Update: Film Adaptations of Janette Oke's Canadian West Series

UPDATE 16/07/2012: If you are interested in newer news on this film series (and a short video preview) see this new post here. For those of you who may be interested in reading the book, I suggest checking out my review here too. 

I was reminded this week of some posts I wrote a while back regarding some beloved Janette Oke novels, which were said to have been picked up by several film companies. The lovely Melody was asking in particular about the possible adaptation of Janette's novel A Gown of Spanish Lace. I plan to do a post sometime quite soon focusing on that wonderful novel but for now I'm going to share some news I found regarding the film adaptation of another series of Janette's novels- the Canadian West Series. I first wrote here about this back in March of last year (wow- last year! wait a minute *goes off to look at blog dates*.... my first ever post was the 13th of March 2011, I've been here for a year now!).

Image Credit: Christian Film Database

If you are a fan of Janette's work you may have noticed that for a while now there have been production stills, cast lists and quite a lot of information regarding the film When Calls the Heart floating around. It even appears that the film itself is already filmed and is only awaiting distribution. At one point there was even an IMDb site which was unfortunately taken down almost a quickly as it appeared. This lead to many speculations that the film had been cancelled. However  thankfully due to a little digging I found this flyer (There are spoilers on the flyer, so if you haven't read the book I would advise not following the link. See Below for my attempt at a spoiler free version of the flyer) and some information to prove the contrary.

Wynn Delaney (Stephen Amell) and Elizabeth Thatcher (Maggie Grace) in When Calls the Heart (Image Credit:  aBridge International)

The flyer not only displays some lovely pictures from the film (as you can see above) but also has a detailed blurb. I have carefully cut out large spoiler sections in the blurb and added the non-spoiler-ish parts below (well as much as non-spoiler-ish can go) so those who want to know more about the film can read it. I cannot promise that it is spoiler free as such, but believe you me it has less spoilers than that blurb in the above flyer link.

Young, pretty, cultured and educated, Elizabeth Thatcher’s big-city eastern upbringing in a rather well-to-do family has not prepared her for a teaching position on the Canadian frontier. But when a love-spurned school superintendent in Toronto manipulates her into the only teaching opportunity available, she has no choice but to embrace her destiny and head west. Elizabeth chooses to face her fears of the frontier and journey far away from her family, friends, and comfort.
When she arrives, she must learn many tough lessons about living in the Canadian wild west, but she is not alone. Amongst the farmers and townspeople of Pine Springs, she meets Wynn, Delaney a very handsome and charming man who immediately sparks her interest, but also seems to have his own family.  As Elizabeth becomes acclimated to the frontier and welcomes the local children into her classroom, she faces many obstacles, including wild animals, mischievous students, and misunderstandings with the townspeople [....] she soon realizes that Wynn is not only not a farmer, but actually a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. [...]As the school year winds down, and Wynn and Elizabeth grow closer, she soon realizes that Wynn is in deep conflict with himself.  [...] is in love with her [...] but he is [...] sworn to the dangerous duty of a lawman – a job not suited to a man with a wife.  

The Dvd release date for this film  is marked as TBA (to be advised) on each site I have come across, however, Annelie at the Christian Film Database site has very kindly answered some questions regarding the date saying:

'According to Believe Pictures, the production of this film will be in the Summer of 2012. There is still no release date at this time.'

This comment was posted quite recently on March 11, 2012 so it does give me hope that despite the long wait this film will eventually be released sometime in the near future :) (you can read the rest of Annelie's comments here)

Image Credit: Christian Film Database

In my search I also stumbled upon the picture to the left on the Christian Film Database site. When Comes the Spring is the second book in this lovely series and therefore would in essence be the sequel to the above film When Calls the Heart. So yay, we now have two films to eagerly await and again the Dvd release date for When Comes the Spring also stands at TBA.

I have subscribed to the site's newsletter which is the best way to hear of news on upcoming films. So as soon as I hear word of an actual date on either of these films I will be sure to let you all know.

I hope this post was of some use, most of the information is quite new to me but since I have been absent from blogger it is quite possible someone else has posted all this and you all already know about these films. Either way I enjoyed writing this up so.... :)

All my love,

Mel xx

ps. I'm really looking forward to seeing Stephen Amell as Wynn. I remember seeing Stephen in the Heartland tv series and a rather enjoyed his performance, he was quite charming.

pps. If only Harry Lloyd was going to be in these films. Actually scrap that if only Harry was in every film I plan on watching in the future. *sigh* If only I could make it through a post without saying 'Harry' or referring to him in some extremely obvious way or worse- getting stuck on this dream cast I'm trying to put together and finally deciding the perfect cast is one with Harry in all roles- male and female. I'm rambling. Sorry. Bye.