Little Women (1933)
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Little Women Movie Review
Little Women is a 1933 historical drama film directed by George Cukor and starring Katharine Hepburn. It’s an old-fashioned, pretty good movie.
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“If wearing hair up means becoming a lady,
I’ll wear it down until I’m 100 years old“
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This is one of those exceedingly old-fashioned and conservative movies which are overly traditional even for their time. And it was a throwback to the old values and way of living during the Civil War which is why audiences of the Depression Era embraced it so strongly. I personally found the story almost non-existent in a way. It’s basically a slice-of-life tale of a bunch of women living in a big house while the men are away fighting in a war.
It follows their various life struggles such as illness, death, romances and careers. It’s feminist in a way as it features the protagonist genuinely pursuing a writing career and succeeding at it which was nice, but I personally wanted more of those themes. So the movie is very successful in recreating its time period and when watched plot point by plot point as many scenes here are so wonderful, but watching it as a whole it’s overlong, uneventful and not particularly deep.
Let’s talk about the characters and although there are many of them in this movie and some do not get their proper due, most are actually very well developed and I liked them individually and especially as a group. Rare are movies from the thirties with just the women in the cast and a few men here and there and this is one of them and it succeeded at presenting their lovely dynamic and relationships.
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Amy is fine and Meg is also quite solid. Beth herself is so tragic. Marmee March is wonderful and I really liked her sweet character. The men are also fine with Professor Bhaer being the most likable of the bunch. Paul Lukas was so good in this role. As for Jo March, she is an over-the-top character for sure, but she works in the end because she’s so well developed, very likable and caring.
I personally found Katharine Hepburn’s performance in this role quite overrated. It’s good, but not as great as everyone says it is. Weirdly enough, though she was a tomboy herself, she did not particularly fit this role and I personally found her accent and way of speaking grating and she overacted in that regard. Don’t get me wrong, she excelled in the emotional sequences per usual and she’s overall competent and good, but not great as she made the character a bit of a caricature in my book.
Little Women definitely needed more sophistication, themes and a bigger story arc, but individually speaking it’s great in so many of its scenes with the highlights being that wonderful ending, that tragic death and all the scenes where the girls had fun, were laughing and being charming.
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I wouldn’t go so far as to nominate the film for director and best film as the Academy did, but it’s a pretty good film in its own right and certainly one worth revisiting as it’s so cozy and sweet. The emotional investment is strong and I also really liked its dialogue. It won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay and I am fine with it, though personally I found it resembling a reading experience too much. But cinematically speaking, the cinematography is absolutely amazing and it’s a shame that it wasn’t nominated as many of its shots are so gorgeous and evocative of its time period.
Little Women doesn’t have much of a plot when analyzed as a whole, but individually speaking many of its scenes are so charming and wonderful. The entire movie is very sweet, cozy and at times even moving with well developed characters and superb cinematography that successfully transports you to its time period. As for Katharine Hepburn herself, she sold the emotional scenes and was quite good in the role, but I found her approach at a speech pattern over-the-top and a bit caricaturist.
