Little Women 1933. Katharine Hepburn, Joan Bennett, Jean Parker, Frances Dee, Paul Lukas, Edna May Oliver, Spring Byington, Douglass Montgomery The endearing saga of the March sisters -- Meg (Frances Dee), Jo (Katharine Hepburn), Amy and Beth -- who come of age in New England during the Civil War, is based on the classic Louisa May Alcott novel. With Mr. March away fighting for the Union cause, the girls and their beloved mother, Marmee (Spring Byington), manage to keep their spirits up through dire economic and emotional crises, until Jo's literary aspirations and Meg's romance with a teacher threaten to pull the sisters apart.