Anne of Windy Poplars was a black-and-white feature film that was produced by RKO Radio Pictures and released in 1940.
Contents
Overview
Reception
Details
Episodes
Awards
Merchandise
Further Reading
Full Credits
Overview
Based on L.M. Montgomery’s 1936 novel of the same title, Anne of Windy Poplars followed the 1934 RKO Radio Pictures film version of Anne of Green Gables.
According to Montgomery’s correspondence with agent Ann Elmo and publisher Frederick A. Stokes, several Hollywood studios expressed interest in adapting Montgomery’s other novels for the screen after the success of the 1934 talkie. RKO optioned Rainbow Valley and Rilla of Ingleside; Magic for Marigold and Jane of Lantern Hill were considered as vehicles for Shirley Temple; Montgomery even suggested a loose adaptation of Anne’s House of Dreams with supporting character Leslie Moore as the heroine. Twentieth Century Fox even paid Montgomery $150 to use Montgomery’s short story title “The Man Who Wouldn’t Talk” for an unrelated film.
In Anne of Windy Poplars, the only film to materialize from several years of discussion, Anne Shirley (once again played by Anne Shirley) is about to begin a vice-principalship at Pringleton School and looks forward to this time next year when she will become “Mrs. Dr. Gilbert Blythe.” Although Anne is a dedicated, kindhearted teacher, she has to contend with local politics and the hypocrisy of the Pringle clan, who are all against her because she is an outsider.
Reception
The New York Times’s review of the film was not overly enthusiastic:
March right up to the Palace, boys and girls, and cut yourselves a great big piece of cake, for “Anne of Windy Poplars” is the closest thing to a Sunday school picnic that’s come to Broadway in a long, hot Summer. Taking a juvenile classic, the scenarists have gone [sic] the original one better and become positively childish—the only difference being that children are less mawkish and sentimental than this. It is, simply, the story of the little school marm, full of sweetness and light, who descends upon a small town dominated by as unpleasant a family tribe as Hollywood has ever gathered under one roof. How she ultimately wins them over is told in dialogue so laced with bromidic beatitudes and with so much nonsensical gush that one observer at least came away as though he had eaten a box of marshmallows. Don’t blame the actors, for Anne Shirley is pleasantly sincere and the others to their best. The fault lies with the script and the direction. As drama, “Anne of Windy Poplars” is just so much pink lemonade. (“At the Palace” 13)
The film was released as Anne of Windy Willows in the United Kingdom to coincide with the change in the novel’s title for British editions. To the best of my knowledge, this film has never been released on VHS or DVD, although it continues to air occasionally on television.
Details
Company Credits
An RKO Radio Picture
Release Date
28 June 1940
Runtime
81 minutes
Cast
Anne Shirley as Anne Shirley, James Ellison as Tony Pringle, Henry Travers as Matey, Patric Knowles as Gilbert Blythe, Slim Summerville as Jabez Monkman, Elizabeth Patterson as Rebecca, Louise Campbell as Catherine Pringle, Joan Carroll as Betty Grayson, Katherine Alexander as Ernestine Pringle, Minnie Dupree as Kate, Alma Kruger as Mrs. Stephen Pringle, Marcia Mae Jones as Jen Pringle, Ethel Griffies as Hester Pringle, Clara Blandick as Mrs. Morton Pringle, Gilbert Emery as Stephen Pringle, Wright Kramer as Morton Pringle, and Jackie Moran as Boy.
Source Material
From the Novel by L.M. Montgomery.
Credits
Executive producer: Lee Marcus. Produced by Cliff Reid. Screen play by Michael Kanin and Jerry Cady. Directed by Jack Hively.
IMDB
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032211
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_of_Windy_Poplars_(film)
Further Reading
Lefebvre, Benjamin. “Stand by Your Man: Adapting L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables.” Essays on Canadian Writing 76 (Spring 2002): 149–69.
—. “What’s in a Name? Towards a Theory of the Anne Brand.” In Anne’s World: A New Century of Anne of Green Gables, edited by Irene Gammel and Benjamin Lefebvre, 192–211. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2010.
Montgomery, L.M. The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery, Volume V: 1935-1942. Edited by Mary Rubio and Elizabeth Waterston. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2004. [See pp. 309–10]
The New York Times. “At the Palace.” 23 August 1940, 13.
“Vintage Anne of Green Gables Movies.” Avonlea Traditions Chronicle 1, no. 4 (1992): 1–4.
Full Credits
Opening Credits
RKO RADIO PICTURES, INC. presents
ANNE SHIRLEY in
ANNE OF WINDY POPLARS
Executive Producer: LEE MARCUS
with
JAMES ELLISON
HENRY TRAVERS
PATRIC KNOWLES
SLIM SUMMERVILLE
ELIZABETH PATTERSON
LOUISE CAMPBELL
JOAN CARROLL
KATHARINE ALEXANDER
MINNIE DUPREE
ALMA KRUGER
and
MARCIA MAE JONES
ETHEL GRIFFIES
CLARA BLANDICK
GILBERT EMERY
WRIGHT KRAMER
JACKIE MORAN
The characters and events depicted in this photoplay are fictional. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Produced by CLIFF REID
Screen Play by MICHAEL KANIN and JERRY CADY
From the Novel by L.M. MONTGOMERY
Musical Director: ROY WEBB
Director of Photography: FRANK REDMAN, A.S.C.
Special Effects by VERNON L. WALKER, A.S.C.
Art Director: VAN NEST POLGLASE
Associate: ALBERT D’AGOSTINO
Montage by DOUGLAS TRAVERS
Costumes by EDWARD STEVENSON
Recorded by JOHN L. CASS
Edited by GEORGE HIVELY
Copyright MCMXL by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Recorded by RCA Recording System.
Directed by JACK HIVELY
Ending Credits
Cast of Characters
Anne Shirley: ANNE SHIRLEY
Tony Pringle: JAMES ELLISON
Matey: HENRY TRAVERS
Gilbert Blythe: PATRIC KNOWLES
Jabez Monkman: SLIM SUMMERVILLE
Rebecca: ELIZABETH PATTERSON
Catherine Pringle: LOUISE CAMPBELL
Betty Grayson: JOAN CARROLL
Ernestine Pringle: KATHARINE ALEXANDER
Kate: MINNIE DUPREE
Mrs. Stephen Pringle: ALMA KRUGER
Jen Pringle: MARCIA MAE JONES
Hester Pringle: ETHEL GRIFFIES
Mrs. Morton Pringle: CLARA BLANDICK
Stephen Pringle: GILBERT EMERY
Morton Pringle: WRIGHT KRAMER
Boy: JACKIE MORAN