Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning | |
---|---|
Written by | Kevin Sullivan |
Directed by | Kevin Sullivan |
Starring | Hannah Endicott-Douglas Barbara Hershey Shirley MacLaine Rachel Blanchard |
Music by | Peter Breiner |
Country of origin | Canada |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Producers | Kevin Sullivan Trudy Grant |
Cinematography | Yuri Yakubiw |
Editor | Gordon McClellan |
Running time | 144 minutes (approx.) |
Production company | Sullivan Entertainment |
Original release | |
Network | CTV |
Release | December 14, 2008 |
Related | |
Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning is a 2008 Canadian made-for-television drama film and the fourth and final film in Sullivan Entertainment's Anne of Green Gables series. [1] It was released in 2008 on CTV. Shortly before the broadcast, CTV had acquired the rights to the entire Anne catalogue, including the 1985 miniseries. [2]
Created to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables novel, the film stars Barbara Hershey as the middle-aged Anne Shirley and 14-year-old Hannah Endicott-Douglas as a young Anne, with Shirley MacLaine playing matriarch Amelia Thomas. Kevin Sullivan wrote a completely new screenplay for the nearly two and a half hour movie based on Montgomery's characters. The events that take place before Anne arrives in Green Gables are framed around the older Anne remembering her past. Thus the film serves as both a prequel and sequel to Sullivan's three previous miniseries broadcast originally on CBC and not directly from her books. [2]
Anne Shirley, now a middle-aged woman in 1946, is troubled by recent events in her life. Her husband, Gilbert, has been killed overseas while serving as a medical doctor during World War II (this did not happen in the books). Her two daughters are preoccupied with their own families, and her adopted son Dominic has yet to return from the war. When a long-hidden secret is discovered under the floorboards at Green Gables, Anne retreats into her memories to relive her troubled early years prior to arriving as an orphan at Green Gables, and being adopted by the Cuthberts.
The impact of this difficult period has a far-reaching effect on this older woman, once she discovers the truth about her biological parents. She begins a delicate search for her birth-father. It is a journey through a past fraught with danger, uncertainty, heartache, and joy. In the parade of humanity Anne encounters, she also faces the root of her desire to find true "kindred spirits," and an imagination to use her talents as a writer to inspire others.
The telefilm premiered on Sunday December 14, 2008 on CTV; it was broadcast in high definition. [3] In the United States, it has aired on PBS member stations since November 2010. [4] [5] [6] [7] It was released on DVD on May 5, 2009, by Sullivan Entertainment. [1] [8] The company also published a soundtrack, first available for download on January 8, 2009, and then on CD on June 16, 2009. [9] [10] [11]
Prior to the film's debut, Key Porter Books published a novelization of the film by Kevin Sullivan in October 2008. [12] [13]
All of the movie's actual location photography was shot in various places around the Ontario area, using existing houses, streetscapes and natural environments. Period mansions were used as the backdrop for the Thomas residences, and an historic Quaker Boys School converted into the Bolingbroke Poorhouse for the film.
When they could not film on location, the production crew and special effects team employed the technology of the green screen and fully computerized to digitally create the background, or specific details that location filming could not produce.
Of the major cast members from the original trilogy of films, only Patricia Hamilton (Rachel Lynde) reprised her original character. Barbara Hershey replaced Megan Follows as Anne, although Follows briefly appears in archive footage when Anne is reminiscing. Colleen Dewhurst, who had played Marilla Cuthbert in the first two miniseries and the spin-off series Road to Avonlea before her death in 1991, and Jonathan Crombie, who previously portrayed Gilbert Blythe, are also featured in archive footage presented as flashbacks. For the role of young Anne, Sullivan held a cross-Canada open casting call in July 2007, including submissions from YouTube, before Hannah Endicott-Douglas auditioned the part. [16]
In its debut on CTV, the film was watched by 1,042,000 viewers, a number that was seen as low compared to Sullivan's earlier Anne productions. [17]
The film was not well received by critics or fans. The Globe and Mail's Kate Taylor said the film, "never justifies its presumption in inventing a new creation story for a Canadian literary icon." [18] Bill Brioux felt that "maybe Anne just doesn't age all that well. Maybe she is supposed to stay in freckles and pigtails, locked in that perfect P.E.I. prism Montgomery authored and Sullivan so artfully adapted when they both were in their 20s." [19]
Anne of Green Gables is a 1908 novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery Written for all ages, it has been considered a classic children's novel since the mid-20th century. Set in the late 19th century, the novel recounts the adventures of an 11-year-old orphan girl Anne Shirley sent by mistake to two middle-aged siblings, Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, who had originally intended to adopt a boy to help them on their farm in the fictional town of Avonlea in Prince Edward Island, Canada. The novel recounts how Anne makes her way through life with the Cuthberts, in school, and within the town.
Anne Shirley is a fictional character introduced in the 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery. Shirley is featured throughout the classic book series, which revolves around her life and family in 19th and 20th-century Prince Edward Island, in Canada.
Road to Avonlea is a Canadian television series first broadcast in Canada between January 7, 1990, and March 31, 1996, as part of the CBC Family Hour anthology series, and in the United States starting on March 5, 1990. It was created by Kevin Sullivan and produced by Sullivan Films in association with the CBC and the Disney Channel, with additional funding from Telefilm Canada. It follows the adventures of Sara Stanley, a young girl sent to live with her relatives in early 20th-century eastern Canada. It was loosely adapted from novels by Lucy Maud Montgomery, with many characters and episodes inspired by her stories.
Anne of Green Gables is a 1985 Canadian made-for-television drama film based on the 1908 novel of the same name by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery, and is the first in a series of four films. The film stars Megan Follows in the title role of Anne Shirley and was produced and directed by Kevin Sullivan for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It was released theatrically in Iran, Israel, Europe, and Japan.
Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel is a 1987 Canadian television miniseries film. A sequel to the 1985 miniseries Anne of Green Gables, it is based on Lucy Maud Montgomery's novels Anne of Avonlea, Anne of the Island, and Anne of Windy Poplars. The story follows Anne Shirley as she leaves Green Gables in Avonlea, Prince Edward Island, to teach at a prestigious ladies' college in New Brunswick. The main cast from the original film reprised their roles, including Megan Follows, Jonathan Crombie, Colleen Dewhurst, Patricia Hamilton, and Schuyler Grant.
Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story is a 2000 miniseries television film, and the third installment in a series of four films. The film was highly anticipated among fans of Anne of Green Gables, and was the most controversial and heavily criticized of the three film adaptations written and produced by Kevin Sullivan.
Anne of Avonlea is a 1909 novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery, who published as L. M. Montgomery. The first sequel to Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables (1908), the book covers the second chapter in the life of Anne Shirley, from the age of 16 to 18, during the two years that she teaches at the Avonlea school on Prince Edward Island.
Anne of the Island is the third book in the Anne of Green Gables series by Lucy Maud Montgomery. The plot sees Anne Shirley leave Green Gables in Avonlea, Prince Edward Island, for the first time to attend Redmond College in Kingsport, Nova Scotia.
Anne of Windy Poplars—published as Anne of Windy Willows in the UK, Australia and Japan—is an epistolary novel by Canadian author L. M. Montgomery. First published in 1936 by McClelland and Stewart, it details Anne Shirley's experiences while serving as principal of a high school in Summerside, Prince Edward Island over three years. A large portion of the novel is presented through letters Anne writes to her fiancé, Gilbert Blythe. Chronologically, the book is fourth in the series, but it was the seventh book written.
Kevin Roderick Sullivan is a Canadian writer, director and producer of film and television programs. He is best known for detailed period movies such as the Anne of Green Gables series of films, his movie adaptation of Timothy Findley's novel The Piano Man's Daughter, feature films and TV-movies such as Under the Piano, Butterbox Babies, Sleeping Dogs Lie and the CBS mini-series Seasons of Love, as well as long-running television series such as Road to Avonlea and Wind at My Back.
Anne of Green Gables is a 1919 American silent comedy-drama film directed by William Desmond Taylor. The film was based upon the 1908 novel of the same name by Lucy Maud Montgomery. By 1999, all prints of the film were believed to have been lost.
Anne of Green Gables is a 1934 American comedy drama film directed by George Nicholls, Jr., based upon the 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery. Dawn O'Day, who portrayed the title character in the film, changed her stage name to Anne Shirley, which she was billed as for this and all subsequent roles. The film was a surprise hit, becoming one of four top-grossing films RKO made that year as noted in The R.K.O. Story, published by Arlington House.
Anne of Green Gables is a Canadian television film directed by Don Harron that aired on 4 March 1956. The film was based upon the 1908 novel, Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery.
Anne of Green Gables is a 1972 made-for-television British mini-series directed by Joan Craft, based on the 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery.
Anne of Green Gables is a Japanese animated television series and the fifth entry in Nippon Animation's World Masterpiece Theater. It was adapted from the 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. Produced by Nippon Animation in 1979, it was first broadcast on Fuji TV from January 7 to December 30. Fifty episodes were produced in total. The first six episodes were later edited into a compilation film released in 2010.
Chronicles of Avonlea is a collection of short stories by Canadian author L. M. Montgomery, related to the Anne of Green Gables series. It features an abundance of stories relating to the fictional Canadian village of Avonlea, and was first published in 1912. Sometimes marketed as a book in the Anne Shirley series, Anne plays only a minor role in the book: out of the 12 stories in the collection, she stars in only one, and has a small supporting role in another. She is otherwise only briefly mentioned in passing in five other stories: "Each in His Own Tongue", "Little Joscelyn", "The Winning of Lucinda", "Quarantine at Alexander Abraham's" and "The End of a Quarrel".
Before Green Gables is the title of a prequel to the Anne Shirley series. The book was published in 2008 by Puffin, a division of Penguin Books, as part of Puffin's celebration of Anne Shirley's centennial anniversary, which sees the Anne Shirley series re-released to commemorate the event. The first book in the Anne Shirley series was Anne of Green Gables, which was published in 1908.
Anne of Green Gables: The Animated Series is a Canadian animated children's television series produced by Sullivan Entertainment and developed by writer/director/producer Kevin Sullivan, based on the 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery. Many supporting characters are sourced from Sullivan's television series Road to Avonlea, which is based on Montgomery's books The Story Girl and The Golden Road. One season of the series was produced, with 26 episodes, originally airing from 2001 to 2002. The series was developed for PBS member stations and was originally distributed by PBS from 2001 to 2005, then later by American Public Television from 2010-2015. It is the second animated series based on the Anne of Green Gables story. The first one is of the same name, produced by Nippon Animation in 1979.
Anne of Avonlea is a film made for television 6-part miniseries, developed in the United Kingdom by the BBC as a sequel to its 1972 Anne of Green Gables miniseries. It is based on Anne of Avonlea (1909) and Anne of the Island (1915), both sequels to the 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. This British version was directed by Joan Craft, with Kim Braden in the role of Anne. Both had previously worked on the 1972 adaptation of the preceding novel.
L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables is a Canadian television film based on Lucy Maud Montgomery's 1908 novel of the same name. It first aired on YTV on February 15, 2016 and starred Ella Ballentine, Martin Sheen and Sara Botsford. Montgomery's granddaughter, Kate Macdonald Butler, was one of the film's executive producers. The film's world premiere was held February 2, 2016 at the Canadian Museum of History.
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