Anne of Avonlea
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Movie Reviews of Anne of Avonlea
Movie Review: charming TV version of the literary classic
Summary: 4 Stars
Condensing down the original LM Montgomery novels "Anne of Avonlea" and "Anne of the Island", the 1975 BBC miniseries of ANNE OF AVONLEA is a very satisfying dramatisation, bound to please the most critical Anne fans.
Kim Braden is Anne Shirley, the effervescent orphan who quickly grows up in this sequel to the 1973 BBC miniseries "Anne of Green Gables". Reprising her performance from the first series, Ms Braden now takes the character of Anne through her days as Avonlea's new schoolteacher, the years of studying at Redmond College, the arrival of two new orphans at Green Gables, the rocky courtship of Gilbert Blythe (Christopher Blake); and finally a firm closure to the cloudy subject of her parentage.
If you come to this version having been mostly familiar with the Kevin Sullivan/Megan Follows "Anne" movies, chances are you'll have quite a hard time settling down with it. The story takes a while to get it's legs, and some of the performances are quite mannered; yet the beautiful portrayals from Kim Braden as Anne and Barbara Hamilton as Marilla will help to sweep you away into the charming world of Green Gables.
Sadly, the original 1973 BBC miniseries of "Anne of Green Gables" no longer exists, one of the unfortunate casualties of the studio's old policy of erasing it's back-catalogue productions to help recycle expensive videotape. Several early episodes from "Dad's Army" are also still missing thanks to this practice. Hopefully the show will surface one day, perhaps in a private collection, but until then we can savour it's sequel, which thankfully came along shortly after the "erase policy" had been fazed out.
The perfect recipe for a rainy afternoon! Now, where is the BBC's 1973 "Pollyanna" with Elaine Stritch and Elizabeth Archard?...
Movie Review: I'll give it a 10 for effort...
Summary: 4 Stars
I have been waiting and looking for the BBC version of Anne for a long time now. I have vague memories of a couple of episodes from when it was first released. It's sad to note that the BBC have apparently declared the Anne of Green gables episodes lost, which is why the first half of the mini series has not been released. Perhaps one day a copy will be found...
For me Kim Braden was the Anne that Megan fellows could never be... BUT, I had forgotten or never noticed...Anne would never, NEVER, drop her G's! She was after all a major in English. I found this exceptionally irritating and quite frankly this time around it spoiled her for me.
That said, I enjoyed her interpretation of Anne and I felt Barbara Hamilton's Marilla was closer to the book version and fitted my metal picture better. Which brings me to the problem of having have read the book(s) - many times - of reconciling your mental pictures of characters with those who are cast.
The pace is rather slow and on occasion they leave out necessary background to explain the action e.g. when Anne had her Jonah day at school they did not mention her toothache which started it all.
All in all I think that the "spirit" of Anne was captured rather better than in the Sullivans interpretation who in turn put together a faster paced more cohesive story which is perhaps more suited to today's audience.
For the money, worth watching and I have no doubt many will dismiss my criticisms as baseless. And even if you don't, it brings those well remembered and loved characters to life again.
Movie Review: Good Visual for the book
Summary: 4 Stars
The Anne of Green Gables series is one I have read and re-read over and again since I was a small child. While this adaptation lacked in film quality, the content was very much like the book. The only major set back was that it lacked the passion of a young, imaginative girl that the books portrayed, as well as the Megan Follows version. While the later version does not follow the book as well, it makes up for that lack in the emotional grasp it has over you when watching. For me, this made all the difference in the world, and while I think that this is an overall good movie, I much prefer the Megan Follows version. This version tells the story, but doesn't allow the audience to really become part of the story or feel it as you do in the other version.Movie Review: One To Add To The Collection
Summary: 4 Stars
I am a big fan of the Ann of Green Gables books and the Sullivan series that appeared on PBS, which I own on DVD. So, I was thrilled to see another version of the story. This DVD consolidates Anne of Avonlea and Anne of the Island, so for you Anne fans, it covers the most interesting part of the Anne/Gilbert love story. Unfortunately, although this version is true to the book up to a point, the things that are really changed are the romantic interations between Gilbert and Anne. The ending is very abrupt as well and is way off from the book! Otherwise, I think this is a fine production with great acting, which should be added to collections of Anne-o-philes everywhere. But, for sheer romantic content, I think the Sullivan version is more satisfying!Movie Review: Anne of Avonea - BBC version features LLM's characters
Summary: 4 Stars
I truly enjoyed viewing so many of Lucy Maud Montgomery's characters and storylines. Although I'm a huge fan of Kevin Sullivan's Anne movies, this version is closer to the plots from the books. The ending was a bit of a letdown but overall it was time well spent.