Thread by @lainasparetime

Are you all ready to do something fun? We are going to be talking about an Anne of Green Gables adaptation today. #LainaWatchesAnne

The 1934 Anne of Green Gables by RKO Radio Pictures!

#LainaWatchesAnne Yeah, I bet most of you weren't expecting THAT, huh?

(Except @AnomriaReid. You get a pretend cookie.)

#LainaWatchesAnne But first some history.

The first Anne of Green Gables adaptation was a silent black and white film starring Mary Miles Minter who honestly seems like she was a super interesting person. Her wikipedia page was really neat to read.

#LainaWatchesAnne Now, it's said one of Montgomery's inspirations for Anne look-wise was Evelyn Nesbitt, and personally in this aspect, I can see why they cast Minter.

(First picture is Nesbitt, second two are Minter.)

#LainaWatchesAnne Minter has a star on the Hollywood walk of fame. I'd like to see that some day.

#LainaWatchesAnne As a silent film star, much of Minter's work has been lost to time. As much as 75% of silent film has been destroyed by fire, purposeful destruction, and poor storage leading to decay.

#LainaWatchesAnne The 1919 silent film adaptation of Anne is considered one of these lost films, which is a shame. However, you can watch a clip of what's been recovered by Jack and Linda Hutton here on youtube

#LainaWatchesAnne If you're ever around Muskoka, Ontario, I'd suggest checking their museum, the Bala's Museum, out. Since it's the 100th anniversary of the film, they're doing a special exhibit this summer about it. balasmuseum.com/silent-movie.p…

#LainaWatchesAnne Also if you're ever in the area, and you hit up their giftshop, I will legit pay you back + the shipping if you send me the DVD they've made of the 1919 movie XD

#LainaWatchesAnne Anyways, while I find this a fascinating piece of history, Montgomery HATED the 1919 movie. They didn't seem to tell her it was being made (her publisher wasn't good - there were later long legal battles) and she only found out about it when her cousin saw it.

#LainaWatchesAnne Her cousin hated it, she hated it, and I don't think it was too popular in general. Montgomery especially hated that they changed the setting from P.E.I. to New England.

New England.

Sorry, America, you can't have our Anne.

#LainaWatchesAnne Apparently there were a lot of other odd choices, too, including a pet chicken, a skunk, American flags, and... an angry mob that Anne fended off with a shotgun?

Some um. Interesting choices indeed.

#LainaWatchesAnne Montgomery also said Minter was "very dainty, very pretty and utterly unlike my gingerly Anne." Keep that in mind as we go through adaptations, perhaps.

#LainaWatchesAnne Back to 1934, though. This version stars Dawn O'Day, who took on "Anne Shirley" as her stage name.

Can you imagine that today? It'd be like Daniel Radcliffe deciding he was going to be called Harry Potter the rest of of his life.

#LainaWatchesAnne Going forward, when I need to refer to the actress, I will call her "Shirley" similar to how I'm referring to the author as "Montgomery". I want to respect her wishes about what she wants to be called, but calling her just Anne would be confusing lol.

#LainaWatchesAnne Or, what she wanted to be called, since she did sadly pass away in 1993, but I still want to respect that.

She also has a Hollywood Walk of Fame star. That'd be a fun trip, finding all the Anne's through time on there

#LainaWatchesAnne Shirley was also a very interesting person. She would later in her career be in a movie called Murder, My Sweet, her last role before retirement at age 26, which was one of the first film noirs and influenced so many that came after it.

#LainaWatchesAnne She also has some interesting history that links her to the Hollywood Ten which I don't really know about all of this business, but if you ever need a school project or something, it seems really interesting to read about.

#LainaWatchesAnne We open the fil with a lot of beeping and a film company logo I didn't recognize. "A Radio Picture" or RKO Pictures, was a big company in this time period, but I'm clearly not an expert in 30s film lol.

Seriously though there was a lot of beeping.

#LainaWatchesAnne I was wearing earbuds the second time I watched this and it was a lot, lol.

I do love the full credits before the movie starts. I love old Disney movies that do that, too. Funny how long they used to be, isn't it?

#LainaWatchesAnne The credits roll over some... tbh, somewhat grainy images of a rural area. It is an 85 year old film so, you know. I'm working with the best I can get, but I'm not particularly wowed by the scenery.

#LainaWatchesAnne Then we move to a pretty little house with a young blonde girl cutting flowers outside. A tall, thin woman with dark hair opens the window and tells the girl, Diana, to look at something.

Wait, Diana? I mean, okay. She could be visiting Mrs Rachel Lynde.

