The Little Women Project:
Reviews of all of the Movies
Early in 2019, I knew that the new
Little Women movie was scheduled
to be released on Christmas day. I figured that I would see it and
write a review of it for Rambles.net. But then I wondered about the
previous movie versions of Louisa May Alcott’s book. I knew about a
few of them: most notably “the Winona Ryder” version of 1994, which seemed to be
the favorite of the Alcott fans I knew. I saw that no one had ever reviewed any
of the previous Little Women on Rambles.net. Voila! My assignment was born! I would
watch them all and would write and post reviews of them, before
Christmas day. Then I would see the new one and review it, too. By the
end, I would be steeped in the activities of the fictional March
family. I would know it all.
I started this project in
late October 2019. By early November, I was
watching the third movie when I realized that the screen writers had
very different ideas when it came to choosing scenes from the book to
bring to life. And it had been at least 40 years since I had read the
book. So I went back and re-read Little Women, too. Now I had an even
better handle on what Miss Alcott wrote and how contemporary
filmmakers interpreted her words. Which wasn’t always the way I would
have done it.
At first, I thought I knew how many films had been made of
Little
Women. But I kept finding more, as I went along. Good heavens! It made
the task that much more difficult. But it also made it easier too,
because I could compare the movies with one another, and not just with
the book.
Anyway, I’m glad I assigned myself this project. (I can admit that I am also
glad to see the finish line.) Here are my reactions. Click to read.