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.

Just googled the 1949 film. The cast included Janet Leigh as Meg, June Allyson as Jo, Elizabeth Taylor (!) as Amy and Margaret O'Brien as Beth. (She was the little girl with plaits in Grapes of Wrath.) No wonder I was disappointed. An impossible act to follow on a low budget over only 3 episodes. If they'd spent as much as they did on Bleak House a few years ago it could have been a different matter.

I really enjoyed it. It was also the only thing MIL and I agreed about since she arrived over a week ago. Fortunately she will be watching it in her own home tonight. Hurrah!

I enjoyed it but was perplexed by the accents and the apparent ages of the girls.

I enjoyed it! It was one of my favourite children's books - so much so I named one of my kids after a character in the book. I like this adaptation so far as they've missed out quite a lot of the tedious bits where the girls perform endlessly long plays!!

Couldn't hear it though - my TV was on full volume as the sound is terrible! Sort it out Beeb

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 haven't seen it yet. I think it comes to the US later in 2018. But if "Marmee" doesn't sound like "Mommy" the accent is not authentic New England. It's one of the few non-rhotic accents in the US and was even more so in the 19th century.

We enjoyed it, was loving Angela lansbury as Aunt March. Was quite sad to read she thinks this will be her last role. The woman is a legend, so with that in mind I really can't fault this version.

Agree Angela Lansbury is superb.

YY, they're too old.

Laurie looks about 40!

I didn't really like the book (it seemed to spend hundreds of pages on picked limes) but this was quite pleasant for a St Stephen's day snooze watch.

I just watched on iplayer. I’ve never read the book (think I tried it a few times and never got into it) or seen any other adaptations but was amazed the girls are supposed to be much younger & that I could barely hear it. I put the subtitles on. Just a bit of Xmas viewing!

Oh dear ... I was going to watch this on iPlayer but I don't think I'll bother, given what you are all saying. I'm a bit of a devotee of the LMA books, I didn't know that the first two had been published as one in the US because I always saw them as four distinct books (including Little Men and Jo's Boys). My favourite has to be the original: but no dramatisation ever makes enough of Meg's struggles to raise her twins, or Amy's travels round Europe; they always concentrate on the Jo storyline.

As for the whispers - obviously from the same BBC Sound team as made Jamaica Inn.

Anybody else find the soundtrack really annoying and intrusive ?

Agreed, eggy - I don’t think there’s another 19th century novel in the English language with a whole chapter on sleep training a toddler!

Buxbaum, doesn't she feed them sugarcubes as a bribe

I want to do my own adaptation one day.

The Meg visiting the Moffats story line will feature big

And Jo will end up with Laurie

Laurie will be the young Christian Bale, or someine very similar

The actresses will BE the age of the character they play

Jo will not be super pretty, as the thing I love about the book is that she is not pretty like Meg or Amy, yet wins people over through her fab personality

I am sure I have seen Catherine Hepburn as Jo once, was I dreaming that? She looked right. Interesting but not "pretty-pretty"

www.imdb.com/title/tt0024264/?ref_=nv_sr_6
There is an earlier film with Katherine Hepburn, I’ve never seen it.

I grew up with the June Allyson version.... one of my fave films.

Prof Bhaer may be lovely, but in my mind he is portly and balding and middle aged. It has to be Laurie!

I too was disappointed at Meg's visit to the Moffats being skipped - it was my favourite chapter of Little Women.

What's the betting they'll miss out the later chapters from Good Wives which focus on the workings of Meg's marriage?

I have to say I rarely enjoy TV/film adaptations of novels because so much is left out - I understand why (time constraints and some scenes might not dramatise well) but I always feel short-changed.

I've seen the Katharine Hepburn film. The June Allyson version is my favourite but she was actually in her 30s when she played Jo!

Margaret O'Brien wasn't in "The Grapes of Wrath." She did, however, star in "Our Vines Have Tender Grapes" along with Edward G. Robinson.

I really don't like the casting of Amy. She looks far too old, is too petulant (even for Amy) and her hair is very 2017 and doesn't match her eyebrows...

I am enjoying it overall though, possibly just because I loved the book so much. I do like Meg - she is similar to how I imagine her.

Frith hope Emily Watson is on MN as she’ll be thrilled you think she’s the same age as the other actresses (she’s 50)

I think it is dreadful. It's awfully twee and far to deviated from the book.

The Susan Sarandon version from the 90s captured the spirit of the book so well I don't really know why they feel to make another one!

As for people calling it 'preachy', I don't really think the book is particularly preachy for a book of its time. And it really is all about the spiritual growth and development of these women from their early/mid teens through to their early 20s, so it is going to seem a bit 'preachy' in some regards.

What the book isn't however is twee, which this series seems to be intent on suggesting it is.