(Original thread here.) Today we are taking a look at the third movie in Breakthrough Entertainment’s Anne of Green Gables trilogy, Anne of Green Gables: Fire and Dew.
Why is it called that? No idea.
This was released July 1st, 2017, following February 2017’s release of Good Stars. There’s also basically no information on this one. They also didn’t care about it, I guess. I really don’t get the title, but let’s just get into it.
The movie, of course, opens on a shot of Matthew.
This series really should have been called Matthew of Green Gables since he’s clearly the main character. And he’s using a cane now so you know he’s old.
Look, it’s exactly the same shot as every other time we see Green Gables!
Finally, at 1:15 we get our first shot of Anne. She, Diana, Ruby, and Jane are in her room laughing for an awkwardly long time because dialogue is hard, okay?
She’s reading a story she wrote, I guess.
Matthew walks into the house and loudly goes, “Hello?” because Matthew always wants attention.
Also we’re back to gloomy lighting.
I guess this is the story club which happened right after Anne turned thirteen in the book, but why would I expected anything to be in order here??
Besides, it won’t come up again so it doesn’t matter.
Ruby says men don’t get down on their knees to propose “nowadays”. She’s both right and wrong. So from what I found, that didn’t start to be a thing before the 19th century, and it seemed to go in and out of fashion through the 20th.
…but do we care? Probably not!
Anyways, this is just an excuse to pick on Ruby more. Jane tell her, “Don’t be so… the way you are.” I don’t know why this series decided to bully Ruby, but it’s just mean to her.
Wanna know why it’s gloomy again? It’s fall. Last movie was shot in summer and now it’s fall. They were shot back to back. It is kind of gorgeous outside but it shows how badly made this series was.
We’ve spent like 4 minutes hearing or talking about Anne’s story. I’d care if it came back to matter at all, but it doesn’t. They find the time to make fun of Ruby more, though.
Anne comes down to breakfast wearing this. I guess NOW we get the fashion changes. Out of nowhere.
Sure.
I mean, there was a clear point in the book (and the 1985 series) where Marilla changed her mind about clothing and a natural progression of Anne’s wardrobe that showed both that change and Anne’s gradual maturing. But making it one random morning is totally the same thing.
Marilla says that “the flounce on that dress makes you look even taller” which is two scenes combined. And. I mean. She’s not tall. This actress is quite short.
According to Matthew, Josie Pye is “all tots and no taters”.
Who wrote this dialogue?????
Editing Laina: @soupspoonserena asked if tater tots even existed and as far as my research shows, no, no they did not. As far as I could find, tater tots were invented in 1953 and if you google “all tots but no taters” with quotation marks, nothing comes up. So no one has ever used this phrase on the internet. No idea what it’s supposed to mean.
Anne asks to skip breakfast since Diana’s waiting. Marilla says it’s the most important meal of the day and “the last time we tried that, you nearly drowned yourself.”
Anne: “It wasn’t because I skipped breakfast.”
Except… it was. She skipped breakfast so she didn’t see Matthew before leaving and he couldn’t warn her to stay off the pond. Movie, you can’t rewrite the first movie now. I was there! TWICE.
Anne talks about being older but not feeling older and not being sure if she’ll like being older. They don’t really say how old she’s supposed to be and I think they’re hoping we don’t ask too many questions.
Okay, I’m not going to insult the child’s acting too harshly, obviously, but I’m not sure if shooting two movies in one year is healthy for a kid her age. A fair bit of this movie, she seems uncertain with her acting choices and just a bit awkward overall. It’s like they were too rushed to give her time to get comfortable.
And it makes no sense to make them so fast, as you’ll see as we go on.
There’s a gag all this movie about the puddle here. I don’t know why. It’s not funny.
Editing Laina: I actually really like these boots. French heels are so pretty. Also, it’s funny that she’s wearing a heel but she’s still so short XD
Marilla: “She may be fourteen, but there’s still quite a lot of the child in that girl yet.”
Oh, sorry, she’s 14. This movie’s so forgettable that sometimes when I’m not looking at my notes, I forget what’s happened.
Also, I mean, that’s a line from the end of the book. And it’s Mrs Rachel’s line. And it’s not a scene with Matthew in it. But okay.
Editing Laina: So this is taking place, what, three months after the end of the second movie? Because they’re doing like a first day of school thing, and that’s September, and the end of the second movie took place in spring, before Anne’s now-in-the-summer-birthday. So three months has changed everything?
Look, an establishing school shot, I guess.
Why so zoomed in? They still have the set, as far as I can tell.
For some reason, Anne’s hat looks photoshopped in this pause. It’s kind of hilarious to me XD
Diana points out Gilbert had a growth spurt and ask if it’s not time to “bury the hatchet between you two.”
I guess the Diana jealousy plot is gone because they’re fourteen now and it’s beeen three months. It lasted over a year in the second movie, but okay, sure.
Gilbert, like Anne, has not particularly grown in the last month or so of real world time, but his voice did drop a bit. I’m sure that’s a relief to him after the last movie.
Anyways, he ignores Anne but says hello to all the other girls.
So if they’re 14 and the first movie was when they were 12 (a later line confirms this), and the DVD cover of the first movie says it was 1907, that means it’s about 1909 right now.
Jane’s hat seems too far back for 1909 to me. Ruby’s is more accurate.
Go Pro footage! And we’re only 7 minutes in, what a treat.
Rachel complains about Miss Stacy’s bike, while Marilla mops the… study? Dining room? Sitting room, maybe. I’m not sure, but she kind of mops herself into a corner.
