"Little Women" (1949)

Regular readers know how much I loved director Greta Gerwig's "Little Women" last year.  It was my personal #2 Favorite Movie of the Year.  I knew that Gerwig's version was one one of many film versions (more on that later) of the Louisa May Alcott classic.  Fun Fact: Since the novel was published in 1868, it has never gone out of print, and it has been published in well over fifty languages.

Anyway, the 1949 version of this movie popped up on TCM a few months ago and has been sitting on my DVR since then, and last night we got around to watching it.

Clockwise from top:

Allyson, Taylor, Astor, O'Brien, Leigh

This one starred June Allyson, Janet Leigh, Elizabeth Taylor, and Margaret O'Brien as the Little Women and Mary Astor as Marmee.   I enjoyed this one very much, I must say.  Allyson as the spunky Jo Marsh was very good in the role, as was Taylor - a blond in this one! - as Amy, and how can you not just love Margaret O'Brien in just about anything?

I found it to be a delightful movie, and I give it Two and One-Half Grandstander Stars.

In doing some research for this post, I see that "Little Women" has more film versions than a cat has lives.

The first version that I could see was made in 1933 by George Cukor and starred Katherine Hepburn and Joan Bennett.

In 1948, director Mervyn Leroy made the version that I watched last night.  

There then followed a TV movie in 1978 that starred Meredith Baxter and Susan Dey, a 1994 version that starred Susan Sarandon and Winona Ryder, and another feature film in 2018 that starred Lea Thompson as Marmee and no one else you've ever heard of.  There was also a short lived TV series that ran for one season in 1978. 

And of course, there was Gerwig's hit film of 2019 that starred Saoirse Ronan and Emma Watson, and I look forward to watching this one once again very soon on my recently purchased Blur-ray.

Finally, a word about Margaret O'Brien, who is still with us at the age of 83.  

She made her first film appearance at the age of four in 1941.  She won an Oscar as Outstanding child Actress in 1944. She is probably best known for her role as Tootie in "Meet Me In St. Louis" (1944), where she costarred with Judy Garland.  

Another Fun Fact: "Met Me In St. Louis" also featured Mary Astor and Leon Ames, both of whom were in 1949's "Little Women" with O'Brien.  They were her parents in both movies.  IMDB lists 77 acting credits for her, the latest one coming in 2018.  Lots of forgettable movies and, of course, the TV roles in shows like "Marcus Welby MD", "Love, American Style", and "Murder, She Wrote."  Like I have often said, all actors want to do is work, and Margaret O'Brien, God bless her, has been working at her craft for close to eighty years.  

It's Oscar Time!!

I needn't tell you that this coming Sunday night is that annual night when Hollywood congratulates and pats itself on the back - Academy Awards Night.  For all the self-congratulatory b.s. that takes place on that night, it is still the "Granddaddy of All Awards Shows", and it is the one such show that I will watch from beginning to end.

As I have done in past years, I will offer you my predictions for the winners in eight categories. The number in the parenthesis is the number of the nominees in the category that I have actually seen.  Actually, all of the various awards shows leading up to the Oscars (Golden Globes, SAG, PGA, DGA) serve as indicators of how the Academy will vote.  It makes predicting these rather simple (sometimes), and it often leads to a dull and predictable Oscar show, but what the hell. You never know when a Jack Palance will do one armed push-ups on stage, or whether or not Warren Beatty will open the wrong envelope, so you gotta watch anyway.

Here goes....

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY (2) - I'm calling this for Quentin Tarantino for Once Upon A Time...In Hollywood, as this will be a way to honor him if they don't award him the Director Oscar (as has happened to him twice in the past).  Dark horses in this one: Sam Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns for 1917 and Rain Johnson for Knives Out.

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY (4) - Greta Gerwig for Little Women.  A way to make up for snubbing her for a Best Director nomination.

DIRECTOR (4) - I think this comes down to either Tarantino or Sam Mendes for 1917.  Mendes has won all the significant awards leading up to this point, but I think that Hollywood will honor a movie that is, essentially, about Hollywood itself and give one of their favorites his first Oscar in this category, so I'm calling this one for Quentin Tarantino.

SUPPORTING ACTOR (5) - In a category that is loaded with Oscar winners (Hanks, Hopkins, Pacino, and Pesci), Brad Pitt, who has won as a Producer, gets his first Acting Oscar for Once Upon A Time...In Hollywood.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS (1) - Thus is the category that I am least qualified to judge, so I am only going by what the previous awards' tea leaves spell out: Laura Dern wins for Marriage Story.

