Anne of Green Gables *** (1934, Anne Shirley, Tom Brown, O P Heggie, Helen Westley) – Classic Movie Review 10,479

‘FICTION’S MOST BELOVED HEROINE REALLY LIVES!’

Director George Nichols Jr’s 1934 RKO Radio Pictures black and white drama Anne of Green Gables is a lovely adaptation of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s children’s classic about an imaginative orphan lass Anne Shirley (Anne Shirley) who charms the stern aunt (Helen Westley) and the aunt’s kindly farmer brother (O P Heggie) who befriend her in Nova Scotia, Canada, at the turn of the last century.

Dawn Evelyeen Paris (originally Dawn O’Day in the movies) changed her name to the name of the heroine Anne Shirley, whose name thereafter she used in real life in the movies. She is captivating in the title role, bringing a rush of spirit and charm to the character.

Among the attractive gallery of support players, Tom Brown scores as Shirley’s boyfriend Gilbert Blythe, and so do Sara Haden as the naughty neighbour Mrs Barry and Murray Kinnell as the teacher Mr Phillips.

In her debut, Ann Miller, aged 11, appears as a child extra.

Also in the cast are Sara Haden, Charley Grapewin, Murray Kinnell, Gertrude Messinger, Hilda Vaughn, June Preston, Frank Darien, Bonita Granville, Ben Hall, George Offerman, Herbert Rawlinson and Paul Stanton.

It runs a tidy 78 minutes.

It was a hit for RKO as one of their four top-grossing films for the year, earning a profit of $272,000.

Sequel: Anne of Windy Poplars with Anne Shirley again in 1940.

It was remade for TV in 1979 as Anne of Green Gables (1979), in 1985 (Mini-Series) with Megan Follows, Colleen Dewhurst and Richard Farnsworth, and again as Anne of Green Gables (2016) (TV Movie).

At the age of 16 Anne Shirley won the role of Anne Shirley after being tested among hundreds of young aspirants, and she then became a teen celebrity. She retired ridiculously early at the age of 26, after Farewell, My Lovely.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,479

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