Little Women [Blu-ray]

Director: Gillian Armstrong Gillian Armstrong

Overview

Louisa May Alcott's classic novel about a family of women in Civil War-era New England is again brought to the screen in this adaptation. The focus is on the March sisters, four young girls raised by their mother (Susan Sarandon) after their father leaves for battle as part of the Union Army. At the center is Jo March (Winona Ryder), an idiosyncratic would-be writer said to be based on Alcott herself, but the film also focuses on the stories of her sisters -- the more conventional Meg (Trini Alvarado), the innocent Beth (Claire Danes), and the precocious Amy (Kirsten Dunst and Samantha Mathis, who represent Amy at different ages.) The film spans years, following the girls' struggles with life's challenges and illustrating how their family connection remains strong in the face of tragedies large and small. Australian director Gillian Armstrong emphasizes the story's feminist elements, particularly in Jo's journey to independence.

Product Details

Release Date:	01/10/2017
UPC:	0043396495449
Original Release:	1994
Source:	ALLIED VAUGHN
Language:	English
Time:	1:58:00
Sales rank:	26,229

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Winona Ryder	Jo March
Gabriel Byrne	Friedrich Bhaer
Trini Alvarado	Meg March
Samantha Mathis	Older Amy March
Kirsten Dunst	Younger Amy March
Claire Danes	Beth March
Christian Bale	Laurie
Eric Stoltz	John Brooke
John Neville	Mr. Laurence
Mary Wickes	Aunt March
Florence Patterson	Hannah
Susan Sarandon	Mrs. March
Florence Paterson	Hannah
Robin Collins	Carriage Boy
Corrie Clark	Belle Gardiner
Michelle Goodger	Hortense,Hortense
Rebecca Toolan	Mrs. Gardiner
Curt Willington	Red Haired Young Man
Billie Pleffer	Naughty Girl,Naughty Girl
Janne Mortil	Sally Moffat
Sarah Strange	Sally's Friend
Ahnee Boyce	Sally's Friend
Marco Roy	Mr. Parker
A.J. Unger	Ned Moffat
Brian Finn	Demi
Janie Woods-Morris	Boston Matron
Patricia Leith	Boston Matron
Christine Lippa	Mrs. Hummel
Kristina West	Hummel Child
Matthew Walker	Mr. March
Beverley Elliott	Irish Maid
Jay Brazeau	Dashwood
Kate Robbins	Opera Singer Leila
David Adams	Opera Singer Nadir
Donal Logue	Jacob Mayer
Scott Bellis	John McCracken
John Shaw	Charles Botts
Marilyn Norry	Mrs Kirk
Thomas Newman	Composer

Technical Credits

Robin Swicord

Gillian Armstrong	Director
Denise Di Novi	Producer
Robin Swicord	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

As unpredictable as youth, and told with rare gentleness, director Gillian Armstrong's 1994 film of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women (adapted by Robin Swicord) merits strong consideration in the pantheon of great literary adaptations. Armstrong's effort is the second filming of the book, following George Cukor's 1933 effort starring Katharine Hepburn. For the usual mysterious commercial reasons, Armstrong's film performed modestly at the box office, but that certainly can't be blamed on the cast, for they breathe more life into this story of the road from girlhood to womanhood than Cukor's august bunch. Susan Sarandon is Marmee March, a Massachusetts abolitionist during the Civil War raising four daughters while her husband is away with the Union army. Each of her daughters is uniquely strong and independent. Jo (Winona Ryder), the second daughter (who narrates the film), aspires to be a writer and finds a kindred spirit in neighbor Laurie Lawrence (Christian Bale, American Psycho). Her older sister Meg (Trini Alvarado) searches local society for a suitor, finding one in Laurie's tutor, John Brooke (Eric Stolz). Along with younger sisters Beth (Claire Danes) and Amy (Kirsten Dunst and later Samantha Mathis), Jo and Meg entertain themselves in an island of freedom during an age when women were second-class citizens. The bias against women -- best illustrated when Jo, as a struggling writer in New York, falls in love with Professor Friedrich Bhaer (Gabriel Byrne) -- only helps to strengthen the bonds of the four sisters and their mother.

Barnes & Noble - Matthew Johnson

With director Gillian Armstrong and star Susan Sarandon involved, it was a safe bet that the 1994 film adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's classic novel Little Women would highlight the feminist undertones in a story about four daughters growing up under the nurturing eye of their Marmee. Rather than lard on the sentiment or the message, however, Armstrong's dramatic restraint makes the tale of sisterhood, love, and family all the more affecting. Establishing the March sisters' personalities through their quotidian interactions with one another and the handsome men in their lives, Armstrong never loses sight of Marmee's challenge to her girls to develop their intellects as well as their beauty, even as 19th century convention dictated that they yearn for the men of their dreams. Anchored by Winona Ryder's performance as aspiring writer Jo, the uniformly strong ensemble cast breathes life into the March family's emotional highs and lows; the carefully crafted period settings and costumes lend an appropriately appealing atmosphere. Greeted with rave reviews, Little Women became a Christmas-season success and went on to earn Oscar nominations for Best Score and Best Costumes and for Ryder as Best Actress.

All Movie Guide - Lucia Bozzola