- Isn't it wonderful, Jo? - Yes, it's wonderful.
Change comes like the seasons, and twice as quick.
We make our peace with it as best we can. Or, as Amy once said:
"We'll all grow up someday. We might as well know what we want. "
But her landscapes lack emotion.
I think she'd benefit from study. But she won't get it around here.
- What do you suggest? - Cape Cod? But Europe is best.
Teddy!
You were supposed to come tonight. Hail the conquering graduate!
- Is Grandfather proud? - Yes. But he wants me in an office.
Why can Amy paint china, and you can scribble, while I set music aside?
Why must you?
If I don't . . . I'd have to defy Grandfather.
Yes, and not the whole of soclety.
I can't go against the old man.
When I imagine myself in that life -
- I can think of only one thing that would make me happy.
No. Teddy . . . don't.
We have to talk reasonably.
I have loved you -
- since I first saw you. What is more reasonable than to marry you?
We'd kill each other. We can't keep our tempers.
- I can . . . unless provoked. - We're stubborn and quarrelsome.
You can't even propose without quarrelling.
Jo . . . dear Jo.
I swear I'll be a saint.
I'll let you win every argument.
I'll take care of you and your family.
I'll give you every luxury. You need write only if you want to.
Grandfather wants me to learn the business in England.
Can't you see us bashing around London?
I'm not fashionable enough. You need someone elegant and refined.
I want you.
Teddy, please. Don't ask me.
I'm desperately sorry.
I do care for you. You're my dearest friend.
- But I can't go be a wife. - You say you won't, but . . .
- You Will ! - I won't, I won't.
One day . . .
. . . you'll meet some man, and you Will love him tremendously.
And you Will live and die for him. You Will !
I know you.
And I'll be hanged if I stand by and watch.
Are you ill?
She has refused Laurie.
I'm sure she can take it back. It's just a misunderstanding.
Listen to him . . .
- I must get away. - Of course.
- Aunt March is going to France. - France! That's ideal !
- Aunt March asked me to go. - To Europe?
My Europe.
- When? - It was decided just today.
I am her companion now.
She wishes me to study painting and make a good match.
But perhaps she wouldn't mind if you stayed at Plumfield -
- while we're gone.
Of course Aunt March prefers Amy. I'm ugly and I say the wrong things.
I fly around throwing away good marriage proposals.
I love our home, but I'm so fitful. I can't stand being here.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Marmee. There's something wrong with me.
I want to change, but I can't, and I . . .
I just know I'll never fit in anywhere.
Jo, you have so many extraordinary gifts.
How can you expect to lead an ordinary life?
You're ready to go out and find a good use for your talents.
Although I don't know what I'll do without my Jo.
Go . . . and embrace your liberty.
And see what wonderful things come of it.
Laurie sought refuge in London and abroad.
Marmee helped me find a place in New York.
So I crossed the line between childhood and what lay beyond.
- Mrs. Kirk? - Josephine!
- How do you do? - Kitty, Minnie! This is Miss March.
Her father, Colonel March, knew your papa.
Watch your feet, Mr. Costigan. Come in, dear.
Dear Beth, Mrs. Kirk has made me feel quite at home.
My little students, Kitty and Minnie, are dear girls.
How curious to grow up in a boarding-house with no father.
I felt bold leaving, but I confess I find New York rough and strange -
- and myself strange in it.
Mrs. Kirk believes l'm here for an exciting interlude -
- before succumbing to matrimony.
But, while there's no lack of sensational experiences here, -
- I hope that any experience I gain may be strictly literary, -
- and that romantic or sensational events are confined to the page.
Our subscribers do not like sentiment and fairy stories.
- They're not fairy stories. - Try one of the ladies' magazines.
You know, when first I saw you, I thought:
- "She is a writer." - What made you think so?
I know many writers.
In Berlin, I was a professor at the university.
Here I'm just a humble tutor, I'm afraid.
No, please, sit down.
You're far from home. Do you miss your family?
Very much. My sisters especially.
- And Laurie. - She's your sister?
No, he's a friend.
- You like your coffee? - It's very strong . . . I like it.
You have quite a library.
- Did you bring them from Germany? - A few.
- May I? - Of course.
Most of these I could not bear to leave behind.
I sold everything I owned to get my passage.
But my books . . . Never.
Shakespeare . . .
Some books are so familiar that it's like being home again.
Will you be returning to Berlin, Professor Bhaer?
Friedrich. Call me Friedrich.
No. Sadly, the fatherland of Goethe and Schiller is no more.
I adore Goethe. My father used to read me all the German poets.
My mother and father were part of a rather unusual circle in Concord.
- Do you know "transcendentalism"? - It's German romantic philosophy.
We throw off constraints and come to know ourselves through insight.
- It's out of fashion now. - Not in the March family.
