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How others will see it. No men are allowed to watch this movie. At any rate, they're not expected to watch it, even if it has two babes, Janet Leigh and Elizabeth Taylor. Unluckily for her, Taylor has to wear an unbecoming blonde wig. Given the literary license Hollywood usually takes with movies (even endings are often changed) it's a curious decision to fix her up like Mary Pickford.
It's also odd that impish Margaret O'Brien is stuck with such a sweet character, while normally sweet Elizabeth Taylor plays a frivolous and affected simpleton. Their characters couldn't be switched, because the ages wouldn't be right. At least Allyson appears made for Jo, and Leigh is smokin' hot despite being 95% clothed at all times.
The cast includes many present, future, and past stars. Aside from those already mentioned, Mary Astor plays the mother, as saintly and unselfish a feminine character who has ever graced a Hollywood back lot. Old and dottery (but beloved) character actors C. Aubrey Smith and Harry Davenport once again display hearts of gold beneath their gruff exteriors.
How I felt about it. Every generation of Hollywood, it seems, provides another remake of Little Women. The best edition was made in 1933, and starred Katharine Hepburn. More recently, Winona Ryder filled Jo's shoes in 1994.
My understanding is that Alcott also wrote a novel called "Little Men," but teenaged men are only of interest when they are involved in an adventure, such as fighting a rival gang or army. Or if they have special powers, although such nonsense preceded Alcott's day.
Structurally, Little Women is about the inevitable transformations of even the closest and most self-contained families. Head-turning Leigh is certain to be wed off, and no blonde wig is sufficiently ill-suited to fully conceal Taylor's radiance. Outgoing Jo is also likely to elicit paramours. These changes depopulate the beloved family home, but a happy ending is in store if everyone keeps the same zip code. Not that Mr. Zip would make an appearance for another century.
Jo also has some growing up to do. A lead character is always special in some way. With Jo, it is her inevitable future as a great author. Getting married to a flush clod like Lawford would pay the bills, and allow her to write the Great American Novel, instead of the next dime store pulp fiction. But headstrong women usually want what they don't have, rather than what they might accomplish if they use what is provided them. Besides, plot twists help keep the pages turning.