ACTOR (3) - This one seems to be a slam dunk for Joaquin Phoenix for Joker.  He played a loathsome character in a loathsome movie (at least to me), but he played it extremely well, so his victory seems inexorable.

ACTRESS (2) - I have to say that I would love to see my favorite young actress Saoirse Ronan win for Little Women, but I cannot deny that Renee Zellweger's portrayal of Judy Garland in Judy is fully deserving of the Oscar that she will win on Sunday night.

PICTURE (6 of the nine nominees) - The movie Joker received the most overall nominations this year with eleven, and I have to say that I just can't see it.  I found it to be an ugly and grim movie, but, as my pal Bill Montrose used to say, what the hell do I know?  My Number One and Two favorite movies of the year were Once Upon A Time...In Hollywood and Little Women, and I would be delighted if either of those movies took home the Best Picture Award.  However, every indicator seems to say that 1917 will take home the grand prize this year, so that is my prediction as well.  It's not my choice, but it will not be an undeserving winner, either.

So there you go.  As always, watch, but don't bet.

Oh, and I have also done in event years, let me stir up some memories by looking back at past Oscar winners in ten year intervals (Best Picture, Actor, Actress)

2009

The Hurt Locker

Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart

Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side

1999

American Beauty

Kevin Spacey, American Beauty

Hillary Swank, Boys Don't Cry

1989

Driving Miss Daisy

Daniel Day-Lewis, My Left Foot

Jessica Tandy, Driving Miss Daisy

1979

Kramer vs. Kramer

Dustin Hoffman, Kramer v. Kramer

Sally Field, Norma Rae

1969

Midnight Cowboy

John Wayne, True Grit

Maggie Smith, The Prime of Miss Jean Brody

1959

Ben-Hur

Charlton Heston, Ben-Hur

Simone Signoret, Room At The Top

1949

All the King's Men

Broderick Crawford, All The King's Men

Olivia de Havilland, The Heiress

1939

Gone With the Wind

Robert Donat, Goodbye, Mr. Chips

Vivian Leigh, Gone With the Wind

1929

The Broadway Melody

Warner Baxter, The Cisco Kid

Mary Pickford, Coquette

The Oscar Nominations

Some personal observations in the wake of the announcement of the Academy Award nominations earlier this week.

• The hue and cry from the general movie going public was the "snub" of Greta Gerwig, who did not receive a nomination for Best Director for "Little Women."  Personally, I am not remotely qualified to judge all of the movies and directors out there, but "Little Women" was one of the best movies that I saw last year, and I would have loved to see Ms. Gerwig snag a nomination, if not the Oscar itself.  Whether sexual politics were involved in the nominations is an argument that I will let others fight.
• I have seen four of the nine Best Picture nominees: "Ford v Ferrari", "The Irishman", "Little Women", and "Once Upon a Time...In Hollywood."  All are worthy nominees.  Of these four, my personal favorite was "Once....", and it would get my vote, although I would be delighted if "Little Women" grabbed the top prize.
• My thoughts on the five Best Picture noms I have not seen:
• "Jojo Rabbit" - A story where Hitler is played as comic imaginary friend, does not appeal to me, although enough people whose opinions I respect say don't let that turn me away from this one.  I may need to see this one.
• "Joker" - Everything that I have heard about this one tells me that it is just not my kind of movie.  Doubt that I will see this.
• "Marriage Story" - The story of a marriage falling apart.  A custody battle for the kid.  Oh, yeah, THAT'S something I want to see.  I am also told that it is writer/director Noah Baumbach's own personal story, so I want pay to see his self-therapy?  Mrs. Grandstander watched this and she said it was "okay", but she also said that she knows that I wouldn't like it.  I don't care how good the acting is, and I am sure that it is, I don't want to sit through her people's misery.
• "1917" - I am not drawn to this one, although I am intrigued by the idea of how it was shot in a series of long continuous takes.   I will probably check this out at some point.
• "Parasite" -  I am also not drawn to a foreign language film with subtitles, but, again, enough folks whose opinions I value say that this is really a good one, so I may try to catch the one.
• A big surprise was the lack of love shown by the Academy for "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood."  Its only nomination was for Tom Hanks for Best Supporting Actor.
• Speaking of Best Supporting Actor, that is the category that can best  be described as a true All-Star Ballot: Tom Hanks, Anthony Hopkins, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, and Brad Pitt.  All have Oscars on their resumes (although's Pitt's is as a producer, not an actor).  The front runner for this one appears to be Pitt, and I hope that he does get the win.  
• No love for Robert De Niro for "The Irishman"????
• Scarlett Johansson get nominated for both Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress.  When this has happened in the past, the actor usually snares the Supporting award.
• "The Irishman" garnered ten nominations, and it will be interesting how the Academy will treat this one since it is a Netflix production.  Will be there anti-Netflix, anti-Movies-made-primarily-for-streaming-services bias?  That will be an interesting storyline to follow.  (This applies to "Marriage Story"  and "The Two Popes" as well.)
• My guess is that the Best Director winner will be between two of Hollywood's darlings, Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino.  Two factors will tilt it towards Tarantino, I think.  One, the anti-Netfix factor against Scorsese, and two, Tarantino's movie as almost a love letter toward Hollywood, and Hollywood loves to honor itself, so QT finally gets his Best Director Oscar.
• The Best Actor/Actress categories seem to be fait accomplis  for Joaquin Phoenix ("Joker") and Renee Zellweger ("Judy").   Nominated for a fourth time, I would love to see Saoirse Ronan win her first Oscar, but it will be hard to top Zellweger's performance.
• The Academy could make up for Gerwig's Best Director snub by awarding her the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, although Steven Zallian could get this one as a way to honor "The Irishman".
• The Original Screenplay award could go to Tarantino if he doesn't get the Director Oscar for "Once Upon a Time...In Hollywood."  That has happened for him in the past ("Pulp Fiction" and "Django Unchained").
• Every year there is a movie that gets a ton of nominations in different categories but ends up getting shut out on Oscar night.  What will be that movie this year?  I fear that it could be "Little Women."

