Anatomy Of A Series: Little Women 1978 Part 2
Niina: This version also had a lot of scenes between John and Meg. This version had the scene from the book, where Meg doesn’t really let John to participate in raising their children and Marmee discusses about that with her. It does expand more to the lives of the other sisters too.
Christina: I can’t honestly remember if this was 197o or 1978 but there is the sweet moment of Meg giving John his coat. I always just remember that moment because I just thought that was the sweetest and actors were very good in that, in those scenes. I have no idea who they really are. I haven’t personally seen them in anything else, but they were pretty good.
Niina: I think it also had the jam scene.
Christina: Yes, I am pretty sure too. It is not as long as I think the 1970 is, but again that one had, weirdly Jo and Laurie messing around the kitchen. That one showed the difficulties they had in the beginning. I want to say it was this one, where there was a moment between John and Jo, where they had a sort of understanding, a small reconciliation scene between them. Jo being like, you’d better take care of her, if you don’t I will kick your butt.
Niina: I wanted to ask you. Do you remember any adaptations where Jo would like to pair Meg with Laurie? like she does in the book. I don’t think there is any.
Christina: Only one I can think of is possible throw away line in 2017 Masterpiece version.
Niina: Ah okay.
Christina: Other than that, I don’t think so.
Niina: I think it is one of those things that people are confused about. They are like “Jo hates marriage, because she doesn’t want John to marry Meg” but in the book, Jo wants Meg to marry Laurie. She is not against marriage. She sees John as a stranger. Laurie is someone who she knows. There is a big difference between that, but the adaptations leave that out.
Christina: Now that you say that, I don’t recall that in the adaptations.
Niina: In the 1949 film, we see Jo showing her fist to the broomstick. She is so angry that Meg is in love, but she wants Meg to marry Laurie in the books, so it is quite silly and then later on she wants Laurie to marry Beth.
Christina: I don’t remember there being a moment, obviously in the book, when Beth is crying, Jo has this moment, and it is definitely in the 2017 adaptation, but there are not many adaptation that have Jo mistaking Beth’s melancholy for unrequired love for Laurie. There is not many. There is a moment where Jo catches Beth crying here, because I remember. Jo is like is there something wrong with the twins, Beth is like no and Jo asks “is there something wrong with you?” Maybe there is a moment there. I can’t remember from the top of my head. As far as I know, the 2017 Masterpiece Theater is the only one that adressed Jo’s mistaken belief that Beth has a crush on Laurie.
Niina: That is good that there is atleast one in our list. I will watch the part 2 of this 1978 series soon, and see if there is anything related to this topic.
Christina: What did you think of the actor that plays Laurie? I would like to know what you think.
Niina: I love him. He is my favorite Laurie of all times. I think it is because he is both emotional but he also has high temper. He is controlled by his emotions, but he is not all moody, which is how the 2017 and 2019 versions tend to portray him. Laurie is mostly controlled by two emotions. His anger and his happiness. This version really captures that and I love it.
Christina: I was kind of on unshaking ground. First I was like I really don’t like him, but then I was like, no the actor is actually really good. It took me a moment to remember that, Laurie really is this way, in the novel, he is that emotional. In the other versions we have seen more subdued Laurie’s, and this is like you said, pretty close to the book and I really liked his scenes with Amy. This one did pretty good job of their moments together.
Niina: I think this version manages to foreshadow Laurie’s and Amy’s relationship, already from the beginning, because they have many scenes together. I feel like in many adaptations, Laurie and Amy are portrayed arguing when they are adults, but not in this version. Here we see him, being very supportive of her, her art and what she wants to become. It is really nice. When Laurie is being moody in France. He meets Amy again. There is a moment when he is drunk, you see how he sobers up, when Amy speaks to him. It is one of my favorite moments in this adaptation. You do get this feeling, that he realizes he is falling for Amy, and you can visually see that. I do like that.
Christina: I just remembered something from the 1971 because I compared the two. In 1971 when Amy goes after Jo and Laurie at the pond, here in 1978 one it is in the winter, when she falls through the ice. 1971 it is the weird one where it is summer time and she just sprains a leg and she can’t swim. That was really weird. I just remembered that now. That was a weird choice. Why would you do that.
Niina: and it doesn’t look like a pond. It is a filled plastic pool where she falls.
Christina: I was thinking that scene. After the book burning we are getting into reconciliation between Jo and Amy. This is where we really start having that moment. That was a moment that made me go. “That was weird?” “why did you do that?” Here they had that moment too and Laurie was pretty good in that scene helping Jo and being kind with Amy. That was where I was like, that actually was kind of nice. When they pulled Amy out, she was close to Laurie. If I remember that correctly and I thought that was quite nice foreshadowing for their relationship.
Niina: 1978 Laurie is played by Richard Gilliland and he is this blonde man with blue eyes. The book Laurie has brown skin, curly black hair. This Laurie does not look like Italian, but I think he captures the essense of the character.
Christina: He is very boyish. Very free and when I think about the appearance of someone like Friedrich in this version, Laurie here is blonde and tell and you go like “Why woulnd’t Jo fall for him?” compared to William Shatner who is more sturdy. More broad. Brown haired, more reserved. I think it is physically a good way to show what is inwardly the difference between the two of them. As much as Laurie is not quite true to the book, it was a good visual que to show the difference and why does Jo leans towards Friedrich.
Niina: This version does really good job with Laurie and his grandfather’s relationship. There are these scenes between them where we see how his grandfather wants to bond with him, but he doesn’t know how to do that. It’s almost like the two of them have these self-protecting walls surrounding them. I think it does a good job showing that Jo and Laurie, don’t work as a romantic couple, because we see them arguing quite a lot in this version. In the 1970 version, they actually argue even more.
Christina: I just remembered a really nice moment, this is something I feel like too many adaptations have. As much as we talk about the relationship between Beth and Mr Lawrence, there is a good relationship between Jo and Mr Lawrence.
Niina: Yes.
Christina: I remember there is a moment, where they are in town and Mr Lawrence and Laurie get into a fight. They are in billiard room, Laurie rans off and Jo is there comforting him. “Are you okay?” Later on Mr Lawrence says “Jo what is wrong?” She is like “we just had a fight, Laurie proposed”. He is like “are you sure you can’t” She is like “no”. There are lots of great moments that happen between Jo and Mr Lawrence, that I don’t feel like many adaptations show. It is a shame. Beth is the one who kind of leads him to the March family, and here it truly feels like, he is part of the family and when Beth dies, obviously he is not alone. He has Amy and Jo and Meg there to be suportive and be there for him. There is a lot of really nice moments between those two, that I feel like are underrated.
Niina: During that moment in the billiard hall when Laurie and his grandfather begin to argue, Laurie rans off and then Jo speaks with Mr Lawrence. She says “you need to be more gentle with him”
Christina: The two of them are probably closest to Laurie, and it is a great way of showing understanding. They both know the different aspects of Laurie and they work together to help Laurie to be the best version of himself. Like you said, Jo tells him “you have to be more gentle with him”. They work together trying to handle Laurie’s emotions. There is a scene that is underrated.
Niina: It goes a long with the narration in the book, that Jo is more of a little mother to Laurie, rather than a love interest. Jo is always like “my little Laurie”, “my boy”, “the first boy I ever raised”. Jo is the mother archetype and Mr Lawrence tries to be the father archetype, which he could not be to his own son.
Christina: I think Marmee was really well-done here. I did like, the moment when Marmee talked to Jo about her temper, I liked that we had a moment where we did see Marmee’s temper, not only in away that is actually correct versus the 1970 where she is mean to Amy, but she comes to the realization “Oh boy”. The moment we see that is when Amy comes home after hand gets wacked and Marmee has that moment when she is going to storm out and say something to the teacher. You see her to have that moment, she realizes that she can not let her temper to get the better of her. She goes back in and very calmly says “we will take care of you and I will write a letter to your teacher”. I feel like that was the better way of showing Marmee’s tendencies for temper versus the 1970. I did like that and I think in general, she did a pretty good job being Marmee. Being gentle but very..not stern but..what is the word I am looking fore…strong hand. i don’t know who the actress is but I did like her. I am trying to remember scenes with Mr March. He is not that present.
