Little Women

[Frith1975]

I’ve had to switch over - so disappointed.

The girls are supposed to be 12, 14, 16 and 18. The actors are nearly my age and similar in age to the actor playing Marmee. And they have all got different accents.

I enjoyed it and loved the book too. I agree that there is a spirit captured. I’ll stick with it.

I thought it was twee and sentimental, and all the squealing and running about really irritated me. But I will very probably watch the other two episodes!

Beth is definitely alive at the end of Little Women. The book, that is. Her death is in Good Wives. But,as said earlier, many dramatisations merge the two books.

Beth has scarlet fever in little women, but 'recovers' (though not totally), and dies in Good Wives.

I’d you read biographies of LM Alcott, it’s clear Beth dies of anorexia.

I enjoyed it, I haven’t read the books for probably 30 years and have never seen any film or TV adaptation but as far as I remember it was pretty true to the first book. I felt the emotions when Amy fell into the lake and when the dreaded telegram arrived. The accents were all over the place and the scenery a little chocolate-boxey but quite close to how I imagined the settings from the book. Will definitely be carrying on with it.

I disagreed with the comment about the daughters looking the same age as Marmee so I googled the cast. The actresses playing the daughters are 19-26 years old and Marmee nearly 50. So the daughters might look a bit older than they are meant to but the age gap is fine.

I'm American, and we've only ever read it as one book... Little Women... so for me Beth does die in Little Women. I didn't know there had been two separate books in the UK.

From Wiki:
Little Women is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888), which was originally published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869. Alcott wrote the books rapidly over several months at the request of her publisher.... Little Women was an immediate commercial and critical success, and readers demanded to know more about the characters. Alcott quickly completed a second volume (entitled Good Wives in the United Kingdom, although this name originated from the publisher and not from Alcott). It was also successful. The two volumes were issued in 1880 in a single work entitled Little Women.

I completely forgot to watch tonight, but may have to catch up on iPlayer this weekend. My favourite version was the Winona Ryder one, although I now detest Susan Sarandon, who played the mother, and William Shatner, who played Professor Bhaer. So that sucks :/

I loved it mainly because I got my 13yr old ds to watch it with me. I wish I could get him to read the book but this is the next best thing. I liked the modern take on Beth's shyness/anxiety. Hated the first scene. Jaw drop at Meg on the toilet in the 'retiring' room. It wasn't what I was hoping for but it'll do I think. And DS enjoyed it.

The only other dramatisation I've seen is the original film, so this was a big disappointment. It felt low-budget and had none of the liveliness of the film. I remember Amy at the Hummels on Xmas day feeding the children doughnuts and saying, 'And one for Amy' as she popped it into her mouth. She was charming as well as selfish. This Amy is sullen and malevolent. I don't remember the film (or book, but it's a long time since I read it) being so preachy, either.

I recommended it to my dgd, but hope she didn't watch it. I'll get the DVD of the film for her instead.

The servant Hannah may well have been Irish as she may have been an immigrant to America.

@cordelia16 William Shatner?! That was Gabriel Byrne! William Shatner was definitely not in Little Women!

I’ve just tried and lasted 2 minutes and that’s enough. It’s just not right somehow.

I really liked it. I am a devotee of the books too.

Why expect a television programme to be exactly the same as the books or a previous film? It is bound to be different.

And however much I like the books I must admit they ARE preachy! She does it with charm and wit but she has a mission.

I always thought Beth had TB? I must read the biographies.

@FenellaMaxwellsPony ... oops, must have had too much wine with dinner :)) William Shatner was in a 1978 American version of the film (I remember even as a pre-teen thinking it was awful casting, but he was riding his trekkie syndication popularity).

It is twee but easy watching & pretty enough - the actress playing Jo is quite mesmerising but I think that may also be due to looking like both her parents in turn.
I'm not a fan of the book or earlier adaptations. I watched the Judy Garland film version as a child and remember thinking they were all so drippy that I was quite glad when Beth died.

