LITTLE MEN (Mascot Studios, 1934), directed by Phil Rosen, is an independently produced screen adaptation and sequel to Louisa May Alcott's book, "Little Women." Following the recent success of LITTLE WOMEN (RKO Radio, 1933) starring Katharine Hepburn (Jo March) and Paul Lukas (Professor Fritz Bhaer), that has become an all-time classic, rather than RKO Radio producing its very own sequel with Hepburn and Lukas reprising their original roles showing their characters some years after their initial marriage, this edition, distributed by another studio, features Erin O'Brien-Moore (Jo) and Ralph Morgan (Professor Bhaer) in their places. As much as this could have been a continuation to the lives of Jo's other sisters, Amy, Beth and Meg, in chapter form, LITTLE MEN focuses more on Jo and her ambition to take in orphaned/unwanted boys into her home for a better life, with the assistance of her husband as their schoolteacher.
Set several years after the Civil War, the story revolves around Jo (Erin O'Brien-Moore), married eight years to Professor Bhaer (Ralph Morgan), along with her two children, Robert (Ronnie Cosbey) and Teddy (Eddie Dale Heiden), their housekeeper, Asia (Hattie McDaniel), all living in a New England farmland with Jo's homeless "little men": Demi (Dickie Moore), Jack (Tad Alexander), Dickie (Buster Phelps), Tommy Bangs (Tommy Bupp), Bobby Cox (Stuffy), Donald Buck (Billy), Dickie Jones (Dolly), Richard Quine (Ned) and Emil (George Ernst). The home also includes girls, Daisy (Cora Sue Collins) and Nan (Jacqueline Taylor). Franz (Junior Durkin), the eldest of the teenage boys, is infatuated with the older of the girls, Mary Anne (Phyllis Fraser). Nat Blake (David Durand) comes to the Bhaer home known as the Plumfield School for Boys on a recommendation from Laurie Laurence (Robert Carleton), Jo's former beau from her younger days, now married to her sister, Amy. Almost immediately, Nat feels right at home with his new surroundings. A talented violinist, Nat plays at the birthday gathering of Laurie and his guests. On his way home by carriage driven by Plumfield handyman, Silas (Irving Bacon), Nat is reunited with his best friend, Dan (Frankie Darro), an orphan living on the streets shining shoes and selling newspapers. Nat takes Dan to Plumfield where Jo agrees in taking in another boy under her care. Bhaer, however, feels Dan would be a bad influence on the other boys. Aside from keeping Nat from his habit of lying, Bhaer finds himself separating Franz from fighting with Dan, saving the boys from a fire started by a lighted smoking pipe, and suspecting Dan from stealing a dollar from Tommy. With no other choice, Bhaer dismisses Dan from the school and takes him to the home of Schoolmaster Paige (Gustav Von Seyffertitz) where he feels the troublesome teen would get better disciplined. Live soon changes for both parties.
While Erin O'Brien-Moore makes a good substitution to the role previously enacted by Katharine Hepburn, Ralph Morgan, in a physical sense, is agreeable as Professor Bhaer, though is not accented ias the character originated by Hungarian born Paul Lukas from LITTLE WOMEN. As much as Junior Durkin and Dickie Moore assumed leading roles prior, notably Durkin as HUCKLEBERRY FINN (1931) and Moore as OLIVER TWIST (1933), their scenes here are limited here with most attention going towards actors, David Durand and Frankie Darro.
Over the years, LITTLE MEN (1935) did play on commercial television years before becoming a 45 minute featurette in a 1983 public television showing of "Matinee at the Bijou," followed by availability on both video cassette and DVD format. Regardless of how the movie follows or strays heavily from the Alcott novel, LITTLE MEN gets by on its own merits, ranging from sentimentality, some humor, and most of all, moral values and learning from mistakes. Of the few latter remakes to LITTLE MEN in later years, none are as notable and retold on screen than LITTLE WOMEN. (**1/2)
Set several years after the Civil War, the story revolves around Jo (Erin O'Brien-Moore), married eight years to Professor Bhaer (Ralph Morgan), along with her two children, Robert (Ronnie Cosbey) and Teddy (Eddie Dale Heiden), their housekeeper, Asia (Hattie McDaniel), all living in a New England farmland with Jo's homeless "little men": Demi (Dickie Moore), Jack (Tad Alexander), Dickie (Buster Phelps), Tommy Bangs (Tommy Bupp), Bobby Cox (Stuffy), Donald Buck (Billy), Dickie Jones (Dolly), Richard Quine (Ned) and Emil (George Ernst). The home also includes girls, Daisy (Cora Sue Collins) and Nan (Jacqueline Taylor). Franz (Junior Durkin), the eldest of the teenage boys, is infatuated with the older of the girls, Mary Anne (Phyllis Fraser). Nat Blake (David Durand) comes to the Bhaer home known as the Plumfield School for Boys on a recommendation from Laurie Laurence (Robert Carleton), Jo's former beau from her younger days, now married to her sister, Amy. Almost immediately, Nat feels right at home with his new surroundings. A talented violinist, Nat plays at the birthday gathering of Laurie and his guests. On his way home by carriage driven by Plumfield handyman, Silas (Irving Bacon), Nat is reunited with his best friend, Dan (Frankie Darro), an orphan living on the streets shining shoes and selling newspapers. Nat takes Dan to Plumfield where Jo agrees in taking in another boy under her care. Bhaer, however, feels Dan would be a bad influence on the other boys. Aside from keeping Nat from his habit of lying, Bhaer finds himself separating Franz from fighting with Dan, saving the boys from a fire started by a lighted smoking pipe, and suspecting Dan from stealing a dollar from Tommy. With no other choice, Bhaer dismisses Dan from the school and takes him to the home of Schoolmaster Paige (Gustav Von Seyffertitz) where he feels the troublesome teen would get better disciplined. Live soon changes for both parties.
While Erin O'Brien-Moore makes a good substitution to the role previously enacted by Katharine Hepburn, Ralph Morgan, in a physical sense, is agreeable as Professor Bhaer, though is not accented ias the character originated by Hungarian born Paul Lukas from LITTLE WOMEN. As much as Junior Durkin and Dickie Moore assumed leading roles prior, notably Durkin as HUCKLEBERRY FINN (1931) and Moore as OLIVER TWIST (1933), their scenes here are limited here with most attention going towards actors, David Durand and Frankie Darro.
Over the years, LITTLE MEN (1935) did play on commercial television years before becoming a 45 minute featurette in a 1983 public television showing of "Matinee at the Bijou," followed by availability on both video cassette and DVD format. Regardless of how the movie follows or strays heavily from the Alcott novel, LITTLE MEN gets by on its own merits, ranging from sentimentality, some humor, and most of all, moral values and learning from mistakes. Of the few latter remakes to LITTLE MEN in later years, none are as notable and retold on screen than LITTLE WOMEN. (**1/2)