Lucy Maud Montgomery's novel Anne of Green Gables, previously filmed in 1934, was afforded a TV-movie treatment in 1985.
Megan Follows stars as 13-year-old Anne Shirley, an orphan girl sent to live with a foster family on Canada's Prince Edward Island. Though she has great difficulty controlling her temper, impulsiveness and vivid imagination, Anne eventually wins over her new guardians, domineering Marilla Cuthbert (
Colleen Dewhurst) and Marilla's shy brother Matthew (
Richard Farnsworth). Anne's secondary adventures concern her "bosom friend" Diana (Schuyler Grant) and her supposed enemy Gilbert Blythe (Jonathan Crombie). Anne of Green Gables was offered on American television as a 3-part presentation on PBS'
Wonderworks; it aired from February 17 through March 3, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide