The Diary of Anne Frank (1959)

Wow! Such a good movie.

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

The claustrophobic nature of the Franke family as they hide from the Nazi's in an annex is the star of the show. We have all heard the story before. What is interesting is the fact that they are able to lead a sort of life in a microcosm of peace. But Anne comes of age and begins to realize that she can't be what every young girl wants to be. She first is contentious but soon begins to fall in love. But the threat hangs over them every day, as well as over the benefactors. There are some differences between the book and the movie, but the themes and events, while changed, make the same impression. An outstanding performance by Millie Perkins.

I do not know why you insist on listing Gusti Huber as Mrs. Frank when Joan Plowright is the obvious actress. If you look at Ms. Plowright's credits you will see she played Mrs. Frank. Joan did an amazing job with the role. I always knew it was her. So in watching it today again, after so many years and seeing ms. Huber listed, I am very confused. She was even listed in the opening credits of the actual movie. Does anyone know what happened? Of all the versions of this movie, this one was the most profound and left the longest lasting effects. I have watched every version of the movie, play , even a dance rendition and nothing can compare to this movie. I feel sad for anyone who does not catch this one first.I always thought it so kind and generous that Mr. Frank shared this very personal part of his life with us and wish I had a chance to thank him before he died.

Taken from the diary: "I want to go on living, even after my death". Seeing this diary unfold helps us understand why her author has won immortality. She had a foresight of how her generation would make things different after the war, and it is really tragic that she could not live to fulfill her calling as a writer.Rather than dealing with spectacular scenes, this film takes its time to help us live through the long wait the diary describes. In spite of its length of almost 3 hours, this finely crafted odyssey is not dull at all. Most of the acting is superb (particularly Perkins, Schildkraut, Winters, Baker in her debut, Wynn), direction and cinematography are great, and the whole staging is very natural. Great care in recapturing the atmosphere of the loft, and the different mindsets according to generation, no doubt benefiting from the insights of Anne Frank herself. And the whole scene on D-day is magnificent. I also enjoyed very much the well measured glimpses of street reality during German occupation.The downside is the music, obsolete even for the time it was filmed.

It isn't to disparage this lengthy and respectful film to say it presents the story of Anne Frank and her family with a slightly Hollywood sheen. Perhaps with the war in living memory the treatment is understandable.Anne Frank (Millie Perkins, excellent), is fourteen and has to go into hiding with her mother (Gusti Huber), her father (Joseph Schildkraut), and sister (Diane Baker). They share their hiding place with the Van Daans (Shelley Winters, who won an Oscar for her performance as flighty and loud Mrs Van Daan, Lou Jacobi, and Richard Beymer, who plays the shy son, Peter). Later they are joined by an additional refugee, Mr Dussell (played a somewhat restrained Ed Wynn).Clearly filmed in a studio and with some inaccuracies (did the refugees really never venture out of their annex? did Anne's diary really survive the war in exactly the place she left it? was their betrayer ever identified?), it does manage to present some darker sides of the tale such as Anne's fights with her mother, her growing maturity, and fears and hopes for the future, plus reports of what happened to the remaining Jews who waited to be taken to their deaths.The film runs just short of three hours, although does not manage to present as much information as the recent TV adaptation. However, it is an interesting production to compare, and it certainly isn't as bad as could be expected. Perhaps a little too much incidental music, but the film certainly isn't saccharine, and treats the story, and Anne's diary, seriously.