The vague attempts at accents are back for this scene, and Rachel’s hair is BAD. What is this even supposed to be?
Marilla asks about the Abbey bank and Mrs Rachel complains about the class exercising. It’s been a year. Why is this coming up now???
Bit of history class. They learn how to paddle, I guess? I question Miss Stacy’s French accent. It could be fine, but it sounds off to me. Anyways, Anne and Gilbert have to paddle together and no one cares.
That night, Anne dreams about being a fur trader with Gilbert as her partner. He sings Alouette and his accent is TERRIBLE.
Yup, this is her hot Gilbert dream. Also I don’t think they were actually on the water for this. Or moving at all. Just sitting in a boat on a lawn paddling. Really worth it.
Anne gets caught reading in class. Miss Stacy is wearing another outfit that doesn’t fit well.
The book is Sense and Sensibility now instead of Ben Hur so Miss Stacy can comment about Anne liking romance. She asks if Anne agrees with the theme. Wanna know what the theme of Sense and Sensibility is? “Men prefer women who are aloof.”
So that’s what Jane Austen boils down to, folks – what men want women to be like.
Anne: “That’s what Ruby said.”
Miss Stacy: “In my opinion, there’s nothing wrong with telling the truth.”
The truth is that’s an awful summary of Jane Austen and this movie should be ashamed of itself.
Anyways, this isn’t actually about the book, it’s about the Queen’s class. We don’t actually see her tell Anne this – it just cuts to Anne telling Matthew and Marilla.
God, look how huge Anne’s pupils are. Maybe you should take that as a sign to turn a light on.
There’s kind of a funny moment of Anne saying grace as fast as possible because Matthew and Marilla have been waiting for her to do so as she rambled about Queen’s.
Nitpick but why are they using a spoon in the gravy boat? Isn’t the point of a gravy boat that you can pour from it? Otherwise why not just use a bowl?
Nothing much happens in this scene besides them telling her they’ll make Queen’s happen if she gets in. Really worth losing those Miss Stacy moments, and not making that relationship stronger.
Diana won’t be in the Queen’s class and Anne has a little meltdown over it. Diana pulls her into this gap between the school buildings that I never noticed/I don’t think they ever showed before. It isn’t a mistake or anything – I just had a moment where I was confused.
Diana of her parents: “They think it’s a waste of money. I’ll most likely get married and stay home.”
Anne: “You don’t have to be like that.”
Diana: “My mother thinks so.”
By the way, this goes nowhere. This movie does nothing with Diana’s character.
Anne’s acting in this scene is kind of… bad. It’s really insincere.
Meet Moody Spurgeon. No, really, we’re actively meeting him. He’s new to Avonlea, apparently. Why? I dunno.
The way he interacts with Anne, Luce and I thought they were going to introduce a love triangle subplot with him/Gilbert/Anne (read that however you want) but nope, nothing. He’s just here now.
Miss Stacy goes into a big speech about Queen’s and how hard this will all be. The entrance exam, she says, is in two months. It’s 15:24.
Anne stares at the yard a bit and reads some Latin to show she’s growing up and serious or something.
I think she may actually be wearing a corset, which I would normally applaud, but seeing the line of it like this means it doesn’t fit particularly well and she’s also not wearing a corset cover, probably.
You shouldn’t see a ridge like this.
More spelling bees between Anne and Gilbert because that’s original, entertaining, and totally the most important college prep there is.
But I do like this blouse. It looks quite modern in construction to me (not hand-sewn at all) but it’s okay.
Anne makes a Kings and Queens of England chart sitting on her bed with a bowl of glue probably dripping all over the sheets because this movie is allergic to using tables.
It’s a studying montage. I don’t care that much and neither does the movie. After exactly 3 minutes (seriously, 15:24 to 18:23), two months have passed, and it’s exam time!
Sure felt like a struggle, those 3 minutes.
Luce: “This whole movie felt like a struggle.”
It’s cold enough you can see their breaths. When is this supposed to be taking place? Did a year pass? Are they almost 15? Why is Anne’s hat so much bigger than everyone else’s?
@AnomriaReid said: “The hat looks Photoshopped in again lol” AND IT DOES
What a beautifully lit shot.
Wouldn’t want to see their expressions or anything.
I think this is just the normal class set, as badly lit as usual. Maybe not, considering the cobwebs… or maybe this supports my theory that this movie was shot out of order and this was one of the final scenes shot right before winter!
We only see like two shots, but I don’t think they even travelled for the exam. There’s no other kids here from other places. The Queen’s entrance exam comes to Avonlea now, I guess.
The exam dude rings the bell to start and that’s all we see of the exam.
Cut to Anne working the garden with Matthew. Mathew stares off into the distance like this and talks about some bird.
That’s not just an awkward pause, he holds that expression for a while.
Diana comes over with the paper and tells Anne she got in to Queen’s. Absolutely couldn’t have narrative tension there, eh?
Subtle bank foreshadowing.
And we’re off to Queen’s!
Marilla isn’t coming to the train station because why would we want emotion? So a rushed goodbye it is.
The Queen’s prep from “want to join the class” to “moving away” lasted 8 minutes. 15:24 to 28:08, give or take a few seconds.
Mrs. Rachel watches Matthew and Anne go, then comes to see Marilla. This interaction is pretty good. Marilla teases Rachel, Rachel teases her back, they talk about Anne and Rachel praises her.
I think this is the first good scene in the movie.
And since the pacing of this movie is kind of garbage, that’s where this section ends.
