http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/movie-guide/Anne+Green+Gables+series+feature+imagined+Anne+Shirley/6765298/story.html
Quite excited to see how it is! I'm definitely willing to give it a shot!
"Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart."
I wish that someone would adapt some other Montgomery literature, such as A Tangled Web and The Blue Castle.
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JimHutton (1934-79) & ElleryQueen
Does anyone know if this is still a thing? I haven't heard anything else about it.
"Just because you believe something doesn't make it true."
"That's exactly what makes it true."
I haven't heard anything about it.
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JimHutton (1934-79) & ElleryQueen
I find this strangely comforting.
"Just because you believe something doesn't make it true."
"That's exactly what makes it true."
After Road to Avonlea, it seems like no one has been able to do a decent adaptation of any of Montgomery's novels/short stories. That Emily of New Moon series was so terrible. I gave it two years chance, hoping that it would improve. It just got worse with each episode. The Anne sequel in which she searches for Gilbert during WWI....what was THAT? By the time WWI rolled around, their kids were young adults and their son died in the war. If they can't do a decent adaptation of the stories, why are they bothering?
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JimHutton (1934-79) & ElleryQueen
I have no idea. Kevin Sullivan has completely lost me. He's the George Lucas of period pieces. I know this newest adaptation wasn't supposed to involve him at all, but I'm still leery of it.
Blue Castle would make an excellent film. I enjoyed Magic for Marigold and it could make a sweet miniseries, I think. She had so many good books and I don't think they need to continue rehashing Anne's story. In my opinion, the definitive version has already been done with Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea (I refuse to call that one The Sequel). There are other heroines who could be translated to film.
"Just because you believe something doesn't make it true."
"That's exactly what makes it true."
Oh yes, I vaguely remember Magic for Marigold and I liked it. Another decent one was Jane of Lantern Hill, which was done as a movie about 25 years ago. Good, but not too memorable. The two Pat books were pretty bad. I think Montgomery was out of ideas by the time she got around to writing those novels.
I agree that the Anne books have already been done for the big screen. I heard that there was a movie done a few years ago in which she finds a long-lost brother or something. I'm glad I never wasted my time watching it.
A Tangled Web would be a good one to film as well, IMHO. Even Kilmeny of the Orchard, although that movie probably wouldn't be more than an hour long.
Maybe they could do a TV series in which they film her short stories, the one from collections such as At the Altar, Among the Shadows, etc. There is so much that they could do with her work!
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JimHutton (1934-79) & ElleryQueen
You're probably talking about Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning. I heard more than enough about that. Didn't even watch it because just the plot summary had me furious. At least the first two films stayed true to the spirit of the books. We don't talk about the third one. Very few redeeming features in it.
I have always liked Kilmeny of the Orchard. It would make a sweet film, I think. I don't remember as much about A Tangled Web. I enjoyed the Pat books. But I really identified with Pat. I'm horribly resistant to change. I don't think they could be easily adapted to film, though.
The short stories would be great. Among the Shadows has some incredibly creepy moments and could definitely work as maybe a Halloween type thing. I was always so disappointed in the Emily of New Moon series. There's some great material to work with in those books and they really dropped the ball.
"Just because you believe something doesn't make it true."
"That's exactly what makes it true."
I'm just curious: were you an adult when you read A Tangled Web? It seems like each time I read it, I get more and more out of this book. As an adult, I was impressed by Montgomery's humorous look at human characteristics.
Now that I mention it, it's been over 20 years since I've read the Pat books, so maybe I should read those as an adult as well.
I love Among the Shadows. Certainly her work here was different than what she normally wrote, although even the Emily books were quite dark compared to, say, the Anne books. I have always liked the story Some Fools and a Saint, and I feel that the family members got exactly what they deserved from "the ghost". When we find out why "the ghost" was doing what she did....up, they got what was coming to them.
About five years ago, someone published a collection called The Blythes Are Quoted, which consists of all the stories from The Road to Yesterday, plus Some Fools and a Saint, plus some poetry. Apparently Montgomery had wanted a collection like this, but for some reason, it was never published that way. When The Road to Yesterday was published, all the poetry was cut out and they couldn't include Some Fools and a Saint because it would have made the book too long. So anyway, when I checked out The Blythes Are Quoted from the library, I realized that Some Fools and a Saint actually did have Anne and Gilbert in it! Montgomery must have rewritten the story later to exclude them. Or perhaps she put them into a rewritten version. I'm not sure. But I think it's kind of neat that they are in this great story. It's the same story, almost word for word, except that here, Gilbert has certain suspicions of his own about the situation.
I still can't believe what they did with the Emily series when they adapted it for TV. geez. Aunt Elizabeth dies, Aunt Laura winds up in the asylum, Cousin Jimmy bangs his head and becomes "okay" again....ick. I gave this series about two years chance, and then I gave up on it.
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JimHutton (1934-79) & ElleryQueen
I don't remember how old I was when I read 'A Tangled Web'. Perhaps it's time for another go. :-)
I think I did read 'The Blythes Are Quoted'. It was great to see a few new things. Can never have enough LMM.
Yeah, I didn't even get past the first few episodes with the Emily series. The actress who played her just wasn't working for me and that made me lose interest faster than anything.
"Just because you believe something doesn't make it true."
"That's exactly what makes it true."
