Themes: Women's Friendship, Mothers and Daughters, Sibling Relationships
Main Cast: June Allyson, Peter Lawford, Margaret O'Brien, Elizabeth Taylor, Janet Leigh
Release Year: 1949
Country: US
Run Time: 121 minutes
Plot
Of the many film versions of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, this 1949 MGM adaptation is by far the prettiest. Set in New England during the Civil War, the film relates the various adventures of the March sisters: Jo (June Allyson), Beth (Margaret O'Brien), Amy (Elizabeth Taylor) and Meg (Janet Leigh). Jo emerges as the main character, as she leaves hearth and home to try her luck as a novelist in New York. Moments of high comedy (the sisters' amateur theatricals) are counterpointed with grim tragedy (the death of the youngest March girl), with romantic interludes provided by the faithless Laurie (Peter Lawford) and the loyal Professor Bhaer (Rossano Brazzi). Unlike Selznick's 1933 Little Women or Gillian Armstrong's 1994 adaptation, this 1949 version tends to be more an extension of the old Hollywood contract-player typecasting system than a heartfelt evocation of the Alcott original. Even so, Little Women is consistently pleasing to the eye, especially when seen in its original Technicolor hues. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Walter Plunkett - Costume Designer, Mervyn LeRoy - Director, Ralph Winters - Editor, Adolph Deutsch - Composer (Music Score), Jack Dawn - Makeup, Cedric Gibbons - Production Designer, Paul Groesse - Production Designer, Robert Planck - Cinematographer, Charles E. Schoenbaum - Cinematographer, Mervyn LeRoy - Producer, Jack D. Moore - Set Designer, Edwin B. Willis - Set Designer, Warren Newcombe - Special Effects, Victor Heerman - Screenwriter, Sarah Y. Mason - Screenwriter, Andrew Solt - Screenwriter, Louisa May Alcott - Book Author
In this version, Beth March (Margaret O'Brien) is portrayed as being younger than Amy March (Elizabeth Taylor), while in the book she is older. The chapters where Laurie and Amy fall in love in Europe have been omitted.
David O. Selznick was originally going to produce the film. Filming began in September 1946 but Selznick decided he could not tackle a major production so soon after the ordeal of filming Duel in the Sun (1946) so he sold the property and script to MGM. The cast for the David O. Selznick version included Jennifer Jones (Jo), Diana Lynn (Amy), Bambi Linn (Beth), Rhonda Fleming (Meg), and Anne Revere (Marmee).