Niina: I don’t remember Mr March. There were some really good scenes with Aunt March.
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Christina: I did like Aunt March in this. I think what probably helped too was just the casting of Greer Garson. Greer Garson has one of those wonderful voices. It is very distinct and you know how sometimes you hear someone saying that, you have a great voice for narration, she has a wonderful voice for that. She is very nice prim and proper type of lady. You need to be proper. You need to marry a man that is wealthy. You need to act like a lady Jo, but then there is an amusing moment, after Jo leaves, she opens the three musketeers and reads it.
Niina: I loved that. That was a funny moment. It shows that she has sense of humor.
Christina: Yeah, she is not quite as tough as she pretends to be because it is true to the book too. She says “If you will marry this crook or brook” she says “I will disown you” but then she gives the couple a wedding gift “yeah I can not stay mad at you forever”. I think they did a pretty good job showing a balance of her character. Her meaner side, but also her gentle side.
Niina: It is interesting that Louisa May Alcott, wrote Aunt Marche’s husband to be very much like Friedrich. Nobody talks about him. He is not mentioned in the adaptations. He is written to be this man who loves children, was a great father, loves books and reading and a really nice person.
Christina: It is one of those little moments, you kinda go like, it’s not very big, but it’s like a nice little Easter Egg there. I do want to talk about Jo’s and Friedrich’s relationship in this version. This one is another one that I rank pretty high. If you are a Jo and Friedrich fan, you want to watch this, because there is a lot of scenes of them in New York.
Niina: There are some of my favorite Jo and Friedrich moments. Definitely the one, when she is going back to Concord, he runs after her and he gives her a book of Shakespeare and I’m like. My heart is melting! I can’t take it.
Christina: I know. Oh my god! and I love the moment, Jo is going to drop of his socks, after mending them. She finds his book and she is reading it and he walks in and he stands on the door way. I always say that, in this version, that is the moment when he realizes he is in love with her, because he looks at her being like “look how beautiful she is. Oh my god I love her”.
I always read it that way. That is the moment when he really understood what his feelings were. That moment I liked and I liked their first meeting and this is a small little bonus point, this is the first version we see Emil and Franz in, because we don’t see them in 1970. They are mentioned but we never see them. This is where we see them for the first time. One of the boys says “Uncle Fritz!” Both he and Jo go out with the boys and the girls to the park. I like their first meeting because obviously, very clear that they do like each other, when she leaves, she offers her hand and he kisses it and I’m like “that is so cute!” He is a gentleman but not in a patronizing way, that is how Friedrich is. There is a lot of really great moments in this.
Niina: One of my other favorites is when Jo is back in Concord and then. In New York Friedrich is looking for a job, so that he could move to Concord and provide a home for Jo. We see him going through these university teaching positions. To me in the book, that was really one of the most romantic aspects about Friedrich’s character. He is incredibly poor, but he is willing to work for Jo. He would give a coat from his back, to give Jo, everything she wants.
Christina: I really like that scene. He says “this isn’t going as I planned”. In under the umbrella he goes “I will take a wife, if you will have me” “I am in love with you” and I’m like “aaww”. It is so adorable. In the most affectionate way. They are both idiots in love. They presume one thing. They can’t seem to make it quite so rom-com type of romantic scene, but it is still in an enduring way a romantic scene.
Niina: That is another plus. The dialogue in under the umbrella, that is pretty close to the book.
Christina: This one has two moments of Friedrich following Jo’s writing. When Mrs Kirk shows up “Look another story by Jo”. He takes it and he reads it. I really like that moment, because it shows that he is falling into her writings and he is like “she is doing a really good job”. This version, does have the argument between the two of them. One. they make up and Two.. There is admitting on Jo’s part that maybe it is not the greatest of her writings. They come in to understanding when he is like “even though your writing is good, you can not expect me to go back on everything I have just said, what I believe in. She is like “No I don’t expect you to. You should. That is why I like you. You are very certain and strong in what you feel”. As much as I don’t like them arguing. I can appreciate that they manage to bring it back to them having, this understanding that this is, who they are and appreciate that.
