Anne of Green Gables (1985 film)

Anne of Green Gables is a 1985 film. It was originally made for television airing and was directed by Kevin Sullivan.

Plot
Mrs. Rachel Lynde is sitting down at her knitting when a most unusual sight greets her from outside. She goes out to the veranda to see Matthew Cuthbert, the shyest man in Avonlea, driving his buggy in one of his best suits down the road. Mr. Thomas Lynde says that Matthew might be "going courtin' " and Mrs. Lynde tells him not to be ridiculous. Mrs. Lynde, being who she is in a nutshell, then decides to visit Marilla Cuthbert at Green Gables to find out exactly what is happening. Mrs. Lynde finds out that the Cuthberts are adopting a boy about eleven from a Nova Scotia orphan asylum to help around Green Gables farm. Mrs. Lynde reveals to Marilla her pessimistic doubts about any orphan boy turning out to be a decent person. Marilla explains herself she had some qualms about it, but since Matthew so rarely set his mind so much to anything, she felt it her duty to give in when he did.

Meanwhile, at the Bright River train station, waiting for Matthew is not the eleven-year-old boy the Cuthberts had sent word for, but a skinny, freckled, gray-eyed, redheaded orphan girl. She is the main heroine, Anne Shirley, and she is thirteen when she first appears in the movie, while in the book she is eleven. Anne had lost both of her parents, Walter and Bertha Shirley many years ago, and has had to live among negligent families who really wanted little or nothing to do with her, and Mrs. Hammond was only too happy to send Anne back to the orphan asylum after Mr. Hammond's death. Anne sees Matthew approach and he drives Anne back to Green Gables. Along the way, Anne finds many things to talk about, from the lifelong sorrow of having red hair to the white beauty of The Avenue, which Anne gives her own name, the White Way of Delight, and renames Barry Pond the Lake of Shining Waters. She says it is truly the most wonderful feeling in the world to think that she'll finally belong to somebody. "This is the first real dream that's ever come true for me."

When both Matthew and Anne arrive at Green Gables, Marilla sees the orphan girl in her terrible wincey dress and asks Matthew who she is and where the boy is. Matthew explains that there wasn't any boy, there was only her and he couldn't just leave her there no matter where the mistake had come in. It begins to dawn on Anne that the Cuthberts don't want her because she isn't a boy. Anne begins to cry about this and being in the 'depths of despair' because no one ever wanted her. Marilla tells Anne not to cry about it.

The next day, Marilla goes to see Mrs. Alexander Spencer to see what could be done about the mistake, and Mrs. Peter Blewett offers to take Anne off of Marilla's hands, but as Marilla later remarked, "I wouldn't give a dog I liked to that Blewett woman." So, Marilla makes up her mind to adopt Anne permanently.

About a fortnight later, Mrs. Lynde makes a visit to Green Gables to see the orphan, very sorry that there was such a mistake as she heard about. When Anne is introduced by Marilla to Mrs. Lynde, Mrs. Lynde makes certain outspoken remarks about Anne being terribly skinny and homely, and that her hair is as red as carrots. Nobody ever said any such thing about Anne's hair if they knew any better. Anne lost her temper and said terrible things about Mrs. Lynde, leaving both Marilla and Mrs. Lynde horrified at Anne's behaviour, while Anne ran outside in bitter tears. She is punished by Marilla by being confined to her room until she apologized to Mrs. Lynde, which Anne stubbornly refused to do initially. But thanks to Matthew, Anne does eventually make amends with Mrs. Lynde, who believes Anne may turn out all right after all.

Anne believed that Marilla's amethyst brooch was romantically elegant and went into her room one day while she was out to have a look at it. By the time Marilla came back, she couldn't find the brooch anywhere and asked Anne where it was. Anne made a 'confession', that she had taken it to wear temporarily and lost it, and Marilla nearly sent Anne to live with Mrs. Blewett until she found the brooch dangling from her outdoor shawl. Marilla told Anne that it wasn't right for her to tell a lie, but that she drove her to it. Marilla and Anne forgave each other and went to the Sunday-School picnic where Anne met the Rev. Allan and Mrs. Allan, Mr. and Mrs. Barry, and her first real bosom friend, Diana Barry.