But with this transcendence comes much emphasis on perfecting oneself.
- This gives you a problem? - I'm hopelessly flawed.
If only we could transcend ourselves without perfection.
Like Whitman, who shouts poetry on the street to the roar of the carts.
"Keep your silent woods, oh nature, and your quiet places by the woods."
"Give me the streets of Manhattan."
I think we are all hopelessly flawed.
He is poor, as one expects of an itinerant philosopher.
Yet I see he is unfailingly generous to all of us.
I am grateful to have a friend.
- Our nation was founded on it. - It was a betrayal of our ideals.
A constitution that denies basic rights to women and black people?
They've passed the 1 5th amendment. They can vote.
- Black men can vote. - A lady has no need of suffrage.
- I take wine only medicinally. - Pretend you've got a cold.
If women are a moral force, can't they govern, preach and testify?
What is it, Miss March?
It's poor logic to say that because women are good they may vote.
Men do not vote because they are good. Women should vote, -
- not because they are good, but because they are human beings.
- You should have been a lawyer. - I should have been many things.
- Friedrich? Oh, I'm sorry . . . - No, please. Come in.
A newspaper published two of my stories, and they want more.
This is wonderful ! "The Daily Volcano"?
"The Sinner's Corpse" . . . by Joseph March.
Lunatics . . . vampires . . . This interests you?
people like thrilling stories. This is what the newspapers want.
Yes . . . I suppose that is true.
It Will buy a new coat for Beth. She'll be grateful for it.
I do not want to be your teacher. No, understand me . . .
I am saying only that you should please yourself.
My opinion is of no importance.
- Do you forgive me? - Of course.
Can I make a gift? Do you like the opera?
I do! I mean, I think I do. We don't get much opera in Concord.
- I have no opera dress. - You Will be perfect.
Where we are sitting, we shall not be so formal.
Leila is a goddess. She has promised never to love.
If she breaks her vow, all Will be lost.
- Look, trouble is coming. - What Will happen?
The inevitable.
Leila's soul is opening.
She is drawn to an idea.
He says, "Love has a fatal power."
"Your heart understood mine."
"In the depth of the fragrant night, -
- I listened with ravished soul -
- to your beloved voice."
"Your heart understood mine."
Laurie! You wicked . . . We heard you were in Greece.
- You are occupied with business? - Not just now.
Grandfather agreed I should concentrate on music.
- You know Fred Vaughan. - Good day, Laurence.
I see you're studying art. Aunt March, you look splendid.
I cannot say the same for you, my boy.
Amy, Will you be long? I must retire.
Do come and see us.
- Are they engaged? - Not yet.
How long would strychnine take to dissolve in brandy? Eight minutes?
And is a dagger worn at the waist, or is that a sabre?
In these novels, the dagger is usually concealed in the boot.
By a man with a dark moustache.
Oh Laurie, how lovely!
It isn't what it should be, but you improve it.
Don't. I liked you better when you were blunt and natural.
It did not serve me well.
I find you changed.
I despise you. You laze about, spending money and courting women.
- You aren't serious about music. - My music is like your paintings.
Mediocre copies of another man's genius.
Then why not go to Grandfather and make yourself useful?
I should. Why don't you reform me?
- I've someone else in mind. - You do not love Fred Vaughan.
- He's stable and well-mannered . . . - And has 40,000 a year.
I've always known I would not marry a pauper.
- I expect a proposal any day. - You'll regret it.
l'll regret it.
I'm reminded of a promise.
Didn't I say I would kiss you before you die?
Do you hear from Jo?
She has befriended a German professor.
No doubt he's showing her the ways of the world.
I Will not be courted by someone who is stiil in love with my sister.
- I'm not in love with Jo. - Then why are you jealous?
I envy her happiness. I envy his happiness.
I envy John Brooke for marrying Meg.
I hate Fred Vaughan. If Beth had a lover I'd despise him.
Just as you knew you would never marry a pauper, -
- I have always known I should be part of the March family.
I do not wish to be loved for my family.
Any more than Fred Vaughan wishes to be loved for his 40,000 a year.
My darling Amy, it is you I want, not your family.
I have gone to London to make myself worthy of you.
Please, do not do anything we shall regret.
Monsieur Vaughan, Mademoiselle. May I show him in?
- Friedrich ! Did you read it? - Yes . . .
It's well written, Jo. The first novel. What a great accomplishment!
I'll show it to the publisher you know. He liked "Sinner's Corpse".
What is it?
Mr. Fields is a good man. He Will give you an honest opinion.
I see . . . What's your honest opinion?
- I'm a professor of philosophy, Jo. - I'd like to know.
You should be writing from life. From the depths of your soul.
There is nothing here of the woman I am privileged to know.
Friedrich, this is what I write.
I'm sorry it doesn't live up to your standards.
There is more to you than this, if you have the courage to write it.
Meg !
Jo?
- Why didn't you Tell me? - One hardly speaks of such things.
How wonderful.
- How is Beth? - You Will find her much altered.
Marmee . . .
We couldn't send for you sooner. The doctor's been many times, -
- but it's beyond all of us.
I think she's been waiting for you, before . . .
Drink up all this good broth.
- I'm glad you're home. - So am I .
"Mr. Pickwick changed colour."
"well, that's important. There's nothing more suspicious, then."
I feel stronger with you close by.
We'll get you better yet.
If God wants me with him, there is none who Will stop him.
I don't mind.
I was never like the rest of you . . . making plans to do great things.
I never saw myself as anything much. I'm not a great writer, like you.
- Beth, I'm not a great writer. - But you Will be.
Oh Jo, I've missed you so.
Why does everyone want to go away?
I love being home.
But I don't like being left behind.
Now I'm the one going ahead.
I am not afraid.
I can be brave like you.
But I know I shall be homesick for you. Even in heaven.
I won't let you go.
"Aunt March is bedridden, and would not survive the voyage."
"Amy must bide her time and return later."
It's just as well.
Will we never all be together again?
Lovely morning.
Thank you, sir.
Dearest Laurie. You have not heard our sad news of Beth. "
"Meg has entered her confinement, and Amy must stay with Aunt March."
"This is far too great a sorrow to bear alone. "
"Please come home, Teddy dear. Your faithful Jo. "
Laurie . . .
I knew you would come.
The real charm was Beth's happy face at the new piano -
- as she lovingly touched the beautiful keys.
The rumour spread that Amy March had 24 delicious limes.
I said they dressed me up, but not that they made me a fashion plate.
As she spoke, Jo took off her bonnet.
An outcry arose. Her abundant hair was cut short.
Jo, how could you? Your one beauty.
Nothing's going to change, Jo.
Surprise!
You have a daughter.
And a son.
I can't believe you did this four times.
Yes, but never two at once, my darling.
Daisy . . . Meg, she's so beautiful.
And him ! He's handsome. He'll look just like his papa.
He does look like John.
- Have you heard from the professor? - No.
We did not part well.
John and I don't always agree, but then we mend it.
Who could that be?
- Teddy! This is magic! - You are absolutely . . .
. . . covered in flour! Come in !
Not yet. May I Tell you something, alone?
I'm glad you're the first to know. May I present . . .
. . . my wife.
Brussels lace!
I went to paint the great cathedrals but I couldn't forget our home.
Look how Amy has captured Orchard House. It's beautiful !
Not as beautiful as I wanted, but I am stiil learning.
Dear little angel.
Jo, Tell me the truth, as a sister, -
- which is a relationship stronger than marriage . . .
- Do you mind at all? - Oh, no.
I was surprised.
I was told that Teddy would never love another, and now he's married.
It's good to hear you call me "Teddy" again.
At last we're all family, as we always should have been.
Promise to live close by. I couldn't bear losing another sister.
Jo, it's so gloomy and chilly.
It would take an income just for the coal. What was she thinking?
Most likely she felt sorry for me. "Decrepit homeless spinster".
Poor Aunt. Living all those years alone in this . . . useless old house.
Yes, her blessings became a burden. Wouldn't this be a wonderful school?
What a challenge that would be!
Hello, Tuppy.
My book!
Someone's publishing my book! Hannah !
Someone's publishing my book. How did it arrive?
A foreign gentleman brought it. Strange kind of name . . .
- "Fox" or "Bear" . . . - Did you ask him to wait?
I thought it was one of Miss Amy's European friends . . .
I said Miss March and Mr. Laurie lived next door.
He said he had a train to catch.
Friedrich !
Thank you for my book.
When I didn't hear from you I thought you hated it.
Reading it was like opening a window to your heart.
James Fields took it and would not give it back.
I said, "Such news I have to give to her myself."
- well, it was a silly impulse. - No, not silly at all.
It's so good to see you. Come and meet my family.
Thank you, but I have to catch a train.
I'm going to the West.
My ship leaves from Boston tomorrow.
The schools in the West are young.
They need professors, and . . .
. . . they're not concerned about the accent.
I don't mind it, either.
My aunt left me Plumfield.
It isn't a field. It's a rather large house.
All it's good for is a school. And I want a good school.
One that's open to anyone who wants to learn.
I'll be needing someone who knows how to teach.
- Could I not persuade you to stay? - I confess . . .
I was hoping I might have a reason to stay, but . . .
Congratulations on your marriage.
Oh, no! That's Amy.
My sister, Amy, and Laurie.
I'm not married.
- Please don't go so far away. - Jo . . .
Such a little name for . . . such a person.
Will you have me?
With all of my heart.
But I have nothing to give you. My hands are empty.
They're not empty now.