“LITTLE WOMEN.”

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20359, 17 July 1934, Page 3

“LITTLE WOMEN.”

Eagerly-Awaited Film Starts on Saturday. Intensely dramatic situations abound in “Glamour” (Constance Cummings and Paul Lukas), which heads the current programme at the Tivoli Theatre. There is a good deal of old world charm about “ Little Women, the eagerly-awaited talking screen version of Louisa May Alcott’s best-selling novel, which will be presented at the Tivoli Theatre next Saturday. The film, capturing the true-to-life spirit of the novel, is an interesting character study, full of those natural little touches of sentiment associated with New England in the ’sixties. In addition, however, there are periods of humour that are delightfully whimsical, and the action, after carrying the beholder through the everyday vicissitudes of the March family, concludes on a happy note. The setting is picturesque, the acting is of a high standard, and, under the direction of George Cukor, the sequences are introduced with simple but telling effect. There is nothing forced. The story opens during the Civil War, in which the head of the March family is engaged. Mrs March and her four daughters—the “ little women ” —are seen in their home life. Of the girls, the outstanding character is Josephine (Jo.), whose vivacious personality is artistically portrayed by that new favourite, Katharine Hepburn. In the main, the story traces a portion of Jo’s life from her tomboyish earlier behaviour to the quieter and deeper stage at which she begins to realise that the family cannot always go on living in the free and easy way of old, and that romance cannot be excluded from her life for ever. Another fascinating young member of the family is Amy, whose talent lies in sketching—an art which frequently gets her into difficulties when she should have been paying all her attention to her school work. Amy’s part is cleverly interpreted by Joan Bennett, who is very intriguing when, in the misplaced effort to prove her scholarship, she becomes tangled up with the enunciation of long words. Then there is Frances Dee, cast as Meg, the first of the girls to marry. Box plans at the D.I.C.