Anne's first day at school in Avonlea begins without any incident, until Gilbert Blythe, who just came back from New Brunswick, made the unfortunate mistake of getting Anne's attention by whispering, "hey carrots...carrots!" Anne did more than look at Gilbert. She stood right up, screamed, "HOW DARE YOU!" and brought her slate down on Gilbert's head, breaking it in half. As a punishment, Mr. Phillips made Anne stand up at the blackboard while he wrote that Anne Shirley had a very nasty temper, that she needed to learn to control her temper, but the worst offence to Anne was that Mr. Phillips spelled her name without an "e". Gilbert tried to apologize several times to Anne without any success. Anne was stubbornly determined not to acknowledge Gilbert's existence from that day on.

Anne, desperate to get rid of her red hair, bought some hair dye from a German peddler who assured Anne that it would turn Anne's hair a beautiful raven black. To Anne's dismay, and Marilla's astonishment, the dye turned Anne's red hair an even uglier green. Unfortunately, Marilla had to cut Anne's hair very short, because it was a fast dye.

One day, Anne invited Diana to Green Gables for tea, and Anne went to the pantry and brought out a bottle of what she thought was the raspberry cordial Marilla had described. Anne offered it to Diana, telling her to take as much as she wanted. After three tumblerfulls, Diana complained that she was very sick and Anne sent her home. The worst was still to come. Diana stumbled down in front of Mrs. Barry and Mrs. Lynde and was sick in the rosebushes. It turned out that Anne had given Diana currant wine, and set Diana drunk. Though only an accident, Mrs. Barry forbade Diana to associate with Anne again. They both said the most pathetic, sorrowful goodbyes. Anne decided to go back to school so she would at least see her bosom friend, though not allowed to speak to her. Mr. Phillips had left Avonlea, and in his place was a lady teacher named Miss Muriel Stacey. Anne had found another kindred spirit once she met her new teacher.

Winter came to Avonlea, and Marilla and Mrs. Lynde had gone away to Ottawa and Anne was left at Green Gables with Matthew. One evening, Diana ran to Green Gables in a terrible state because Minnie May, her younger sister was very sick with croup and the doctor was gone on another appointment. Anne grabbed the bottle of ipecac, and, knowing what to do, saved Minnie May's life. Mrs. Barry then knew that what happened to Diana really was an accident and Anne was allowed to be best friends with Diana again. Anne was invited to go to the winter ball with the Barry family and stay overnight at the Barrys' house. At first, Marilla said no, but gave in, because Matthew stuck to his opinion that Anne ought to be allowed to go. Matthew also bought Anne her first really pretty dress with puffed sleeves, to wear to the ball.

Back at the Barrys' house, Anne and Diana decide to have a race to see who will get into bed first. This wouldn't have been a bad thing, but Diana's Aunt Josephine Barry was sleeping in that bed, and the two girls woke her up with a pounce. Miss Barry was very cross with Diana the next day and refused to give her any music lessons. Anne made the confession to Miss Barry that it was her idea to have the race to see who would get into the bed first. Surprisingly, Anne found another kindred spirit, and Diana was also forgiven and able to have music lessons again. Anne and Diana were even invited on one occasion to stay at Miss Barry's mansion.

At some point during the summer, Anne, Diana, Ruby Gillis and Jane Andrews are pretending to be in Camelot and that Anne is the unfortunate Lily Maid after reading [|Tennyson's poem]. Anne, or the Lily Maid, is bid a final farewell as the other three girls push Anne out on the lake in Mr. Barry's dory. It begins to leak water from the inside and then sink, and Anne was just fortunate to be able to grab onto one of the bridgepoles, and hold on for dear life until help came, though not the help Anne had expected. Gilbert Blythe saved Anne and rowed her back to shore, but Anne was still stubborn and unforgiving. She wouldn't say much more than a coldly formal "thank you, young Mr. Blythe", and a goodbye.