The Grandstander will put forth some official predictions as the night of the awards draws nearer.  In the meantime, a couple of plugs for my favorite movies of the year....

"Little Women"

I'll cut right to the chase here:

"Little Women" is one of the best movies, maybe even THE best,  that I have seen in 2019.

No, I had never read the Louisa May Alcott classic upon which the movie is based, and I wasn't even at all familiar with the story itself.  This admission comes much to the chagrin of Mrs. Grandstander, who counts "Little Women" as one of her all time favorite books.

Be that as it may, I was looking forward to seeing this movie for several reasons.  Foremost among them was the chance to see Saoirse Ronan on screen once again.  Also, the screenwriter and director of this one is Greta Gerwig, who last year gave us the wonderful "Lady Bird" (which also starred Miss Ronan).  Finally, the reviews for this movie have been universal in their praise.  Sometimes such a build up can lead to a letdown, but not so in the case of "Little Women".  It is a marvelous movie, and great story, gorgeously filmed, and smartly written and wonderfully directed by Gerwig, who at the age of 36 is quickly becoming one of the current days' great filmmakers.  Any movie that she now makes becomes one that I want to see.

Ronan and Gerwig

She makes the interesting choice of telling the story of the March Sisters during two different points in time, set seven years apart in the story.  It seems a bit disorienting at first, but you catch on pretty quickly and it turns out to have been a great way to present the story.

Scanlon, Ronan, Watson, and Pugh

The March Sisters, the "little women" of the title are played by Emma Watson (Meg), Saoirse Ronan (Jo), Florence Pugh (Amy), and Eliza Scanlon (Beth).  All are great, but the first among equals is Ronan.  Ever since seeing her in the great movie "Brooklyn" a few years back, she has become one of my favorite actresses. She alone makes any movie that she is in worth seeing (if they filmed her reading the telephone book, I think that I'd pay to see it), and she is absolutely mesmerizing as Jo March in this one.  You really just can't take your eyes off of her as you watch her perform on screen.  I have said previously on this Blog and will restate it once more, she is becoming the next great actress of her generation, and she will be, I believe, the "next Meryl Streep."

Also appearing in this movie are Timothee Chalamet (another veteran from "Lady Bird"), Laura Dern, Chris Cooper, Bob Odenkirk, and the aforementioned Meryl Streep.  How great to have both Streep and Ronan appear in the same movie, although they have few scenes together.  Most of Streep's interactions in the movie are with Miss Pugh's Amy.  

I simply cannot recommend this movie highly enough.  Some terrifically staged scenes, particularly of sequences where there is dancing involved.  Sounds crazy since this is NOT a musical, but when you see the scenes, you'll know what I mean. Also, terrific dialog, particularly from Streep's character Aunt March when talking about the sisters, the necessity of marriage in the nineteenth century, and her feelings towards Jo, who may be more like her than she realizes or cares to admit. 

Simply put, don't miss "Little Women".  I can't wait to see it again.

Four Stars from The Grandstander.

Oh, and one more thing.  We saw this yesterday in a theater that was close to being filled to capacity, and I was one of three or four men in the audience.  So my message to all you guys out there, don't pass this one up because you think this one is strictly for women, or more specifically, young girls.  To do so will cause you to miss out on a terrific movie.  Trust me on that.