The Monday Review – Anne of Green Gables

We can file this one under things I adored from my childhood that will always make me happy! I recently ordered the trilogy of Anne movies on DVD and spent the past week watching them all. And they were just as enjoyable as I remembered!

Young Anne

Anne of Green Gables is the story of Anne Shirley, a young orphan who gets sent to live with an older brother and sister on Prince Edward Island in Canada (an absolutely stunning setting). She is incredibly intelligent and verbose and has striking red hair, which she considers to be the bane of her existence. The first movie is the story of her turning her new family and the entire town upside down, with her passion for life and learning and all the mistakes she makes with her headstrong ways and her hot temper.

Anne and kindred spirit Diana Berry

The best part is her relationship with Gilbert Blythe. When they meet she is 13 and he 16. He teases her about her hair and she decides to never speak to him again. But you can see the plain attraction to each other that grows throughout the years. I won’t spoil anything by saying they eventually become friends. The first movie ends when Anne is about 17 (I think!).

Gilbert and Anne

In the second movie, set a couple of years later, Anne has become a teacher. She gets an offer to move to a new town and teach at a snobby private girls school, where she faces a lot of trials but of course eventually wins everyone over. Because that’s just Anne! There is also a lot more romance in this one, but I definitely don’t want to ruin it if you haven’t seen it!

Teacher Anne

The third movie was actually made quite a long time later, when Anne and her friends are very visibly older. It concerns some time in New York where she works in publishing, and then when her husband becomes missing while off in Europe during World War I, Anne goes too, determined to find him and bring him home.

Jack Garrison and Anne

Now that I’m older I can see a couple of flaws with the movie, like some subplots seem out of place and don’t actually get resolved. But mostly it’s just a very sweet, very satisfying story that makes me cry, every time! The casting of Megan Follows as Anne was particularly brilliant, she has such a beauty and a spark about her, it’s hard to imagine how anyone else could possibly have played her. And Jonathan Crombie as Gil just makes me all gooey inside!

Gilbert Blythe

A very happy and very biased 5 stars!