MovieChat Forums > Anne of Green Gables (1986) Discussion > The different film versions.

The different film versions.

posted 8 years ago by Anhun
3 replies | jump to latest

What is your view of the different film versions of each book? Which are the best? Which are the worst? For those books that have never been filmed, do you think they would be worth filming?

Let's look at our candidates:

AoGG: 1. Anne of Green Gables 1919 (first part of the movie)-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1MaN1x-Vho
The film has been permanently lost. Apparently Maude Montgomery hated this because they turned Anne into a Pollyanna-style goody two-shoes.
2. Anne of Green Gables 1934-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5QuBFysIs8
Montgomery said this one was "1000 times better than the first." I thought it was fun.
3. Anne of Green Gables 1972-a TV miniseries, also permanently lost. But you can guess the quality based on the 1975 sequel from the same people.
4. Akage No Anne 1979- An anime. I thought this was overly literal, and didn't fully capture the spirit of the books.
5.Anne of Green Gables 1985- To me, this version is definitive.
6.Anne of Green Gables: the Animated Series (2000)
7.Anne of Green Gables 2016

AoA: 1. AoGG 1919 (the second part of the movie)- I appreciate how hard it must be to make a half-way decent movie out of AoA, but apparently the writers were so desperate to add some drama that they have a scene where Anne is using a shotgun to defend herself from a mob!
2. Anne of Avonlea 1975 (the first part of the series) - A faithful rendering of the book with high school play production values and an uncharismatic Anne.

AotI: AoA 1975 (the second part of the series)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBRrGkVF4Eg

AoWP: 1. Anne of Windy Poplars (1940 feature film)-looks interesting, but I have only seen clips.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uenj6RLJsg
2. Anne of Green Gables: the Sequel (1987)-The definitive film version of this book, IMO. They took an extremely episodic book and managed to weave it into a cohesive whole.

None of the books in the latter half of the series have been given the film treatment, that I know of.

"You two ought to be ashamed of yourselves . . . two grown men acting like . . . grown men!!!"

[–] phlbrq58 7 years ago

Your post was just the detail and opinion I was looking for. Thank you, nicely done. I'm enjoying the 2016 but fondly recall the 85,87 productions.

[–] Popcorngal (4346) 6 years ago

Did you see the 2000 film. It was the last one made with the original cast. I recently saw the recent two sequels with Martin Sheen as Matthew. They were decent, but nothing like the 80's versions. Has anyone seen the recent Netflix version of the classic. It has gotten a lot of rave reviews.

[–] MIchiganJFrogg (-35) 6 years ago

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