Attempts to explain the appeal of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s 1908 novel have generated a paradox within literary criticism that also applies to the film version. On one hand, Anne of Green Gables’ plot, characters, and predominant themes are considered by many scholars to be closely consistent with late 19th- and early 20th- century American literature. In Canada, however, both literary scholars and millions of children and adults have cherished Montgomery’s Avonlea novels, of which Anne of Green Gables is the first, for their very eloquent expression of Canadian heritage, history, and culture. In the ongoing battle to define and articulate a national identity within English-speaking Canada, Anne has become a powerful force. Indeed, Anne of Green Gables is an icon of “Canadianness,” not only within her own nation but as a global commodity that has been successfully exported to nations all over the world. The book has been translated into over 30 languages with over 35 million copies in print. Outside of Canada, Anne has enjoyed her greatest success in Japan, where theme parks have been built around the red-headed heroine’s persona, and lucrative deals have been brokered to import potatoes from the island province of Prince Edward Island, where her story takes place.

Regardless of the claims made to Anne by other nations, Sullivan’s affectionate and lushly filmed family drama continues to stand out in Canadian broadcasting history as one of the most successful television ventures of all time. Its original broadcast gained an audience of 4.9 million viewers on its first night and just under 6 million viewers on the following evening, some of the strongest audience figures ever recorded for a nonsports program broadcast in prime-time viewing hours. These numbers were all the more impressive considering that the CBC sold broadcast time to advertisers based on projections of 2.4 million viewers, and that the film’s competition on its first evening included a National Football League (NFL) game.

In addition to its basically unprecedented popularity among viewers, Anne of Green Gables garnered critical acclaim for its writing, cinematography, and the performances of the principal actors. Megan Follows, a young Canadian actor, played Anne Shirley, the “scrawny, red-headed orphan” who arrives in the community of Avonea to live with Matthew and Marrilla Cuthbert, siblings whose advancing years force them to send to a nearby orphanage for a young boy to lend a hand with the daily maintenance of their farm. Anne’s gender, overactive imagination, and lack of regard for small-town social mores frame the series of minor conflicts and misadventures that complicate the Cuthberts’ eventual decision to adopt her as their own. As Matthew, Richard Farnsworth lends a sweetness and vulnerability to the role of the shy, aging bachelor, while Colleen Dewhurst imbues the initially dour and judgmental Marilla with wisdom, compassion, and a growing, if grudging, affection for her young charge. Anne’s eventual adoption into the Cuthbert home and her integration into the various social institutions of the small conservative town provide the backdrop for the film’s exploration of the difficult terrain between girlhood and emerging adolescence. Along the way, Anne finds a “bosom friend” and “kindred spirit” in Diana Barry (Schuyler Grant), whose patrician mother’s disapproval of Anne’s desire to gain an education and eventually have a career foreground Anne’s emerging sense of self and ambition. Once lamenting her life as “a perfect graveyard of buried hopes,” Anne’s love and respect for her adoptive family, acceptance by her peers, and determination suggest that adversity can be liberating when approached with compassion, filial bonds, and values that many critics suggest as basic Christian ideals.

Aesthetically, the production is almost unabashedly sentimental and Sullivan’s fond rendering of the idyllic rural landscape casts Avonlea as a key supporting player in the film. Unlike the majority of productions by small independent Canadian filmmakers, Sullivan shot his film in 35 millimeter, which visually gilds the story with a warm, nostalgic glow. Coupled with the meticulously re-created sets and costumes, the lush look captured by this production of Anne of Green Gables later became a hallmark characterizing Sullivan’s films and enchanted its audience, many of whom had grown up reading the Avonlea stories.

Sullivan’s Anne was extraordinarily successful from a business perspective, as well. Shot on time and on budget, roughly 30 percent of its 2.5 million dollar price tag was provided by Telefilm Canada, a Canadian government-funded film development corporation established to support the Canadian broadcasting and film industry. Additional financial support came from the CBC, PBS, City-TV (a private Canadian network), and ZDF (a West German television network). The miniseries also won great critical acclaim. At the 1986 Gemini Awards, given out by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, Anne won in ten of the 12 categories for which it was nominated, including: Best Dramatic Miniseries, Best pperformance by a Lead Actress, Best Performance by Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress, Best Writing, and Best Direction.