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There have been many film and television adaptations of Louisa May Alcott’s famous novel, Little Women, including at least two Japanese animes.  However, none have appealed to me quite so much as the original 1933 black and white starring Katherine Hepburn as Jo March.  The main reason why is simple.  The 1933 film stays far truer to the book than any film adaptation I’ve seen so far.

A few details here and there have been changed.  Amy gets in trouble at school for creating a funny doodle of her teacher.  In the novel, she was punished for bringing limes.  The lovely father daughter relationship between Beth March and Mr. Laurence is absent as it is in every film I’ve seen.

On the other hand Katherine Hepburn is perfect in the role of clumsy middle sister Jo March.  At five foot seven, she towers over the actresses playing her siblings and uses the height to good effect.  More than once she seems to stumble and trip over her own two feet.  Something the novelized Jo March does all too often herself.

Also Marmee is still Marmee, loving and cheerful despite having a husband at war.  The March family is still generous and charitable despite their own poverty, and all the key plot points that we know, love, and even detest are still intact.  Has anyone else ever wanted to scream “no” at the top of their lungs when Jo turns down Laurie’s proposal?  Admittedly I preferred Professor Bhaer in the end, but I digress.

Little Women 1933 is better than any Little Women film I’ve ever seen.  Yes, even better than the one with Susan Sarandon and Winona Ryder.  The film stays faithful to the original book and consequently to the readers who have grown up with Little Women generation after generation.

Now, I need to find out if anyone ever made a movie of the sequel, Little Men.

I give this movie 5 out of 5 stars.

Directed by George Cukor
Starring:
Spring Byington as Marmee March
Frances Dee as Meg March
Katharine Hepburn as Jo March
Jean Parker as Beth March
Joan Bennett as Amy March
Douglass Montgomery as Theodore (Laurie) Laurence
Paul Lukas as Professor Friedrich Bhaer

The Clock is a movie with an interesting concept but little follow through.  When Alice Mayberry and soldier Robert Walker meet by chance at New York’s Penn Station sparks fly.  There is a whirlwind of a weekend romance, and Alice and Robert must race against time to get married before Robert gets shipped out.  The principle actors of this movie perform admirably.  The problem is the third character in the movie, New York City.

Even back in 1945 New York held sights to behold, and I don’t blame the director, Vincent Minnelli, for wanting to explore those sights.  However, the movie takes the whole New York is a strange place concept too far.  Is it really necessary to meet the annoying drunk in the sweet little midnight café?  Give our romantic couple a little time to hold hands and build some tension first, please.  Instead the wedding party is crashed before it even gets started.

Also, how does the audience recognize the beauty of a marriage ceremony when the subway trains drown out the marriage vows?  Admittedly there is a very nice cathedral scene shortly thereafter, but somehow it just doesn’t seem to make up for the lack of a wedding ring or flowers.  Instead of using New York as a way to enhance the romance, the city is seen as a constant interruption to a budding relationship.

I will admit it’s interesting to compare New York in 1945 to New York as it is today.  I don’t believe we have milkmen anymore, and the only buses with rooftop seats are tour buses.  The problem is these little old idiosyncrasies don’t make up for New York’s downside.  What’s the point of a romance movie if the local drowns out the romance?  What’s that saying?  Two is company, three is a crowd.

I think The Clock had great potential: two lovers racing against time to get married in one of the most romantic cities in the world, the war hero afraid of leaving behind a widow, the damsel who doesn’t care because she’s found the Prince Charming of her dreams.  All the possibilities for a happily ever after are there.  Now if only New York City would just butt out, or at least help in some way.

I give this movie 2 out of 5 stars.

Directed by Vincente Minnelli
Starring:
Judy Garland as Alice Mayberry
Robert Walker as Joe Allen

Although billed as a comedy about an eccentric with an invisible six foot tall bunny-rabbit for a friend, Harvey is at heart a movie about two siblings who would do anything for each other out of love, respect, and an overall sense of family.  The most touch moments of this movie are the final ones between the eccentric Elwood P. Dowd and his sister, Veta Louise Simmons.

The comedic elements are immediately apparent.  Everything that could go wrong does go wrong when Ms. Simmons attempts to have her brother committed.  The wrong patient ends up locked down in the hospital.  The hospital workers keep missing Mr. Dowd just as it seems they’re about to catch him.  Everyone is frantically trying to get matters straightened out.  All the while Mr. Dowd, played by the loveable Jimmy Stewart, ambles along blissfully oblivious.

When the truth catches up with Mr. Dowd though he is stricken by the emotional harm he appears to have caused to his dear loving sister, and he is willing to do everything to make it up to her.  Even going so far as to give up his best friend, Harvey.  Ms. Simmons is equally conflicted herself, concerned that in saving her brother’s sanity she might cost him some of his humanity.  She just doesn’t see any other choice.

Oh, there are other plots and subplots in Harvey.  There is more than one romance.  There is the rabbit himself and the practical jokes he supposedly plays on the people who can’t see him.  Nothing shines to me though quite like the moment when Jimmy Steward somberly asks Josephine Hull if she really wants him to be cured, and nothing is so saddening as when Mr. Dowd’s sister says, “Yes.”

Five out of five stars.

