Television Reviews : ‘Heaven on Earth’ Airs on ‘Masterpiece Theatre’

No matter how many recent “Masterpiece Theaters” have disappointed you--the series seldom approximates its ‘70s glory days--the sheer shoddiness of this week’s installment, a 90-minute film called “Heaven on Earth” (Sunday at 7 p.m. on Channel 24, 8 p.m. on Channel 50 and 9 p.m. on Channels 28 and 15) may come as a shock.

Veering away from the all-British productions it usually presents, “Masterpiece Theatre” has turned to a Canadian-British co-production this time. Set in turn-of-the-century Canada, the script by Margaret Atwood and Peter Pearson deals with five of the approximately 125,000 British children--mostly orphans--who were shipped to Canada by various religious organizations in the half-century preceding World War I.

Despite the historical basis and good intentions, the three boys and two girls come across as stock characters--one meek and mild, one a thieving brat, etc.--and so do the people who take them into their homes (worst of all: a Simon Legree type who exploits two of the boys).

But the biggest problem with “Heaven on Earth” is the way it has been made: The careless production, clumsy direction and indifferent lighting are bad enough, but the confusing editing and muffled sound are simply abysmal.

Though the film improves somewhat after its incredibly jumbled start, it never jells, but merely plods on to a predictable ending and brief “American Graffiti”-type final summary of the characters’ futures.

The focus is Welsh teen-ager Megan Davies, who’s separated from her brother and put up with a farmer (R.H. Thomson) and his soon-to-die wife. There are echoes of “Anne of Green Gables” (a superb 1985 Canadian-made, PBS-shown series), but not of its excellence, just of the situation.

As written by Atwood and Pearson and as played by a fairly expressionless Sian Leisa Davies, Megan remains dreadfully uninteresting. Nothing like spirited Anne. And nothing like heaven on earth.