#LainaWatchesAnne The woman points out to Diana that Matthew Cuthbert is driving by, and Diana says, "Yes, Mother."

Excuse me, Mother?? Who is this person?????

#LainaWatchesAnne Well, Diana's mother wonders where Matthew's going and says he never goes to town this time of year, never visits anyone, and is too dressed up to just be going for a drive. He also isn't driving fast enough to be going for a doctor.

#LainaWatchesAnne Here we take a minute to pause and ask wtf did this movie do to poor Diana? Why is she blonde??

#LainaWatchesAnne The mystery woman says she won't "have a moment's peace of mind til I find out from his sister Marilla". Smooth dialogue there, movie.

#LainaWatchesAnne We go right into Green Gables' kitchen where Marilla is polishing silver at the table. She says, "Good morning, Rachel" and asks how everyon at the Barry house is.

Wait. She's Rachel BARRY?? I... I'm going to need to come back to that.

#LainaWatchesAnne Honestly this casting surprised me a little. The actress playing Marilla does not fit her physical description of being tall and thin. As Luce said, if you just saw this screencap, you'd probably think the one on the right Marilla and the one on the left Rachel

#LainaWatchesAnne However this actress is an amazing fit for Marilla and she's probably my favourite casting choice of the movie. She's a little prickly and very brisk, but it works great. Ability over appearance being true here.

#LainaWatchesAnne No she doesn't fit the physical description of Marilla from the book, but she really does embody her wonderfully.

#LainaWatchesAnne The talk goes very similarly to how it did in the book: they're adopting a boy from Nova Scotia to help out as Matthew's getting older and having heart troubles. The dialogue here is basically straight out of the book.

#LainaWatchesAnne However, there's a really out of character line when Marilla offers Rachel a cup of tea, and Rachel replies, "Now, how can a body drink tea when they're so excited they're about ready to burst?"

That's really more of something ANNE would say.

#LainaWatchesAnne Orphans are risky, styrchnine in the well, it's all very book accurate over all, and the movie takes us out to Bright River.

Honestly I like this set. It looks how I pictured the train station.

#LainaWatchesAnne The station master says a girl has been dropped off, and Matthew is confused as he was expecting a boy.

And honestly, again, this is a good shot. She looks so alone.

#LainaWatchesAnne I've now given this movie like three compliments.

This is where that ends.

#LainaWatchesAnne Anne introduces herself and my first complaint is that I don't love this casting.

First of all, every actor in this movie is American and they don't sound right. It's all like... 30s Hollywood.

#LainaWatchesAnne Which I believe is a mid-Atlantic accent, or like an "affected" accent. If you've ever seen Wizard of Oz, it's kind of like how Judy Garland talks in that.

#LainaWatchesAnne It's just not how people in 19th century Canada sounded.

Second, as Montgomery said of Minter... Shirley is a bit too perfect for me. She's very pretty and very chipper and perky. Just doesn't do much for me as an Anne performance.

#LainaWatchesAnne Third, what is this hair????? Why do the ends look like that??

#LainaWatchesAnne Fourth, she is not 11. This is a 17 year old playing a 14 year old.

One of my big problems with this movie is that the interactions between Anne and Matthew just feel... off. I think a lot of it is honestly aging her up while keeping her behaviour the same.

#LainaWatchesAnne And I don't like the actor playing Matthew. I'm sorry, but he's kind of creepy.

#LainaWatchesAnne Matthew agrees to take her home, though with different dialogue. In the book, he's mostly silently like, "Need Marilla to fix this." And just apologizes for being late. In the movie, he says, "I guess it'll be alright."

#LainaWatchesAnne No, it's not the biggest change in the world, but his whole performance is off so I'm nitpicking.

#LainaWatchesAnne She talks his ear off on the drive home, as expected. They pull dialogue from the book, but again Shirley being so much older makes it a little odd. It's very child-like stuff and it doesn't seem the same coming from a near-adult.

#LainaWatchesAnne I do like them including Matthew saying he doesn't mind if she talks. I like that line a lot.

#LainaWatchesAnne Interesting film history note! The background of the driving scene is greenscreened. This is a pretty early example of greenscreen/chroma keying. This studio was a pioneer in the technology. It's not too obvious considering the time period, either.

#LainaWatchesAnne I still can't with her hair, though. And it's hard to tell it's red. Not their fault, but a limit of the medium.

Otherwise the scene goes by the book, except Anne says, "My eyes are green." Book!Anne's eyes are grey. And it's said more than once!

#LainaWatchesAnne Normally that's not something I would care about BUT IT'S A BLACK AND WHITE MOVIE. You can just say they're grey!

#LainaWatchesAnne Like that just confuses me.

