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Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning

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Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning
a poster for this film
Written byKevin Sullivan
Directed byKevin Sullivan
StarringHannah Endicott-Douglas
Barbara Hershey
Shirley MacLaine
Rachel Blanchard
Music byPeter Breiner
Country of originCanada
Original languageEnglish
Production
ProducersKevin Sullivan
Trudy Grant
CinematographyYuri Yakubiw
EditorGordon McClellan
Running time144 minutes (approx.)
Production companySullivan Entertainment
Original release
NetworkCTV
ReleaseDecember 14, 2008 (2008-12-14)
Related

Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning is a 2008 Canadian made-for-television drama film and the fourth and final film in Sullivan Entertainment's Anne of Green Gables series.[1] It was released in 2008 on CTV. Shortly before the broadcast, CTV had acquired the rights to the entire Anne catalogue, including the 1985 miniseries.[2]

Created to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables novel, the film stars Barbara Hershey as the middle-aged Anne Shirley and 14-year-old Hannah Endicott-Douglas as a young Anne, with Shirley MacLaine playing matriarch Amelia Thomas. Kevin Sullivan wrote a completely new screenplay for the nearly two and a half hour movie based on Montgomery's characters. The events that take place before Anne arrives in Green Gables are framed around the older Anne remembering her past. Thus the film serves as both a prequel and sequel to Sullivan's three previous miniseries broadcast originally on CBC and not directly from her books.[2]

Plot

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Anne, now a middle-aged woman, is troubled by recent events in her life. Her husband, Gilbert, has been killed overseas while serving as a medical doctor during World War II (this did not happen in the books). Her two daughters are preoccupied with their own families, and her adopted son Dominic has yet to return from the war. When a long-hidden secret is discovered under the floorboards at Green Gables, Anne retreats into her memories to relive her troubled early years prior to arriving as an orphan at Green Gables, and being adopted by the Cuthberts.

The impact of this difficult period has a far-reaching effect on this older woman, once she discovers the truth about her biological parents. She begins a delicate search for her birth-father. It is a journey through a past fraught with danger, uncertainty, heartache, and joy. In the parade of humanity Anne encounters, she also faces the root of her desire to find true "kindred spirits," and an imagination to use her talents as a writer to inspire others.

Release

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The telefilm premiered on Sunday December 14, 2008 on CTV; it was broadcast in high definition.[3] In the United States, it has aired on PBS member stations since November 2010.[4][5][6][7] It was released on DVD on May 5, 2009, by Sullivan Entertainment.[1][8] The company also published a soundtrack, first available for download on January 8, 2009, and then on CD on June 16, 2009.[9][10][11]

Prior to the film's debut, Key Porter Books published a novelization of the film by Kevin Sullivan in October 2008.[12][13]

Cast

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Production notes

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All of the movie's actual location photography was shot in various places around the Ontario area, using existing houses, streetscapes and natural environments. Period mansions were used as the backdrop for the Thomas residences, and an historic Quaker Boys School converted into the Bolingbroke Poorhouse for the film.

When they could not film on location, the production crew and special effects team employed the technology of the green screen and fully computerized to digitally create the background, or specific details that location filming could not produce.

Of the major cast members from the original trilogy of films, only Patricia Hamilton (Rachel Lynde) reprised her original character. Barbara Hershey replaced Megan Follows as Anne, although Follows briefly appears in archive footage when Anne is reminiscing. Colleen Dewhurst, who had played Marilla Cuthbert in the first two miniseries and the spin-off series Road to Avonlea before her death in 1991, and Jonathan Crombie, who previously portrayed Gilbert Blythe, are also featured in archive footage presented as flashbacks. For the role of young Anne, Sullivan held a cross-Canada open casting call in July 2007, including submissions from YouTube, before Hannah Endicott-Douglas auditioned the part.[16]

Reception

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In its debut on CTV, the film was watched by 1,042,000 viewers, a number that was seen as low compared to Sullivan's earlier Anne productions.[17]

The film was not well received by critics or fans. The Globe and Mail's Kate Taylor said the film, "never justifies its presumption in inventing a new creation story for a Canadian literary icon."[18] Bill Brioux felt that "maybe Anne just doesn't age all that well. Maybe she is supposed to stay in freckles and pigtails, locked in that perfect P.E.I. prism Montgomery authored and Sullivan so artfully adapted when they both were in their 20s."[19]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Kirkland, Bruce (May 8, 2009). "'Green Gables' star's dream comes true". Canoe.com. Postmedia Network. Archived from the original on April 1, 2017. Retrieved March 16, 2017.
  2. ^ a b New 'Anne of Green Gables' coming to CTV May 11, 2008
  3. ^ "CTV Premieres ANNE OF GREEN GABLES: A NEW BEGINNING, December 14". CTV. Newswire. November 12, 2008. Retrieved March 16, 2017.
  4. ^ "NOVEMBER 2010 Membership Magazine for the Friends of IdahoPTV Volume 16, Issue 11" (PDF). Idaho Public Television. Retrieved March 16, 2017.[permanent dead link‍]
  5. ^ "Re: When will Anne 4 air in the US?". October 28, 2010. Retrieved March 16, 2017.[permanent dead link‍]
  6. ^ "Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning". WXXI Public Broadcasting Council. September 2, 2012. Retrieved March 16, 2017.[permanent dead link‍]
  7. ^ "Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning". WTVI. Retrieved March 16, 2017.[permanent dead link‍]
  8. ^ "New on DVD: Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning; India Reborn; Look; Vampiro: Angel, Devil, Hero; Wendy and Lucy". The Georgia Straight. April 30, 2009. Retrieved March 16, 2017.
  9. ^ "Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning". L.M. Montgomery Online. Retrieved March 16, 2017.
  10. ^ "Peter Breiner – Anne of Green Gables: New Beginning – O.S.T. – Amazon.com Music". Amazon. Retrieved March 16, 2017.
  11. ^ "Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning – Original Soundtrack by Peter Breiner on Apple Music". iTunes. 8 January 2009. Retrieved March 16, 2017.
  12. ^ "Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning by Kevin Sullivan – Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, List". Goodreads. Retrieved March 16, 2017.
  13. ^ "Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning". L.M. Montgomery Online. Retrieved March 16, 2017.
  14. ^ a b DeMara, Bruce (26 January 2008). "The once and future Anne Shirley". The Star. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  15. ^ Taylor, Kate (12 December 2008). "The Anne mine keeps on giving". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  16. ^ Stevens, Michael (June 28, 2007). "Casting Call: "Anne of Green Gables" Prequel". Sneakpeak.ca. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  17. ^ Brioux, Bill (December 15, 2008). "Survivor, Rudolph Sleigh Green Gables". Brioux.tv.
  18. ^ Kate Taylor (December 12, 2008). "The Anne mine keeps on giving, unfortunately". The Globe and Mail. CTVglobemedia. Archived from the original on February 17, 2009. Retrieved March 16, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  19. ^ Brioux, Bill (December 14, 2008). "Anne of the Windy Storyline". Brioux.tv. Retrieved March 16, 2017.
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