Not a great Little Women, but definitely worth seeing
"Little Women" (1970), a BBC mini-series, was directed by Paddy Russell. It stars Angela Down as Jo March, whose ambition is to become a writer and leave Concord, Massachusetts for New York City or for Europe. She is one of the four March sisters, whose interactions with each other and their friends and family make up the plot of the novel.Angela Down does very well as Jo. Every other actor I've seen playing Jo has been strikingly attractive. (Remember that Katherine Hepburn and Winona Ryder starred as Jo.) Angela Down is not strikingly attractive in the film. If anything, her hair and makeup detract from her looks. She calls herself "plain" in the script. Making Jo into a young woman of average appearance was director Russell's choice, and I applaud it.
Also well cast were Stephen Turner as Laurie, and Frederick Jaeger as Professor Bhaer. I've seen (and then reviewed) several versions of Little Women, and I don't think any other actors were superior to these two in their respective roles.
This movie has a very low IMDb rating of 6.2. There are some problems with it. All the lead roles are played by English actors, and they have to use American accents. I was surprised at just how well they did this. (They are professionals, and that's part of their job, but it couldn't have been easy.)
When the movie was released in 1970, it was on VHS cassettes. The film isn't available on DVD or even new, sealed VHS. So, if you're watching a movie on the small screen, on a used VHS cassette, with faded colors, it's hard to fully enjoy it. Even so, it's better than the 6.2 rating would imply. If you enjoy the novel, and if you like BBC mini-series, it's worth finding and seeing.
score 9/10
Red-125 5 November 2016
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3575474/14777
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