ANNE OF AVONLEA (1975)
Starring: Kim Braden, Barbara Hamilton
Original Airdate: 1975
Genre: Drama
I should have known I'd hate it.
What a great way to start a review, huh? A sentence full of cheer and promise? Not this week!
I'm a fan of the Anne of Green Gables books. I'm also quite fond of the Megan Follows Anne TV-movies/miniseries that came out in the mid-80s. Okay, that's a lie. I'm not fond. I'm entirely smitten. I watch them often. Gilbert Blythe is super dreamy, etc. But if there's one complaint I have about them, it's this: 1987's Anne of Avonlea (aka Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel) did this wacky thing where it took three of the "Anne" books, mixed them up, and mushed them into a movie that had way too many snotty schoolgirls and not enough of what really matters. (Gilbert Blythe, duh.) Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story, the 2000 TV-movie, doesn't count. We will not speak of that here.
One day while shopping last month, this DVD caught my eye -- the 1975 BBC version of Anne of Avonlea. Go figure, BBC's Anne of Green Gables isn't available, just the sequel. Oh well, I thought, I'll check it out. Maybe it follows the books more closely than the Megan Follows version did. Maybe it's going to be fun and exciting to watch.
Conclusion: it's terrible.
I should have known. I mean, if this version was anything resembling good, I'd have heard about it before. It would have been discussed on the "Anne" LiveJournal group I'm a member of. It would not have been languishing in obscurity for thirty-odd years.
If you want to throw yourself a "Let's make fun of Anne" party, this is the DVD to rent. I can overlook the fact that it's obviously low-budget; many TV-movies are. But there are too many other things about it that just scream "we didn't give a crap!" The acting is painful. Not every actor is guilty of crimes against all that is good & pure in the dramatic world, but just about everyone under the age of 18 is bad, bad, bad. Anne, who is in her late teens, is played by an actress in her mid-20's who looks at least 35. Ruby Gillis's eye makeup screams "70's" and Gilbert Blythe looks like a goon.
The characters are supposed to be Canadian but the actors are mostly British folks with accents that are some mutant hybrid out of Wisconsin, Oklahoma, and possibly Munchkinland.
Does it at least stick closely to the books? Yeah, I guess it has that going for it... but there are some odd deviations, not to mention moments of absolute WTF-ness. In Part 2 of the miniseries, Davy -- a young boy that Marilla and Anne are looking after -- decides to sneak out in the middle of the night so he can run away. Marilla hears a noise and comes out of her bedroom wielding a hatchet. She realizes it's just Davy and lowers the weapon. Later, after she and Anne have a talk with Davy and she's by herself, Marilla glances at the hatchet, then glances heavenward and says:
"Oh, Matthew. Just like old times!"
WHAT?
Matthew was her beloved brother who recently passed away. This line has, as far as I can tell, nothing to do with the Davy situation or the conversation they've just had.
It's like she's implying she and Matthew used to run around in the middle of the night -- she with her hatchet, he running for dear life. Fun and good times at the Cuthberts'! Now those were the days.
0_o
I think I'll stick with the Megan Follows movies from now on.
1/23/2007
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