Little Men ** (1940, Kay Francis, Jack Oakie, George Bancroft, Jimmy Lydon) – Classic Movie Review 9205

Director Norman Z McLeod’s 1940 Little Men is a quick, well-produced remake of Phil Rosen’s 1935 film Little Men, and is marginally better, with Kay Francis starring as Jo March, the main character in Louisa May Alcott’s novel Little Women, now running the Plumfield Estate School for poor boys, where young tough street kid Dan (Jimmy Lydon) gets his education in life.

Mark Kelly and Arthur Caesar is based on Louisa May Alcott’s 1871 novel Little Men, or Life at Plumfield with Jo’s Boys, a semi-sequel to Little Women.

Little Men is weighed down by cosy sentimentality and an uneasy script with obvious gags and contrived plotting. But it manages to entertain mildly through some amusing scenes and characters and performances.

Jack Oakie stands out as a sympathetic thief called Willie the Fox. Carl [Charles] Esmond also stars as Jo’s husband Professor Bhaer, running the school with her, and George Bancroft plays Dan’s foster father, Major Burdle, a con man who plots with Willie the Fox to save the school when it is threatened with foreclosure.

Also notable in the cast are Ann Gillis as Nan, William Demarest as Constable Tom Thorpe, Sterling Holloway as Reporter, and Isabel Jewell as Stella.

Also in the cast are Johnny Burke, Lillian Randolph, Richard Nichols, Francesca Santoro, Sammy McKim, Edward Rice, Anne Howard, Jimmy Zahner, Bobby Cooper, Casey Johnson, Schuyler Standish as Nat, Paul Matthews as Stuffy, Tony Neil as Ned, Fred Estes as Emmett, Douglas Rucker as Billy, Donald Rackerby as Frank and Elsie the Cow as Buttercup.

Charles Arnt, Stanley Blystone, Nora Cecil, Hal K Dawson, Sarah Edwards, George D Green, Jack Henderson, Howard C Hickman, Lloyd Ingraham, George Irving, William Irving, Bud Jamison, Nella Walker, Clarence Wilson and Duke York all appear uncredited.

Little Men is directed by Norman Z McLeod, runs 84 minutes, is made by The Play’s The Thing Productions, released by RKO Radio Pictures, is written by Mark Kelly and Arthur Caesar, based on Louisa May Alcott’s novel, is shot in black and white by Nicholas Musuraca, is produced by Graham Towne and Gene Baker, is scored by Roy Webb and is designed by Van Nest Polglase.

The film re-uses several exterior sets from Gone with the Wind (1939).

The film was premiered on December 7, 1940 in New York City and released in the US on January 10, 1941 but recorded a loss of $214,000.

In the opening credits Elsie the Cow, playing Buttercup, is eighth billed as Elsie The Moo Girl of the New York World’s Fair. At the time she was famous, appearing in adverts for the Borden Company.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 9205

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