Little Men (1935)

This follow-up to RKO Radio's near-perfect adaptation of Little Women was produced by small but enterprising Mascot Pictures (the forerunner to Republic). Erin O'Brien-Moore and Ralph Morgan star as Jo March and Professor Bhaer, the characters played by Katharine Hepburn and Paul Lukas in Little Women. Now married, Jo and the Professor decide to establish a school for wayward boys, hoping to guide the kids towards the proper paths in life. The supporting cast includes what "B"-film historian Don Miller described as "just about every child player in Hollywood" ranging from cherubic Dickie Moore as Demi to tough-guy Frankie Darro as Dan (future director Richard Quine can also be spotted amongst the boys). Louisa May Alcott devotees have always felt that Little Men is inferior to Little Women; the same, alas, can be said about the two novels' respective film versions, though Mascot's Little Men comes to life whenever satanic-visaged Gustaf Von Seyfertitz, cast as a vindictive reformatory supervisor, oils his way onto the screen. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi