Cortechba Overrated

Verity Robins Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Edison Witt The first must-see film of the year.

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

D Lindsey 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.

williwaw George Stevens was a great director, one of the best and who could argue with his body of work: I Remember Mama, Shane, The More The Merrier, Giant, and working with great stars such as Jean Arthur, Cary Grant, Irene Dunne, Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, Monty Clift, Katharine Hepburn, James Dean, Barbara Stanwyck, et al, the point I am making is that George Stevens cast his movies accurately, very well. The cast here is good and especially liked Richard Beymer, but the problem with Diary of Anne Frank is the star role: Millie Perkins who got the big push at 20th in the 50's is given the title role of Anne Frank. Try as Ms. Perkins does, there is not a connection with the character. Who could have played Anne? Audrey Hepburn was the logical choice but Audrey Hepburn may have felt the role too close for comfort having lived thru the Nazi terror herself in Holland. This film shot on a stage at 20th Century Fox in Los Angeles is admirable and loving attention to detail but the central character is miscast (just as Max Von Sydow a fine actor could not portray Jesus Christ in Mr. Stevens Greatest Story Ever Told)By the way while Giant, and Shane would prove otherwise, Kate Hepburn always felt that George Stevens was best at Comedy and lost his edge his later dramatic films Anne Frank, and Greatest Story Ever Told may have proved Katharine Hepburn correct. George Stevens swan song The Only Game In Town set in Vegas but shot in Paris to accommodate Elizabeth Taylor's tax concerns was a poor finale to a great Director's career

TheUnknown837-1 A handful of minutes ago I finished watching for the first time "The Diary of Anne Frank", which is the second movie adaptation of this tear-jerking true story that I have seen. A handful of minutes ago, I also discovered that Miep Gies, the last survivor of the story of Anne Frank, passed away very recently (January 11, 2010). So from the combination of the emotional power I felt from the movie and the emotional strike I've just been dealt, I more than enthusiastically commit myself, though tired and wanting to sleep, to writing this review for a superb, very powerful film by the great George Stevens.For those not familiar with the story, Anne Frank was a Jewish girl whose family went into hiding with another family and a single man during the times of World War Two. For two years, they lived in the attic over the workshop of friends before they were discovered by Nazis and deported into concentration camps, from which only Anne Frank's father survived. Anne, however, kept a diary detailing her time in hiding. It was published, subsequently adapted into a play, and from that came this marvelous, emotionally powerful movie.George Stevens movie takes a daring move by telling us the outcome of the movie at the beginning. We are told what to look for and what to wait for, and most of the remaining three hour-running time is then dominated by a flashback. In it, we get a real sense of the mixed emotions the real Anne Frank and her companions would have felt. Optimism and pessimism jump about with changing circumstances and at times we are so hopeful that the characters will survive even though we know that they will be caught and all save Otto Frank, Anne's father, will die.Apart from the movie's success at pulling at our heart strings and changing tones from optimistic to pessimistic in an instant, it also scores high due to a remarkable ability to generate suspense. We know right from the start that they will be caught…the suspense is waiting for it to happen. George Stevens' fabulous directing and use of silence and stress of sound really generates effective tension, allowing minute after minute to go by and our eyes refuse to leave the screen. The only regrets I have about Stevens' directing style is his trademark use of the camera being able to pass through walls and ceilings, which I have never found in any movie to be convincing. But in terms of the emotional scenes and just making an artistic movie, he succeeds with brilliance.Anne Frank is portrayed competently by Millie Perkins as a charismatic if somewhat eccentric young woman who dreams of a future she will never have the chance to strive for. Unfortunately, the only real weakness in the movie apart from its stretched running time is not Perkins' performance, but her character. The way Anne Frank is written, she actually comes off as a little dull. What we do get from her comes from Perkins' performance. However, this is made up by the supporting cast. Shelley Winters, who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, is especially good in the picture as is Richard Beymer (whom you will remember as Tony from "West Side Story"), Ed Wynn, and Joseph Schildkraut who I think gives the best performance as Anne's father. These characters are all well-played and are well-rounded to get us to believe in them as human beings. If only the writers had stressed the presence of Anne with more than just dialogue, then we would have had a near-perfect film."The Diary of Anne Frank" is a superb, tautly-directed movie. There are some slow parts especially in the middle of the movie, but it is overall a very overwhelming film experience. The movie is more than fifty years old now and it has more power than a great many so-called tearjerkers that I've seen come out in recent years. The story of Anne Frank is an immortal tale and part of the reason why this movie tugs at our heart strings so powerfully is because we know it's true. This is one of those movies that keeps that in mind and uses it to an advantage rather than simply relying on that fact to save the day. It's a most commendable motion picture.

didi-5 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.