Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel (1987)
Cast and Credits
Alternate titles: Anne of Avonlea: The Continuing Story of Anne of Green Gables (Disney Channel broadcast); Anne of Avonlea (Walt Disney Home Video); Anne… La Maison aux pignons verts: La suite (French-Canadian broadcast)
Produced by Anne of Green Gables II Productions (1986) Inc. in association with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the Disney Channel, and PBS/Wonderworks, with additional funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Channel 4, and with the participation of Telefilm Canada. Production Services provided by Sullivan Films Inc. Running time: 2 episodes x 125 minutes or 4 episodes x 55 minutes. Disney Channel airdates: 19, 26 May, 2, 9 June 1987. CBC airdates: 6-7 Dec. 1987. PBS airdates: 5, 12 Mar. 1988. Channel 4 airdates: 30-31 Dec. 1989.
Megan Follows (Anne Shirley), Colleen Dewhurst (Marilla Cuthbert), Dame Wendy Hiller (Mrs. Harris), Patricia Hamilton (Rachel Lynde), Jonathan Crombie (Gilbert Blythe), Marilyn Lightstone (Miss Stacey), Schuyler Grant (Diana Barry), Rosemary Dunsmore (Katherine Brooke), Kate Lynch (Pauline Harris), and Frank Converse (Morgan Harris).
A Kevin Sullivan Production. Based on the novels Anne of Avonlea, Anne of the Island, and Anne of Windy Poplars by Lucy Maud Montgomery. Executives in Charge of Production: Nada Harcourt (for CBC), Jay Rayvid (for Wonderworks), and Cathy Johnson (for Disney Channel) [Cut from reissues after 1995]. Line Producer: Duane Howard. Executive Producers: Trudy Grant and Kevin Sullivan. Produced, Written and Directed by Kevin Sullivan.
Commentary and Synopsis
In this sequel to Kevin Sullivan’s critically and commercially successful 1985 miniseries, Sullivan adapts selected plot threads from three subsequent Montgomery texts into a thematically fitting follow-up story. Sullivan justified such a creative decision by claiming the “book sequels weren’t of value as single films” (Wesley 
and that, compared to Montgomery’s novels Anne of Avonlea, Anne of the Island, and Anne of Windy Poplars, “those who have seen [the film] like it better” (”TV Talkback” S14). After teaching at the Avonlea Public School for two years, eighteen-year-old Anne decides to leave Avonlea after she is offered a teaching position at Kingsport Ladies College in New Brunswick. Rejecting Gilbert’s marriage proposal on the belief that she has not yet experienced true love, Anne becomes infatuated with Morgan Harris, the father of her pet pupil, but realizes she has outgrown her childhood fantasy of chivalric romance. When she hears Gilbert is deathly ill, she realizes her love for him and they agree to marry as soon as Gilbert completes his medical studies at Dalhousie University in three years.
Sullivan’s decision to enlist two American broadcasters (Disney Channel and PBS) is curious, given that the Disney Channel changed the title of the film to Anne of Avonlea: The Continuing Story of Anne of Green Gables. Although both the Disney Channel and PBS had joint broadcasting windows in the United States, the film is most commonly known to American audiences (and available to them from Walt Disney Home Video) as Anne of Avonlea. The film earned six Gemini Awards (including Best Dramatic Miniseries), two CableAce Awards, and numerous other international awards and accolades. At the time of its release in Canada, Sullivan announced that this Anne film would be the last (Wesley 8).
Merchandise
Soundtrack
Anne. Original Music Score for the Sullivan Films Emmy Award Winning TV Presentation of Anne of Green Gables [and Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel]. Composed and Conducted by Hagood Hardy. Toronto: Attic Records, n.d. [Issued first as a cassette, then later as a CD.]
Home Video (English)
Anne of Avonlea. Walt Disney Home Video and Wonderworks Present A Kevin Sullivan Film. Burbank, CA: Walt Disney Home Video, n.d.*
Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel. A Kevin Sullivan Production. Toronto: Nova Home Video, n.d.*
Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel. Sullivan Entertainment Presents. Toronto: Sullivan Releasing, [1996].*
Home Video (French)
Anne…La Maison aux pignons verts: La suite. Une production de Kevin Sullivan. Toronto: Nova Home Video, n.d.*
Anne…La Maison aux pignons verts: La suite. Sullivan Entertainment présente. Toronto: Sullivan Entertainment, n.d.*
Anne…La Maison aux pignons verts. 4 volumes. Montréal: Imavision Distribution, [2000]. [Volume 1: Anne...La Maison aux pignons verts, episodes 1 and 2; Volume 2: Anne...La Maison aux pignons verts, episodes 3 and 4; Volume 3: Anne...La Maison aux pignons verts, La suite, episodes 1 and 2; Volume 4: Anne...La Maison aux pignons verts: La suite, episodes 3, 4, and 5.]
DVD (English)
Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel. Sullivan Entertainment’s. Toronto: Sullivan Entertainment, [2000].* [Includes behind-the-scenes photographs, missing scenes, director's commentary, and miscellaneous materials. Has been reissued since.]
Anne of Green Gables: Five-Disc Collector’s Edition. Toronto: Sullivan Entertainment, [2006].
Further Reading
Scholarship
Frever, Trinna S. “Vaguely Familiar: Cinematic Intertextuality in Kevin Sullivan’s Anne of Avonlea.” Canadian Children’s Literature / Littérature canadienne pour la jeunesse 91-92 (1998): 36-52.
Hersey, Eleanor. “‘It’s all mine’: The Modern Woman as Writer in Sullivan’s Anne of Green Gables Films.” Making Avonlea: L.M. Montgomery and Popular Culture. Ed. Irene Gammel. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 2002. 131-44.
Howey, Ann F. “‘She look’d down to Camelot’: Anne Shirley, Sullivan, and the Lady of Shalott.” Making Avonlea: L.M. Montgomery and Popular Culture. Ed. Irene Gammel. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 2002. 160-73.
Poe, K.L. “Who’s Got the Power? Montgomery, Sullivan, and the Unsuspecting Viewer.” Making Avonlea: L.M. Montgomery and Popular Culture. Ed. Irene Gammel. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 2002. 145-49.
Wiggins, Genevieve. L.M. Montgomery. Twayne’s World Authors Series 834. New York: Twayne, 1992. [See 85-86.]
Popular Press
Adilman, Sid. “Bestest Present: CTV could have its ratings winner.” Toronto Star 14 Jan. 1986: F1.
“Anne charms U.S. critics all over again.” Toronto Star 25 May 1987: D3.
Bawden, Jim. “Anne of Green Gables TV sequel planned.” Toronto Star 12 June 1986: H1.
Follows, Megan. “I’m already starting to miss her.” TV Guide 5 Dec. 1987: 6-15.
Johnson, Brian D. “Anne of Green Gables Grows Up.” Maclean’s 7 Dec. 1987: 46-50.
Mietkiewicz, Henry. “New hours too much: Thorsen quits CFRB.” Toronto Star 20 Aug. 1986: B1.
“TV Talkback.” Toronto Star 28 Mar. 1987: S14.
Wesley, David. “This Anne film will be the last.” TV Times 5 Dec. 1987: 8.
