Little Women (1994)

Little Women (1994)
December 25, 1994
Columbia
Drama, Comedy, Historical, Romance
VHS
B-

In thinking it over, I'd actually put this movie at the same level as the 1933 George Cukor version.  Winona Ryder, then 18, does a fine job in stepping into Katharine Hepburn's shoes, with her own equally valid interpretation of Jo.  The other sisters are again neglected, although Marmee's role (played by Susan Sarandon) has been beefed up and made to more closely resemble Alcott's mother.  The sisters do have some nice little moments, in particular 13-year-old Kirsten Dunst as Amy (whom I miss when she's recast for the grown-up Amy scenes), but I would like to see more balance in some version someday.

And at least they have something to do, unlike most of the men.  With the exception of Christian Bale as Laurie, and to some degree Gabriel Byrne as Professor Bhaer, the male characters are either miscast/misinterpreted (John Brooke) or almost nonexistent (Mr. Laurence and Mr. March).  One thing that the '33 version did much better was show how gruff Mr. L interacts with the March sisters, Jo and Beth especially.  And Mr. M seems to have only three lines in this go-round.  Incidentally, I'm using the "romance" tag here although I didn't for the '33 version, because it seems like romance is a bigger deal here, including quite a bit of smooching and almost-smooching.

Of other female characters, I would've liked to have seen more of film veteran Mary Wickes, as Aunt March, since she could've done a lot with the part.  (Wickes died the following year, at 85.)

I will say that the movie moved me more emotionally than the '33 version, although I did find some of the line delivery a little stilted, if less than in the not-far-from-the-silent-era earlier take.  Both remain less than the book they're based on.  (Reviewed here, http://rereadingeverybookiown.blogspot.com/2012/02/little-women.html .)  Admittedly, that's one of my favorite books, but in the first half of the '90s both Enchanted April and Joy Luck Club showed what could be done with adaptations.

Daniel Olsen, who plays a Wounded Soldier, would be an MIT student in Good Will Hunting.

Ma and Pa Kettle at Home

Ma and Pa Kettle at Home
March 10, 1954
Universal
Comedy
VHS
C+

In this entry, the previously never mentioned second (?) Kettle son, Elwin, has just finished high school and hopes to win a college scholarship that The National Magazine is sponsoring.  So he's written an essay lying about the family's rundown farm, but the magazine sends out two judges to investigate the farm and that of his local rival/girlfriend Sally Mattocks.  Why a New-York-based magazine would do this is beyond me, but it's just one of the oddities of a script that includes Pa convincing his Indian friends and their tribe to pretend to go on the warpath so Pa can look like a hero.  There's also Ma sort of matchmaking the local spinster librarian (Mary Wickes) with the older judge, the obviously symbolic courtship of the Mattocks's cow by the Kettles' bull (who wears a bowler), and what's meant to be a heartwarming Christmas that just comes across as awkward.

Apparently Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki was filmed before this, and it's possible this was meant to be the last entry.  In any case, all the Kettle kids have been replaced by the following:

• Patrick Miller, then 33 (!), as Teddy
• Brett Halsey, then 20, as Elwin
• Carol Nugent, then 16, as Nancy
• Tony Epper, then 15, as Donny
• Judy Nugent (Carol's sister?), then 13, as the otherwise unheard of Betty
• Whitey Haupt, then 13, as Henry
• Gary Pagett, then 13, as George
• Patricia Morrow, then 10, as Susie, although she'd be two non-Kettles in the last two entries in the series
• Richard Eyer, then 8, as Billy (the one who likes frogs and wears a propeller beanie)
• Nancy Zane, then 7, as Sarah
• Coral Hammond, age unknown, as Eve
• Donald MacDonald, age unknown, as Benjamin
• Donna Cregan Moots, age unknown, as Ruthie

There's no mention of Tom, but Rosie is working in Seattle over Christmas.  This again gives us a total of fifteen kids.

James Flavin played a policeman in Abbott and Costello Go to Mars as well.  Helen Gibson was in MaPK at the Fair.  Ken Terrell and Hank Worden were in MaPK on Vacation, but I think they were playing French rather than Indian then.  Alice Kelley, who's Sally here, was a stewardess in that movie.  Marjorie Bennett, who portrays the corset saleslady, would appear in Mary Poppins.