Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 3, 1990 TAG: 9003033047
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: 17 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
That makes Sara's "Avonlea" stories on cable's Disney Channel (Monday at 8 p.m.) a worthy successor to the delightful "Anne of Green Gables" and "Anne of Avonlea."
Not that Sara would replace the freckle-faced redhead in anyone's affection, of course, but Sara is cut out of the same cloth.
Sarah Polley, 11, who appeared in "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen," stars as Sara Stanley. She plays the daughter of a widower under house arrest in Montreal because of the evil doings of his firm's embezzling accountant. The father has sent her off to bucolic Prince Edward Island to live with her late mother's family, the Kings.
Although Sara has been reared in affluence, like Anne Shirley she is a motherless child plunked down among plain, small-town folks with strong views of proper behavior.
And like Anne, Sara has a penchant for getting into scrapes and inspiring affection. Unlike Anne, she has a cousin, Andrew King (Joel Blake), who arrives in Avonlea at the same time she does to join the King family.
In the opening installment of "Avonlea," Sara Stanley arrives with her nanny at the home of her aunt, uncle and three cousins. But the family, piqued by the nanny's officious behavior, refuses to house the woman.
Nanny and Sara are sent down the lane to Rose Cottage, home of the sweet Olivia and the flinty Hetty, unmarried sisters of Sara's late mother.
Hetty, who is strongly reminiscent of a younger Marilla Cuthbert in the "Anne" series, turns out to be the village schoolteacher as well, providing Sara with a double dose of authority.
Because Avonlea is only a village, it's not surprising when characters from the "Anne" series appear in this one.
The fourth installment features the indomitable Rachel Lynde (Patricia Hamilton) and her friend, Marilla Cuthbert (Colleen Dewhurst), who reared the now-adult Anne.
by CNB