The Queen's Class is organized for any Avonlea students intending to study at Queen's Academy to become teachers. Anne, Ruby, Jane, Gilbert, Charlie Sloane, Moody Spurgeon, and even Josie Pye are going to take the entrance exams, but not Diana, whose mother wants her to learn to be a traditional housewife like she did.

Anne passed the examinations and Miss Stacey, Marilla, and Matthew are very proud of her. Anne had also eventually won the Avery Scholarship at Queen's, while Gilbert won the gold medal. Everything changes when Matthew dies and Marilla stands to lose Green Gables. Anne decides to sacrifice going off to Redmond College to stay with Marilla and help if it would mean keeping Green Gables. Gilbert decided to teach at Carmody (White Sands in the novel) instead of Avonlea School, leaving it for Anne. At last, Anne has forgiven Gilbert for what had happened a long time ago, and the movie ends with them becoming friends.

Main characters

 * Megan Follows as Anne Shirley
 * Colleen Dewhurst as Marilla Cuthbert
 * Richard Farnsworth as Mathew Cuthbert

Anne's schoolmates

 * Schuyler Grant as Diana Barry
 * Jonathan Crombie as Gilbert Blythe
 * Miranda de Pencier as Josie Pye
 * Trish Nettleton as Jane Andrews
 * Jennifer Inch as Ruby Gillis
 * Zack Ward as Moody Spurgeon MacPherson

Other Avonlea residents

 * Robert Collins as Mr. Barry
 * Rosemary Radcliffe as Mrs. Barry
 * Morgan Chapman as Minnie May Barry
 * Patricia Hamilton as Rachel Lynde
 * Marilyn Lightstone as Miss Stacy
 * Christiane Kruger as Mrs. Allan
 * Cedric Smith as Rev. Allan
 * Paul Brown as Mr. Phillips
 * Samantha Langevin as Mrs. Blewett
 * David Hughes as Thomas Lynde
 * Vivian Reis as Mrs. Spencer

Miscellaneous

 * Charmion King as Josephine Barry
 * Jackie Burroughs as Amelia Evans
 * Joachim Hansen as John Sadler
 * Jayne Eastwood as Mrs. Hammond
 * Dawn Greenhalgh as Mrs. Cadbury
 * Jack Mather as Station Master
 * Mag Ruffman as Alice Lawson
 * Sean McCann as Dr O'Reilly
 * Roxolana Roslak as Madame Selitsky
 * Robert Haley as Professor
 * David Roberts as Tom
 * Nancy Beatty as Essie
 * Wendy Lyon as Prissy Andrews
 * Anna Ferguson as Punch Woman
 * Rex Southgate as Section Head
 * Julianna Saxton as Pink Woman
 * Molly Thom as Lace Woman
 * Jennifer Irwin as Student
 * Sandra Scott as Mrs. Harrington
 * Peter Sturgess as Porter
 * Ray Ireland as Mr. Hammond
 * Martha Maloney as Fairview Nurse
 * Stuart Hamilton as Mme. Selitsky's Accompanist

Mistakes

 * When Anne takes the gift from Rachel and leaves, a couple of moments later you can see the red-wrapped package is still sitting on the table next to Rachel.
 * When Marilla shows Anne to her room, Anne's hat brushes Marilla's face. As Marilla turns you can plainly see that she is having a hard time trying not to burst out laughing.
 * When Mr. Phillips has Anne write lines on the board, in the first shot, the "s" in Shirley is written in cursive, and in the second shot, it is printed.
 * In the scene when Diana is invited to tea and then Anne follows her home after Diana has become drunk, Anne's tights change colors from black to white several times.

Trailer
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