American Masters: Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women

Louisa May Alcott was no little woman, and her life was no children's book; her story is as full of incident, surprise, and heroism as any plot she invented. The daughter of improvident educator Bronson Alcott, Louisa was homeschooled by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, served as a nurse in the Civil War, fought for women's suffrage, and lived a secret life as the author of lurid pulp fiction until Little Women lifted her and her family from rags to riches and literary celebrity.

Starring Elizabeth Marvel (House of Cards, Lincoln), directed by Nancy Porter (NOVA, AMERICAN EXPERIENCE), written by Harriet Reisen, (Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women, a Wall Street Journal Top Ten Standout Book), featuring actors Daniel Gerroll and Jane Alexander, and with commentary by Pulitzer Prize-winners Geraldine Brooks and John Matteson, this first film biography of Louisa May Alcott replaces the image of a New England spinster with a portrait of a living, breathing, modern woman.

Special Features include…
- Extended interviews with author Geraldine Brooks, Alcott scholars Joel Myerson, Sarah Elbert, and many more
- Q&A with filmmakers Nancy Porter and Harriet Reisen, and with actor Elizabeth Marvel (Louisa May Alcott)
- LOVE, a poem by Louisa May Alcott, read by Elizabeth Marvel

Producer: Nancy Porter, Harriet Reisen, Jennifer Pearce, Julie Sacks, Prudence Glass
Executive Producer: Susan Lacy
Production Company: WNET; Thirteen; Nancy Porter Productions
Production Year: 2008
Copyright Year: 2009
Director: Nancy Porter
Actors: Elizabeth Marvel, Jane Alexander, Daniel Gerroll
Writers: Harriet Reisen
Discs: 1
Subtitles: Y
Subtitle Language: English
Audio Format: 5.1 Surround
Aspect Ratio: 16x9 Widescreen