Anne of Green Gables

Director: George Nichols Jr., Novel: Lucy Maud Montgommery, Script: Sam Mintz, Cast: Anne Shirley, O.P. Heggie, Tom Brown, Helen Westley

I bought this film mostly out of curiosity because we have the 1985 Keven Sullivan version which my wife and I both enjoy so we wanted to see what this early version was like. Although the 1985 version is better, this is better than I thought it would be. I haven't had a chance to read the book so I don't know how either film relates to the book but the 1934 version is only about 80 minutes long whereas the 1985 one is 3 hours long. Consequently, much is cut out in this earlier film. Ann's friendship with Diana Berry is way underdeveloped and before you know it, she is already in college! The 1985 version is much more of a coming of age film. A lot of time is spent on the relationship between Ann and Diana.

The acting is pretty good in this film. It doesn't really compete with the 1985 film because that has an absolute perfect cast but they were good here also. Much of the lines in this film are the exact same as the 1985 version. O.P. Heggie and Helen Westly did a fine job as Matthew and Marilla. Their perceived characters are much like Richard Farnsworth and Colleen Dewhurst in the 1985. Anne Shirley was played by--well--Anne Shirley. Her birth name was Dawn O'Day. She changed it to Anne Shirley after this film. She had a cute personality in this film. If you are a fan of the 1985 version, you might want to get this also. The shorter length is another reason to buy this DVD. The 1985 version is of epic length so watching it is more like an event. So this one is good if you want just a small dose of Anne. IMDb also lists a silent version from 1919 but it is stated that there are no known prints of the film. That is a shame.

B-picture-level adaptation from RKO, modestly budgeted, with OK performances. Anne Shirley (who took her screen name from this role) looks rather older here than in some of her contemporary appearances. Film is much too rushed (the ending posits and wraps a major medical and romantic crisis in about 5 minutes), and the all-indoor shooting is no plus. No match whatever for the lovely Canadian miniseries version of 1985, whose leisurely pacing allowed better character development.

Similar to Pollyanna in its central character Anne Of Green Gables written in the Edwardian era by Canadian novelist Lucy Maud Montgomery has attained an enduring popularity the world over. It certainly has given Canada's smallest province Prince Edward Island its most famous identity.

In this adaption of the story young Anne Shirley played by Anne Shirley is sent by an orphanage to a sister and brother, Helen Westley and O.P. Heggie instead of a boy. It's a boy they want to help with the farm work as they're not spring chickens. But the orphanage sends a girl instead and Shirley has an innocence and bewitching charm and one lively imagination that captivates Heggie from the start. The crusty Westley takes a bit longer, but she grows to love her like a birth daughter though she takes great pains not to show it too much.

The novel has been adapted many times for the big and small screen and even for a mini-series. We get only the bare bones of a plot, but the skill of the players makes up for a lot of it. Tom Brown is in this too as Anne's boyfriend although their courtship is a bit rocky. They start with Anne busting her school slate on his noggin.

This is a good adaption that has held up well even for today. We'll no doubt see Anne Of Green Gables made many times over still, but this story is timeless as is this film.

Because they are getting older, practical Helen Westley (as Marilla Cuthbert) and her quiet brother O.P. Heggie (as Matthew Cuthbert) decide to adopt a boy from an orphanage in Canada. They expect the lad will help work on their farm "Green Gables". Instead of a boy, Mr. Heggie is presented with spirited 14-year-old Dawn O'Day (as Anne Shirley), a precocious red-haired girl. Determined and fast-talking, she endears herself to Heggie and even thaws Ms. Westley's cool exterior. In school, O'Day meets handsome young Tom Brown (as Gilbert Blythe) and a romance begins. Although she does talk too much, O'Day is endearing. The young actress professionally changed her name to "Anne Shirley" with the release of this film. The popular 1908 novel, by Lucy Maud Montgomery, became a successful "silent" feature film in 1919, starring Mary Miles Minter and directed by William Desmond Taylor. That version appears to be lost, unfortunately, but this one captures the bygone setting beautifully.

******** Anne of Green Gables (11/23/34) George Nicholls Jr. ~ Anne Shirley, Tom Brown, Helen Westley, O.P. Heggie

In "Anne of Green Gables" (1934), Marilla Cuthbert (Helen Westley) and Matthew Cuthbert (O.P. Heggie), middle-aged siblings who live together at Green Gables, a farm in Avonlea, on Prince Edward Island, decide to adopt a boy from distant orphanage to help on their farm. But the orphan sent to them is a precocious girl of 14 named Anne Shirley (Dawn Evelyn Paris-a veteran of Disney's series of "Alice" shorts who later would adopt her character's name).

Anne was only 11 in Lucy Maude Montgomery's source novel but the same actress could not credibly go from 11 to college age during the course of the story. The movie suffers somewhat from this concession, as many of Anne's reactions and much of what she says would be far more entertaining coming from an eleven-year-old than from a teenager. As in the book, Anne is bright and quick, eager to please but dissatisfied with her name, her build, her freckles, and her long red hair. Being a child of imagination, however, Anne takes much joy in life, and adapts quickly to her new family and the environment of Prince Edward Island.

In fact Anne is the original "Teenage Drama Queen" and the film's screenwriter elected to focus on this aspect of her character. Which transformed the basic genre from mildly amusing family drama to comedy. A change that delighted audiences and that continues to frustrate reader purists.

Since the comedy is very much in the spirit of Montgomery's story I can see no reason to take issue with the changes, but let this serve as fair warning to anyone expecting a totally faithful adaptation. The comedy element is the strength of the film as it is one of the earliest self-reflexive parodies of Hollywood conventions. The actress Anne Shirley was one of Hollywood's all- time beauties and the film is in black and white. So much of the amusement is in seeing the title character's endless laments about her appearance and hair color contradicted by what is appearing on the screen. Anne regularly regales her no nonsense rural companions with melodramatic lines like: "If you refuse it will be a lifelong sorrow to me". Perhaps the funniest moment is when she corrects the spelling of her name on the classroom blackboard.

Tom Brown does a nice job as Anne's love interest Gilbert Blythe and Sara Haden steals all the scenes in which she appears as the Cuthbert's pompous neighbor.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.