Anyways, time for our first look at Green Gables!

#LainaWatchesAnne Honestly, not the worst. Compare Montgomery's grandparents' house and the actual real Green Gables and it's not bad.

#LainaWatchesAnne It's not exactly what I pictured, but it's okay.

The movie, however, decides that Anne is to be the one to name it Green Gables. I don't know why.

#LainaWatchesAnne Marilla is annoyed to see Anne, as you'd expect.

Another nitpick, but they give Matthew extra dialogue in this scene. Not a ton, but it bothers me. And Marilla's a bit meaner to him, too.

#LainaWatchesAnne Anne does break down into tears when told she can't stay, which is book accurate (though she claims she isn't crying). It's actually less dramatic than what it is in the book.

#LainaWatchesAnne We follow the book pretty accurately through the name conversation and I do like the Anne/Marilla interactions. Marilla isn't cruel, just brisk and exasperated.

Her actress is seriously the best of the bunch here.

#LainaWatchesAnne Matthew suggests Anne could stay, and ugh, just look at his creepy face.

I kind of think the actor is trying to play Matthew as "slow" in a stereotypical, offensive way at the beginning of the movie.

#LainaWatchesAnne I'm forcing Luce to watch most of these with me (lol, I love you @soveryqueer) and I asked them if it was just me, and they kind of got that vibe too. It's strange and creepy and I'm really not a fan of this Matthew overall.

#LainaWatchesAnne The next afternoon, Marilla takes Anne to... pick up Mrs Spencer? And then they all drive to Mrs Blewitt, which the credits spell as Bluett for some reason.

If you're confused, pleased know it's the movie and not my recapping skills.

#LainaWatchesAnne I was also confused.

Mrs Spencer says she's sure Mrs Bluett will take Anne. There's a few little kids running around at Mrs Bluett's but they seem better behaved than I'd expect. And you know, 4 kids is fewer than I expected, too.

#LainaWatchesAnne Mrs Spencer says she brought them there as Mrs Blewitt is so anxious to get anyone to help with the children she's sure to take Anne.

Also the baby is cute. Luce thought it was a fake baby at first XD

#LainaWatchesAnne This is where we actually learn Anne is 14 and I began to have some suspicions about how the plot would play out.

#LainaWatchesAnne The scene plays out mostly as it does in the book, with perhaps a touch more obvious annoyance at Mrs Bluett from Marilla, which honestly works as we don't have her POV here.

The baby is having a great time. Look at the little foot kicking all happy.

#LainaWatchesAnne JEEZ this baby is almost 90 years old!

Also Mrs Bluett has almost more of a Southern US accent? The actress was from Maryland - is that considered the South? Odd choice for PEI, again.

#LainaWatchesAnne I do like that they didn't have Anne say anything. She just looks at Marilla, absolutely miserable, and Marilla says to the others she better talk Anne home to talk it over with Matthew. As in the book, she's definitely using him as an excuse.

#LainaWatchesAnne However, we have our first instance of them leaving something major out. The conversation with Marilla about Anne's backstory never happens. We never even learn about the Thomases or Hammonds. I guess that was too serious.

#LainaWatchesAnne Marilla's line is great, though. "I oughtn't do anything without consulting him." Sure, Marilla. Sure.

Marilla says if they decide not to keep her, she'll bring or send Anne back tomorrow.

#LainaWatchesAnne Aw, they give Matthew's dog line to Marilla! Matthew also is very casually smoking in this scene which isn't really in character. He mostly smoked when he needed to think deeply about something.

#LainaWatchesAnne It's really weird, though, that they give him random extra dialogue but take away a great line of his from the book that really showed how much he disliked Mrs Blewitt and cared for Anne already since it was so unlike him to say.

#LainaWatchesAnne The bedtime prayer scene goes pretty much as planned, besides some minor backstory changes.

Marilla's actress is great here. She really nails the balance between flustered and knowing she should disapprove of what Anne's saying, but actually being amused.

#LainaWatchesAnne And here is where I'm going to cut off the thread for today, because we hit about the 20 minute mark of the movie, and honestly I'm getting hungry and my eye still hurts from getting soap in it in the shower this morning so I'm calling it a day.

#LainaWatchesAnne Yes, 20 minutes of this movie took me 2 hours to thread about. There's going to be 4 of these threads for this movie, and I already have them pretty much written, because they took... several days to do, frankly.

#LainaWatchesAnne We'll do one a day til Saturday this week!

If you'd like to support me in this endeavour and also possibly help me hit up that museum for that DVD, I'm just gonna leave my ko-fi link here ko-fi.com/A0602GN