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Monday, August 17, 2009:
Classic favorite: Anne of Green Gables
I know I've talked about my love for AoGG before, but since I've recently brought it up in a post about some of my favorite things, and found out that some people haven't seen it, I felt like taking a walk down memory lane. So AmyC, this one's for you :)

If you've heard this all before, I do apologize. It's just so much fun for me to talk about. I first came across AoGG on PBS, and I believe one of the scenes that first caught my attention was when Gilbert pulled Anne's hair, and of course she gets red-headed-temper mad and bashes him over the head. Classic But everytime it came on, I managed to miss it. Finally, one day, when I was 14, me and my best friend Jennie were babysitting, and the family had "Anne of Green Gables" and "Anne of Avonlea" on VHS. Score!

Jen and I stayed up and became instantly enamored. We watched almost all 7 hours of it before finally crashing, only to wake up the next morning, anxious to finish the movie. OMG, just a lovely, wonderful, sparkling, romantic adventure. Prince Edward Island is gorgeous, somewhere I'd love to live, and in my mind, there can never be anyone but Megan Follows as Anne Shirley. I think she played her just perfectly: utterly absorbed in her books, intellgent, opinionated, loving, with a hot temper and fierce loyalty. Megan IS Anne.

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Here, Anne is supposed to be taking care of her chores, but instead she's been lost in a book and is reciting part of it, lost in the beauty and magic she conjures up from her imagination. Of course, her wandering attention gets her into a spot of trouble....

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Here's Anne with her best friend Diana. As they walk along the beach, they talk about boys, and love, and growing up. Anne's set her sights on what's ahead. She doesn't see herself in Avonlea forever. Anne has some definite ideas of where she see's her future going.


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Anne loves living at Green Gables with Matthew and Marilla, but she doesn't see that as her life forever. Still, she can savor the beauty of her home....


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Anne and Gilbert has always fought, but as they've gotten older, they've finally called a truce, and start to develop a deep friendship. Anne knows that no matter what happens in her life, she can always depend on Gilbert.

This is just a small taste of how amazing this series is. And I cannot neglect to mention the beautiful score that accompanies the movie. It's amazing, and there's one part, near the end of the 2nd movie, that never fails to make me all weepy when the music starts. Gets me everytime. I highly both recommend "Anne of Green Gables", and "Anne of Avonlea", aka "Anne of Green Gables the Sequel". The 3rd movie, released in 1998, is "The Continuing Story", and while it's memorable to see some of the original characters, it's not quite up to par with the earlier editions. See it if you must, but don't expect the same feeling as you might feel in the first 2 movies.

Have you seen these movies?


Have you read the books by Lucy Maud Montgomery?


What do you think is so special about Anne Shirley?

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posted by Stacy~ at 8/17/2009 06:06:00 AM | 16 comments

Thursday, December 11, 2008:
Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning
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From http://www.anneofgreengables.com/ :


Synopsis: It is 1945 and Anne Shirley (Academy-award nominee and Golden Globe winner, Barbara Hershey) now a successful, middle-aged writer has returned to Prince Edward Island for an extended visit. On a whim, she agrees to write a play for a theatre producer. The play, she reasons, will keep her busy—at least busy enough to not go out of her mind with worry about her only son who has yet to return from the war overseas. But a long-hidden secret in the form of a letter from her errant father, discovered under the floorboards at Green Gables, provides a distraction of its own. As Anne struggles to complete the play, she delves into long-buried memories, reliving the troubled years before she arrived as an orphan at the Green Gables farmhouse. She is forced to confront the fact that she made up stories about her life; after her mother died and when her father deserted his young daughter. During that time, Young Anne (newcomer Hannah Endicott-Douglas), is taken into the care of a wealthy matriarch, Amelia Thomas (Academy-award winner Shirley MacLaine) and her daughter-in-law, Louisa (Rachel Blanchard), which changes her life forever.
Over the course of one remarkable summer, Anne Shirley discovers the astonishing truth about her father, the origins of her quest for "kindred spirits" and the roots of her brilliant, magical imagination.

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I've been a huge fan of this series since I was 14 years old and, with my best friend Jennie, watched the several hours of "Anne of Green Gables" and "Anne of Avonlea" starring Megan Follows all in one sitting. I totally fell in love with those movies, watching them over and over again. Even today, if I catch them on t.v., I'll stop and watch. I have them both on VHS, and know I need to upgrade to DVD one of these days.
Anyway, I loved those movies so much I'm not sure I can watch a re-make. I didn't even much care for Anne 3, even though both of the main characters - Anne and Gilbert - were portrayed by the same people - Megan Follows and Jonathan Crombie.
Are you a fan of Anne of Green Gables?
How do you feel about remakes?
Which has the been the best/worst remake?

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posted by Stacy~ at 12/11/2008 05:11:00 AM | 9 comments