The Diary of Anne Frank (1959)

Director:

George Stevens

Writers:

Frances Goodrich (screenplay) and
Albert Hackett (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

26 August 1959 (Denmark)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | History | Thriller | War

Plot:

Harrowing story of a young Jewish girl who, with her family and their friends is forced into hiding in an attic in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam.

Plot Keywords:

Thief | Anti Semitism | Amsterdam Netherlands | Fear | Child's Point Of View

Awards:

Won 3 Oscars. Another 4 wins & 11 nominations

Cast

Millie Perkins	...	Anne Frank
Joseph Schildkraut	...	Otto Frank
Shelley Winters	...	Mrs. Petronella Van Daan
Richard Beymer	...	Peter Van Daan
Gusti Huber	...	Mrs. Edith Frank
Lou Jacobi	...	Mr. Hans Van Daan
Diane Baker	...	Margot Frank
Douglas Spencer	...	Kraler
Dodie Heath	...	Miep (as Dody Heath)
Ed Wynn	...	Mr. Albert Dussell

Runtime:

180 min | Argentina:158 min | Germany:152 min | USA:171 min (FMC Library Print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (optical prints) (Westrex Recording System) | 4-Track Stereo (magnetic prints) (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Netherlands:AL | New Zealand:G | USA:Approved (certificate #19008) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Argentina:13 | Australia:G | Chile:14 | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:15 | Taiwan:GP | UK:U | West Germany:12 (bw)

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

In total, George Stevens spent four years working on the film.

Goofs:

Continuity: After Anne spells milk over the coat, she starts to clean the chair and puts the glass back on the table. It vanished in the next shot.

Quotes:

Anne Frank: I want to bring out all kinds of things that like buried deep in my heart.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in When Comedy Was King (1960)

The Saddest and Most Touching Journal Ever Written

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")