As pp have pointed out, Alcott originally published Little Women in two volumes. The first (SPOILERS if you don’t know the novels) ends with Mr March’s return and the second volume picks up three years later just before Meg’s wedding. It was published as a separate novel, Good Wives, in the UK, but the two volumes were published together as Little Women in the US from 1880 onwards. The preview of the second episode had some scenes which looked a lot like a wedding so I think the next episode will take us well into the second volume. They will have to pick up the pace if they plan to include Jo’s trip to New York and the resolution of that storyline too.

I’ve very recently re-read the books. Amy is far too old, which makes the burning of Jo’s book seem more calculated when it should be a childish fit of pique. The 1993 film did this much more successfully by casting two actresses as Amy, rather than putting a twenty-year-old actress in pigtails. I thought it was a shame that they cut out Meg going to stay with the Moffats, and consequently we’ve had very little character development for her.

Re the accents - I have family in New England and if you’re not familiar with a Massachusetts accent it can sound quite strange even today compared to the general standard American that we are used to. I agree that they aren’t consistent, however. Hannah is undoubtedly supposed to be an Irish immigrant.

One last point - I know that the moralising of the novel is very old-fashioned now and was quite puritanical even in the 1860s but I think they cut too much of it out. It’s significant that the books Marmee puts under their pillows on Christmas morning are Bibles and that should have been explained, as it then links to the donation of the breakfast. Marmee referred to Jo’s temper as her ‘burden’ but they did not make explicit the link to Pilgrim’s Progress and the idea that all of the girls are dealing with ‘burdens’.

Thyme the book is unbelievably preachy!

Humphrey Beth catches scarlet fever from the Hummels. Her later illnesses are not named but it’s implied that the scarlet fever leaves her permanently weakened, having already been a sickly child.

I loved it. I've never read the book or really watched previous films.

I'm hoping to get my jaded 15 year to watch it again with me.

Buxbaum Yes - I expect you're right. But when I first read it as a child, along with Anne of Green Gables etc, I just skipped those bits as they were the norm in 19th century children's fiction, like long paragraphs of description. They had to be 'improving' works of literature.

Still don't like this adaptation. It seemed v dark and dreary. No sparkle.

Judy Garland has never been in Little Women.

I didn't really like it either but I didn't hate it and I will continue to watch it. I read Little Women over and over again many times when I was a child (probs aged 10-13ish) and adored it. I haven't read it since, it was DM's copy I used to read, I'd like to dig it out of her loft and read it again now after watching this, it's taken me back! I've not seen any film/tv adapations though so have nothing to compare it to but the book and tbh as I haven't read it in sooo long (I'm now 24 so about ten years) I have been struggling to remember all the plot details.

I agree Amy comes across really awful in this but tbh as a child I really disliked her character anyway even in the book. Jo was always the one I adored and related to as a child haha.

I was surprised at the accents as they sounded Irish to me? Is there any possibility the family was descended from Irish immigrants, I don't remember?

Also, to whoever said it was preachy and the book wasn't, OMG the book was preachy as hell. That was one of the biggest things I remember about it! I grew up in quite a religious household (albeit Muslim!!) and the spiritual and religious references were comforting to me and my upbringing as although not a Christian I went to Christian schools and have always felt the two religions to be very similar a lot of the time anyway.

I think one of the big problems with this is the book is so detailed, there are so many little things that add to the picture that it's just not possible to explain and address properly in a 3-part show, that's nobody's fault but will always mean these things lack considerable depth.

Just watched it on iPlayer.

I actually paused it at 54 seconds to check I'd got the right thing (the fancying about in nighties first scene) I was like WTF?

Didn't like the first half much, too schmaltzy and over played with all the running about and squealing (yes yes, childish play- we get it ) but actually thought it improved from Amy burning the book onwards and was quite engaged by the end.

Funny, I just asked my husband, daughter and sons girlfriend (who were all watching with me and have never read the books) who they thought Laurie marries and they all said "err Jo of course?!"

I'm watching it now and really enjoying it

Am saving this ti watch with DD tonight.