The Diary of Anne Frank

We had to watch this movie in Drama class my freshman year of high school. Problem was that I had Drama 1st period. I slept a lot 1st period (and sometimes 2nd). So a 3 hour movie that the teacher taped (with commercials) was turned in to a two week affair, or so it seemed. I got another shot to watch it late one night, 4 am or so, on Bravo. Problem was, unbeknownst to me, it was a two night deal. So I only took in the first half of it. Finally got the shot to see the whole thing on AMC this afternoon. Millie Perkins was just wonderful as Anne Frank, and a great cast all around. I knew Shelley Winters had won an Oscar but not what for. Sometimes a good story is so much better because it's a true story, like Apollo 13, and this is no exception. It's hard to imagine these things actually happened.

Go watch this sometime when you have 3 hours free.

8 out of 10 from me.

Throughout the movie, it's the hopefulness that is constantly being expressed that makes this all the more sad to watch - because, of course, we (the viewer) know the hopelessness of the situation; we know how it's going to end.

The story is based on a stageplay which was in turn based on the actual diary of Anne Frank, whose family (being Jewish) went into hiding in Nazi-occupied Holland in 1942, sharing a very small space with several others. As the title implies, the movie is largely about Anne. We watch her grow up in this claustrophobic setting - starting at age 13 and spending more than two years there until the group was discovered. Starting out as a child with a natural rebellious streak, Anne grows into a young woman, falling in love with a young man sharing the living quarters. Millie Perkins was excellent as young Anne, and I was impressed with Joseph Schildkraut as her father Otto, who was in the end the only survivor. The movie begins and ends with his post-war visit to the place where they were hidden, and his grief at being the only survivor among his family is powerfully portrayed. In general, all the performances in this were quite good, and there was a believable portrayal of the difficulties involved in so many people sharing so little space under such stressful circumstances, and there are a number of very suspenseful moments involved. It's a very moving story.

I had read the book as a child and was swept up in the depiction of lives lived hidden away in the attic of a factory in Amsterdam, the strong true voice of Anne in her diaries capturing a world of imprisonment, the only crime being that of the wrong religion. Anne's spirit is never quenched as she experiences all the trial and tribulations of burgeoning adolescence, difficulty with her mother and a slow falling in love with a teenage boy, Peter, who shares her quarters.

The book was made into a successful play and then transfered to the screen where it was shortened considerably from the original. And that is where I saw it first, on the screen, but the shorter version, not being aware of the original length.

The cast are amazing, particularly Millie Perkins, who was the least experienced of all the cast and has to be in almost every scene. She candidly shared her experience of the six months' filming when the cast was virtually in captivity and mentioned in passing that the most difficult time she had was not surprisingly with the director, George Stevens, who was extremely supportive but rather with Joseph Schildkraut, who plays Otto Frank, her father in it. He made her life hell on set and never let her forget she was totally inexperienced, unlike the rest of them, in the way of acting. I'm mentioning this as not an inkling of this tension comes across on screen, and Millie has to share a lot of loving scenes with Joseph. Only a gifted actress could overcome her distaste for the man and perform as she did.

The expanded version of the movie is remarkable. It engenders a claustrophobic feeling in the viewer and an overwhelming sadness, knowing that none of these characters, apart from Otto, will survive the madness of the camps.

Anne's positive spirit drenches every scene, she believes in the intrinsic goodness of everyone in spite of everything.

Shelley, as Peter's mother, deserved her Oscar, she conveys her unhappy marriage, her reliance on the material, her love for her son, so well. Diane Baker, as Margot, Anne's sister, hands in a great performance as does the above mentioned Joseph. Ed Wynn, breaking type, plays Dussell the dentist as an irritating busybody.

In the way of the Oscars, so many superb movies fail to attain the best picture of the year. This is one of them. That year, the best picture Oscar went to Ben Hur. This is a far superior movie.

9 out of 10. Superb, especially in the restored length. Not to be missed. B&W at its finest.

Based on the play, the movie is about two families that go into hiding in Amsterdam during World War II. This movie has Millie Perkins starring as Anne Frank who has an excellent performance and a brilliant narration. Anne Frank also has chemistry with Peter Van Daan, a boy from the other family. The cinematography is great. I especially like how the camera moves up from floor to floor. The film is very suspenseful and keeps your eyes glued to the screen to see what happens next. The final reason why this is great is that it shows spirit and hope in dark times. I'm surprised that no one watches this movie that much today. It seems that it is a forgotten gem.

From 1942 to 1944, in a Nazi occupied Amsterdam, the thirteen years old German Jewish girl Anne Frank (Millie Perkins) lives hiding in an attic of a condiment factory with her sister, her parents, three members of another family and an old dentist. Along more than two years, she wrote in her diary, her feelings, her fears and relationship with the other dwellers.

When I was about the same age of Anne Frank, I read her book for the first time and I recall how sad I became. Then I read it at least two times more, and in the bottom of my heart, I was maybe expecting a happy ending and that this teenager and the other persons were saved after their tough struggle for survival. In the 90's, I visited her Museum and again I became very sad. Her story is certainly the saddest and most touching journal ever written and published, and shows how cruel the human being can be. This movie has been recently released on DVD in Brazil with 171 minutes running time, and I really liked it. The cinematography is very beautiful, and the tense and claustrophobic story highlights some of the most important parts of the book with minor modifications to keep the movie tense and in an adequate pace. The cast is excellent, and although having about twenty-one years old at that time, the mignon Millie Perkins performs a good Anne Frank. The person who betrayed Anne Frank and the other Jews has never been discovered. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "O Diário de Anne Frank" ("The Diary of Anne Frank")