Directed by Henry Koster
Starring:
Jimmy Stewart as Elwood P. Dowd
Josephine Hull as Veta Louise Simmons
Victoria Horne as Myrtle Mae
Peggy Dow as Miss Kelly
Charles Drake as Dr. Lyman Sanderson
Cecil Kellaway as Dr. Willie Chumley
William H. Lynn as Judge Gaffney

Before there was My Fair Lady with Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison, there was Pygmalion starring Wendy Hiller and Leslie Howard.  This original adaptation of Bernard Shaw’s play turned film lacks the musical muster of its later incarnation, but it still manages to give some sparkle and shine.

Wendy Hiller’s Eliza Doolittle is every bit as feisty and uncouth as Audrey Hepburn’s.  In fact, it’s easy to see that Ms. Hiller’s Eliza was the original basis for Ms. Hepburn’s performance.  Despite the similarities, Ms. Hiller’s variation manages to be more serious and heart-rendering.  There is an earnestness to Ms. Hiller’s Eliza, particularly when she professes to wanting to make something of her life.  Here Eliza isn’t so much funny as she’s made fun of, and in many ways, that makes her far more touching.

Don’t get me wrong, Eliza Doolittle does have her funny moments in Pygmalion.  When Eliza discovers that a proper lady must take baths and that her old cloths are to be burned she screams just as outrageously in Pygmalion as she did in My Fair Lady.  All the while, the poor housekeeper wrings her hands and shakes her head.

Leslie Howard’s Mr. Higgins is also a bit colder and more calculating, but he’s also more vulnerable.  His expression falters with pain when Eliza’s back is turned, and the false bravado he does show seems far more brittle.  He doesn’t turn up his nose so much as he bites back his pain.

Mostly what Pygmalion lacks is the music.  I’m used to seeing songs and dancing accompanied with this story, and loss of it is readily apparent to me.  Scenes that I’ve seen stretched out over time, now happen at the snap of a finger due to the lack of lyrical accompaniment.  The result is that the first half of the movie moves far faster than the later half, and it almost feels like nothing of consequence happens until after the great ball.

I will admit that having seen the remake before the original, my point of view is also a little jaded.  It doesn’t hurt that My Fair Lady had a bigger budget.  The wonderful horse race scene in the remake is a tea party in Pygmalion.  However, Pygmalion certainly deserves its due.  It’s readily apparent that all that came after began here.  Music helps, but a great storyline and great actors are far more important, and the movie holds its own.  I give Pygmalion four out of five stars.

Directed by Anthony Asquith
Starring:
Wendy Hiller as Eliza Doolittle
Leslie Howard as Professor Henry Higgins
Scott Sunderland as Colonel Pickering
David Tree as Freddy
Wilfred Lawson as Alfred Doolittle
Marie Lohr as Mrs. Higgens

Trivia: The actor, Leslie Howard, who played the scruffy phonetics scholar known as Henry Higgins in Pygmalion would go on to become Scarlet O’Hara’s heartthrob Ashley Wilkes in Gone With The Wind just one year later.

There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that Jimmy Stewart carries the day in Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, an iconic movie about patriotism, corruption, and the ability of one man to make a difference no matter how small-fry he may seem.

Jimmy Stewart is perfect as Mr. Smith, the bumbling and naïve head of a boys’ rangers camp who is unexpectedly appointed U.S. Senator after another senator’s death.  Seen as inexperienced and easy to manipulate by his corrupt peers and the even more corrupt mob-boss, Jim Taylor, Mr. Smith quickly proves his fellow politicians wrong with his earnestness and the strength of his convictions.  He takes everything everyone has to throw at him and keeps on swinging.  Jimmy Stewart’s transformation from a wide-eyed, shy spirit to a wild-eyed, passionate reformer is effortless.

Jimmy Stewart is not the only actor in this movie, though.  Claude Rains as Senator Paine is the perfect counterpoint to Smith.  Paine sees in Smith the politician he originally was, and the politician he originally meant to be.  A long-time friend of Smith’s father, Paine goes out of his way to help Smith even as he hurts his friend’s son for his own political gain and to hide his own corrupt background.  Every single action Paine takes is filled with mingled helplessness, desperation, and regret.  Senator Paine is sadness personified.

Jean Archer is also lovely as Clarissa Saunders, Smith’s Chief of Staff.  When Mr. Smith starts enthusiastically pointing out all the sights and sounds of Washington D.C., Archer shows off the perfect mix of doubt and wonder.  It’s the typical look that asks, is this hick for real and does he have any brothers?

In the end though it is Jimmy Stewart’s own performance that informs the performance of others.  His pleas for change and reform are what causes Jean Archer’s looks and makes Senator’s Paine’s final actions plausible.  Jimmy Stewart is not the only well-performing actor in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, but the performances of the other actors and actresses serve him, not the other way around.

I’ll admit, in a movie like this one there are some cornball moments, but those same moments can be adorable.  Pay attention to the little boy in front of the Lincoln Memorial, and you’ll see what I mean.  Still, this is a perfect patriotic movie for Independence Day.  I give this movie four out of five stars.  Jimmy Stewart’s performance as always gets a five.

Directed by Frank Capra
Starring:
Jimmy Stewart as Jefferson Smith
Claude Rains as Joseph H. Paine
Jean Arthur as Clarissa Saunders
Edward Arnold as Jim Taylor