Home Video Picks & Passes 04.12.20
A classic book is reimagined.
Destry Rides Again (1939) — PICK
Little Women (2019) — PICK
One of last year’s best films, Greta Gerwig’s Little Women (now on Blu-ray and DVD), offers an illuminating rereading of Louisa May Alcott’s much-adapted classic. Gerwig takes a “past is prologue” approach to the novel’s two halves, the present being the adult realities of Part 2 and the childhood magic of Part 1 recalled in flashback.
For newcomers to the story, Gerwig’s nonlinear approach may be hard to follow at first, but her method highlights connections between the two timeframes (e.g., Beth’s two bouts of illness). It’s the first take I’ve seen that left me looking at this familiar story in a new light.
New from the Criterion Collection, George Marshall’s classic satirical action-comedy Western Destry Rides Again pits mild-mannered deputy Jimmy Stewart against a lawless town full of swindlers and murderers.
The conceit of the seeming milksop who’s tougher than the hooligans was already a cliché in 1939, but Destry has some clever twists that keep things interesting. Marlene Dietrich costars as that other cliché, the bad girl with a heart of gold who needs a man to treat her with respect so she can respect herself.
CAVEAT SPECTATOR: Destry Rides Again: Mostly comic violence; some naughty song lyrics; mild innuendo. Kids and up. Little Women: Brief drunkenness. Kids and up.
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