A History of Little Women Adaptations - LW Comparisons: Part 1
Welcome to a new series that I've been writing for months!
Hello and welcome to a new series of essays that I’m going to be posting, all about the various American film adaptations of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.
One thing I particularly love about film adaptations is the fact that they are all really interesting examples of what was going on in the world and in the film industry at the time. Little Women is one of the rare cases where we have adaptations from four different decades and all of them are so drastically different from each other — yet, they claim to tell the same story. So, my aim for this series is to explore the similarities and differences between all four adaptations and maybe, by the end of this, uncover what might make a better adaptation (spoiler alert: it’s all about personal preference and you can make a case for any of these. Well, almost any of them. But we’ll get to that).
So, here’s the first part of that series!
Section 1: A Brief History on Little Women Film Adaptations
Little Women is a story that many Americans know and love, whether it’s because they’ve read the book or seen one of the many adaptations. Originally published as two books, the two volumes of Little Women were fully published by 1869. The first half – which was published in 1868 – reached widespread audiences quite quickly, with many readers writing to the author (Louisa May Alcott) begging to know what would happen to the March sisters. Now 155 years old, the story still captivates audiences worldwide. Part of its wide reach is due, in part, to the many adaptations it has had, introducing it over and over again to modern audiences.
Just how many adaptations has this book had? There are four major American film adaptations, released in 1933, 1949, 1994, and 2019. These are the adaptations that will be covered in this essay, but they certainly aren’t the only ones to exist. In fact, while the 1933 film is commonly thought of as the first film adaptation, it is actually the third. It is preceded by two silent film adaptations, which were released in 1917 and 1918. Unfortunately, though many would love to know what those looked like, both are considered lost media and no longer exist. Over the years, there have also been several television adaptations. Most recently, there was a BBC miniseries, which consisted of three hour-long episodes. This miniseries was released in 2017 and starred Maya Hawke as Jo. There are even a few television and film adaptations from other countries such as Japan, South Korea, and India. What about offscreen? The stage has seen many different versions, including a Broadway musical (starring Sutton Foster), two separate operas, and several different non-musical stage adaptations. There have also been a few radio adaptations. Clearly, this is a story beloved by many all over the world.
With so many adaptations, of course, one might begin to wonder how accurate each of them could possibly be to the source material or how different they are from each other. After all, how many different ways can the same story be told? A lot, as it turns out. But, that’s not such a bad thing. Each of the four adaptations highlighted here rises to the occasion in their own ways. Each one highlights different aspects of the story and focuses on specific themes. None of them are exactly the same, though two of them come close, and all of them do still tell the story of Little Women.
The first of these four adaptations was released in 1933 and was directed by George Cukor. If his name sounds familiar, you might recognize some of his other films, which include: The Philadelphia Story, Gaslight, and My Fair Lady. Starring in this version of Little Women was Katharine Hepburn, who later cited it as one of her favorite films she’d ever done. The film was produced by RKO Radio Pictures, one of the “big five” film studios of the time.
The next adaptation to be released came in 1949, directed by Mervyn LeRoy, whose career began as an actor in silent films and vaudeville acts. LeRoy’s production had quite a few notable cast members, such as Janet Leigh, Elizabeth Taylor, and Peter Lawford. Additionally, Marmee was played by Mary Astor of silent film and The Maltese Falcon fame. This film was produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and was shot in Technicolor.
There wasn’t another adaptation in American film until 1994, a production which was directed by Gillian Armstrong. This adaptation is considered by many fans of the story as the adaptation. This is the one that most people measure the others against. Given that it was the 1990s, this is the version that late Gen X and Millennials grew up with. It’s also quite different from the previous two adaptations, with its own take on the story rather than trying to replicate either of the other two films.
The final adaptation to be covered here, and the most recent adaptation, was released in 2019. It was written and directed by Greta Gerwig. This film focused a great deal on the transition between childhood and adulthood in a way that the other films had not before. This is unsurprising, as this is a frequent theme in Gerwig’s other films.
Each of these films is unique and special in its own way. After watching all of them over the span of one week, it made me wonder how we decide what makes a good adaptation and how we choose a favorite. In this case, I don’t believe any one of these is the best. They are all products of their time, after all, and it is impossible to compare them in such a qualitative way. I am, however, going to explore what makes them so different from each other and why they are the way that they are. I will refer to each adaptation by the names of the actresses who play Jo, so that the year doesn’t have to be repeated so often. So, the adaptations are: Hepburn, Allyson, Ryder, and Ronan. It’s a lot to remember, I know, but truly it’s the only way for me to easily identify which film is which.
In part 2 of the series, I’ll be covering the key plot differences between each film, so keep a lookout for that in the near future!