When I first read A Tangled Web, I was just wondering who would get the jug and I was disappointed with the ending. That`s all that mattered to me. Now I see that the ending was brilliant and that LMM did a great job of bringing out all sorts of human characteristics in a humorous way.
If you like that story the second time around, then I recommend the 1950s British film Laughter in Paradise. Very similar plot....this time, the four relatives of the deceased have to change certain things about their lives in order to get their share of the inheritance. For example, the one woman in the group has been treating her servants like dirt, so she has to get a one-month position as a servant in a home and stick it out - without getting fired. That sort of thing.
I agree....can't have enough LMM. I wish more of her stories would be published! I heard that she wrote about 500 of them and less then half have been compiled in short story collections.
As for the Emily series, the actress was probably the only (reasonably) good thing about the show. But even that actress wasn`t very memorable. One actress who was really miscast was the one who played Ilse. And that Dean Priest...they just made him into a good-looking neighbor. That`s not who he was in the books!
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JimHutton (1934-79) & ElleryQueen
Ugh. I'd completely forgotten about Dean Priest. Yeah, that was a huge disappointment. It's like they didn't even bother to read the books.
Which was probably true.
"Just because you believe something doesn't make it true."
"That's exactly what makes it true."
I can't remember if they even had Perry Miller in the series. I think maybe it was just Ilse and Teddy.
Aunt Elizabeth was killed off after a few episodes. Aunt Laura was sent to an insane asylum. Cousin Jimmy bumped his head and "became okay" again. The whole family was being controlled by some distant relative who had all the money or something like that. The series just got worse and worse with time.
I think that they just learned the names of the characters and did what they wanted to with them.
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JimHutton (1934-79) & ElleryQueen
Ellery, I'm amazed you didn't find Pat well-written. The "Jane" book was lesser, the movie amazingly actually better than the book, as though they filled out the parts Montgomery herself would have written had she been in her full element!
shareWell, I haven't read those Pat books in over 20 years. I might see them in a different light if I read them now. I will always consider the Emily books to be top-notch, with Emily's Quest being the poorest of the three novels.
Most of what LMM wrote is far better than a lot of other literature out there (mysteries excluded). Frankly, I prefer her work to the "important" authors like Shakespeare.
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💕 JimHutton (1934-79) and ElleryQueen 👍
Sullivan is the George Lucas of period pieces. That's brilliant! A perfect description.
Sullivan doesn't really have any affinity for the other Anne books. That's why he crams about 3 or 4 books into the sequel. Then goes completely away from anything that LMM wrote in the next movies.
I had a link to a video where Sullivan spoke about the Anne books but the video seems to no longer be available. Basically Sullivan says he was bored by the books and didn't really see that the characters or the story would draw someone in. That's why he changed them so much.
Bored by the bo-
I cannot even with this man anymore. It's becoming increasingly hard to even remain grateful to him for the first two films.
"Just because you believe something doesn't make it true."
"That's exactly what makes it true."
If he was so bored, then why did he bother to adapt them? Why didn't he just find another author to deal with?
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JimHutton (1934-79) & ElleryQueen
Spoiler Alert!
I saw the "new" adaptation called Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning. It's the version with Martin Sheen as Matthew Cuthbert. There were so many things about it I didn't like, including the unappealing young actress who played Anne. Sheen was fine as Matthew, but the whole thing was 90 minutes in length and ended at the train station when Marilla showed up at the last second and announced she decided to keep Anne. Some things just were not well done. When Anne had to save the little boy from whooping cough by administering syrup of ipecac, that took about 90 seconds and was so glossed over it was impossible to realize what a heroic thing Anne did. I have a similar complaint about the missing brooch -- Marilla found it on the floor next to the stair railing when she was going to see Anne -- not nearly as effective (or as believable) as Matthew's seeing it pinned to Marilla's shawl as she put it on. I assume there will be further installments, but I won't be watching them. The actress who played Marilla was fine, but, honestly, no one can do what Colleen Dewhurst did. Anyway, I think all the new version really had to offer was widescreen (16:9 aspect ratio) and high definition, but nothing else about it was of the same quality as the 1985 version with Megan Follows as Anne -- not even close.
I hope it comes to DVD someday, I would like to see it.
shareI read The Blue Castle last year. It was pretty good. I also think it would be great if there was a film based on the book.
shareI'd personally like to see a proper version done with her from starting married life in Four Winds Harbour, onto having her kids, them growing up and finally with Rilla of Ingleside. Done properly none of that making up stories crap that those awful last two movies did. Anyone who is a true Anne fan would never have created such monstrosities.
They could include the characters from The Road to Yesterday as well....those characters all had ties to Anne's family.
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💕 JimHutton (1934-79) and ElleryQueen 👍
[deleted]
It has been a year since the last post. I have yet to see anything on this series first rumored back in 2012.
sharehttp://www.ctvnews.ca/entertainment/martin-sheen-relishes-old-codger-role-in-anne-of-green-gables-movie-1.2418843
I'm really excited to see this. While the first Sullivan movie was good I was always sad he strayed so far in the second one. I am really hoping they make them all and we get to see Anne and Gilbert at college and married and all the kids in Rainbow Valley.
Freedom of religion means ALL religions not just your own.
I am looking forward to see the upcoming film as well. MS is a decent actor.
That's cool a member of LLM's family is producing it. I hope fans of Kevin's work will keep an open mind.
Here is some info on the cast
http://sullivanmovies.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=7117&p=263172#p263172