Worth watching but by no means a perfect adaptation
I'm fond of this adaptation because it's been in my family's video collection for as long as i can remember- and so for me it got a lot of sentimental value.However i don't think I'm being entirely clouded in judgement when I say that this was pretty good for the BBC costume drama department. If you've had the misfortune to sit through the sick 1980s/70s era Dramas they put out like Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park and Northanger Abbey, then you'll know what I mean.
Performance wise, this is actually really good in most areas (though kinda shabby in others). Angela Down made a likable Jo (inspite of her sporting a beehive of dubious authenticity) who does seem to grow and mature over the course of the drama in a fairly convincing way. Mr and Mrs March, Mr Brooke and aunt March are also very well cast, and the same goes for Meg and Amy (though they should have hired a younger actress in the latter case for the earlier scenes). Beth is the only real failure here- the character comes across as less the sweet and innocent young angel and more a fatigued and somewhat sinister presence (terrible make up job in the last stages of her illness- she looked like something out of MJ's Thriller).
The true gem of casting in this drama though is Laurie, played by Stephen Turner. I had a crush on him when i was younger and I still think that he just is the perfect Teddy- with brooding, handsome looks, his performance is every inch the romantic Italian tearaway of the novels (one area at least in which this adaptation triumphs over the popular Little Women of 1994 with a somewhat disappointing Christian Bale as Laurie).
This series could have used a great deal more verve and spirit though, if it wished to remain faithful to the vivacity of the timeless story. As it is, the shoestring budget constantly betrays itself, and the romance of the New England setting never comes alive (probably due in part to the fact that there are scarcely any exterior scenes- and when there are they are less than thrilling).
In effect, the whole thing is very very British indeed- the cramped and claustrophobic feel of the interior studio scenes that make for 95% of the series seems to afford little scope for any genuine atmosphere of the civil war era drama.
therefore, this is unlikely to impress many today as an overall production. It seems dated and there is no real evocation of the laughter, the imagination or the tears that female adolescence affords in equal measures to the March girls in the book.
In some ways Little Women is an Elegy to childhood- and in others a celebration of growing up. whatever way you describe it, the book is a complex, moving, and textured story that encompasses just about everything that seems important in life- even today, in such a different world. This adaptation is admittedly in short supply of bounteous merit to do justice to the novel, but at the same time it holds firmly in possession of both it's own charm and strengths.
score 7/10
Catscanfly 8 June 2005
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1098346/14777
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