’s novel was an immediate success upon its publication in 1868 and 1869 (it was initially published in two volumes) and has remained a perennial favorite ever since. It has been adapted numerous times for the stage and screens (both small and big). I ran the lights for a musical version of the story while in college.
As such, I’m not sure I need to delve too heavily into the plot. It follows the lives of the four March sisters – prim and proper Meg; Jo, who loves to write stories and buck societal norms; the sweet and quiet Beth; and Amy the youngest – as they grow up and become women in 19th century Massachusetts. I have never read the book, but I’ve seen a few cinematic adaptations of it and at least one television serial. Like those Jane Austen stories, I at first didn’t much care for Little Women. It was too “girlie” for me, too sentimental. But I have grown to love it.
This version was directed by Gillian Armstrong and stars Winona Ryder as Jo, Claire Danes as Beth, Kirsten Dunst as Amy (and later Samantha Mathis when the character grows up), and Trini Alvarado as Meg. The cast is rounded out with Susan Sarandon as Marmi, the girl’s mother; Christian Bale as Laurie, the girl’s neighbor and friend; Eric Stoltz as John Brooke, Laurie’s tutor and Meg’s suitor; and Gabrielle Byrne as Friedrich Bhaer whom Jo meets and befriends when she travels to New York.
It is a lovely version of the story. It covers all of the major events: Amy falling through the ice, Jo cutting her hair, Meg getting married, Beth receiving the piano, the death of a character, etc. I’m sure it cut out many scenes, as all adaptations do, and it for sure shortened some (as I know from watching other adaptations). But it feels about the perfect length.
The cinematography from Geoffrey Simpson looks amazing. Though the film encompasses multiple seasons over several years, the story, and especially this adaptation, feels very much like a late fall/winter movie. The bright colors of autumn truly shine in this transfer while the snow looks as cozy as a warm blanket.
The actors are a veritable Who’s Who of 1990s movie and stage stars. Their performances are delightful. The story focuses on Jo with Winona Ryder proving why she was one of the era’s biggest names, but everyone is quite good. Little Women has become comfort food for generations of women (and men who will let its charms into their hearts) and this particular adaptation seems to have a special place in the hearts of Generation X. I now love it, too.
One of the things I love about this story is that there aren’t any real villains. Everyone is a good person, doing the best they can. They can get angry or irritated. Amy still burns Jo’s story pages, Laurie is sometimes shallow, but at its heart, this is a story about goodness, kindness, and love. While I certainly tear up at that death scene, it is another moment that makes me bawl like a baby. When Mr. Laurence gives Beth his piano at Christmas, that simple act of kindness gets me all weepy inside. As I get older and see the horrors of the real world perpetuated in perpetuity, little acts of kindness, even fictional ones make me believe, even if it’s just for a little while, in the goodness of humanity. Little Women is a story that fills me with joy. This film is a warm-hearted delight.
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment presents Little Women for its 30th Anniversary with an all-new 4K UHD print scanned from the original negatives. As mentioned, it looks fantastic, warm, and beautiful. Audio comes with English 5.1 DTS-HD MA and English 2-Channel Surround DTS-HD MA tracks. Extras include a commentary from director Gillian Armstrong, deleted scenes, and some short making-of and behind-the-scenes featurettes plus the original theatrical trailer.
