Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning on AllMovie

At once a sequel and a prequel to the life of Anne of Green Gables' Anne Shirley, this drama features a cast led by Barbara Hershey and Shirley MacLaine. With her legendary imagination, it's little surprise that an adult Anne Shirley (Hershey) is making a living as a writer. A return to Prince Edward Island brings her work as a playwright, a welcome distraction from worrying about her son who hasn't returned from World War II yet. However, when she decides to sell Green Gables, she uncovers a letter from her father. Though she told everyone she was an orphan, her father was actually alive and abandoned her as a child. A rich woman (MacLaine) and her daughter-in-law (Rachel Blanchard) become Anne's caretakers, and she begins a journey that will turn her into the Anne that readers and audiences have loved for decades.