Niina: It is weird with the arguing. I don’t know where people come up with that. In the book even before Jo meets Friedrich,she calls her sensational stories as trash and she keeps on repeating that “sensational stories are trash”. “I don’t like writing them”. “I only write them for the money”. She is not defending, sensationalism itself. She doesn’t like that type of literature and has very little respect for it.
Christina: I can only imagine either two things. One. Who ever the scriptwriter was kind of misinterpited that moment from the book or they thought “I can’t have anything good and simple” so they needed to add little drama in to the scene and so they felt like “Oh lets have a moment where they argue about this” because they must have thought “oh relationships can not be real if there isn’t at least one argument or something” which is weird. We may have grown up with that notion, for now realizing, you can have a relationship when you don’t argue. Disagree but no arguments where you get mad at each other, shouting and all that jazz. I think that was one of the things, where I was like, I don’t want to make it sound like it is a bad thing but, the 70s was really when the feminist movement began to gear and that is great, but this is one of those scenes where I was worried about when I was watching this version. Are they going go up with this gear and make it more than what it was. You know what I mean.
Niina: I think the earlier 70s version does that a lot more.
Christina: That was the thing I was worried about. I felt like they wanted to put the argument in and be like watch Jo having back bone. You know what I am trying to say. Compared to some of the other versions, where they really take that extreme feminism to the other end. This one still manages to be where it is supposed to be.
Niina: You know, in the book it is really Laurie who does not want Jo to write and sadly a lot of modern feminists, who don’t read the book and only watch adaptations, are like, Friedrich didn’t want Jo to write. Friedrich is based on Goethe, who Louisa May Alcott adored and who inspired her to become a writer in the first place, that doesn’t make any sense. The 1994 film. That is the only one where Laurie says “you don’t need to write if you don’t want to”.
Chrstina: Right
Niina: In the book, Jo says that, he, Laurie, would not approve her writing. Laurie would not approve Jo writing, but that is not in the adaptations. Instead they have this argument between Jo and Fritz. which is not in the book. So they change the narrative, which is really weird and as a canon-fan I say, that is unforgivable.
Chritina: It is blown by in certain adaptations. I think like, if I remember corretly, in 1933 and 49, in the proposal scenes, Jo says “you would hate my scribblings”. In 94 one Laurie is like “You don’t have to write” and then, she makes a face, and he says “unless you want to”. He doesn’t say it in away like “oh you don’t have to write for money”. It’s like “you don’t have to write ever, unless if you don’t want to”.
Niina: It feels like he doesn’t take it that seriously that Jo wants to write. That is the feeling I get from the 1994 film, which is true to the book. Laurie did not take it that seriously.
Christina: In the 78 version, do they have a scene where they discuss her writing?
Niina: I don’t think they had that discussion. The proposal scene. I don’t think it was that angry. Jo does say that if she would meet the right person, it should be earth shaking love, which is in the book. Laurie is hurt, but I didn’t get the feeling that he was incredibly dissappointed or maybe it was just me.
Christina: It doesn’t feel quite as emotionally charged, as it could have been on Laurie’s part.
Niina: Then it is interesting if you think about it. Maybe he was in love with Amy. Maybe he expected Jo to say no.
Christina: You can either see him dissappointed but trying to not show it or him having that moment of realization. Maybe I don’t like Jo as much as I think I do.
Niina: I would like to go with that because I am Amy and Laurie shipper.
Christina: Oh yeah.
Christina: This one was better than I expected. It felt very true to the story. Actors were pretty good. It has it’s moments but if you had to put it on the ranking, where would you put it?
Niina: It is five or four for me, I’d say.
Christina: At the moment, let’s do five, because I feel like we are going to switch some things soon.
Niina: I think so too.
