The Diary of Anne Frank (1959 film)

The Diary of Anne Frank is a 1959 American biographical drama film based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1955 play of the same name, which was in turn based on the posthumously published diary of Anne Frank, a German-born Jewish girl who lived in hiding in Amsterdam with her family during World War II. It was directed by George Stevens, a Hollywood filmmaker previously involved with capturing evidence of concentration camps during the war, with a screenplay by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett. It is the first film version of both the play and the original story, and features three members of the original Broadway cast.

The Diary of Anne Frank
Film poster by Tom Chantrell
Directed by	George Stevens
Written by	Frances Goodrich Albert Hackett
Based on	The Diary of Anne Frank 1955 by Frances Goodrich Albert Hackett The Diary of a Young Girl 1947 by Anne Frank
Produced by	George Stevens
Starring	Millie Perkins Joseph Schildkraut Richard Beymer Shelley Winters Diane Baker Ed Wynn
Cinematography	William C. Mellor
Edited by	David Bretherton William Mace Robert Swink
Music by	Alfred Newman
Distributed by	20th Century-Fox
Release date	March 18, 1959 (1959-03-18)
Running time	179 minutes
Country	United States
Languages	English German
Budget	$3.8 million
Box office	$2.3 million (est. US/ Canada rentals)

All Frank's writings to her diary were addressed as "Dear Kitty". It was published after the end of the war by her father, Otto Frank (played in the film by Joseph Schildkraut, who was also Jewish). His entire family had been murdered in the Holocaust. The interiors were shot in Los Angeles on a sound stage duplicate of the Amsterdam factory, with exteriors filmed at the actual building.

The film was positively received by critics, currently holding a 81% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It won three Academy Awards in 1960, including Best Supporting Actress for Shelley Winters. Shelley Winters later donated her Oscar to the Anne Frank Museum. In 2006, it was honored as the eighteenth most inspiring American film on the list AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers.

Plot

In 1945, Otto Frank returns to Amsterdam after World War II ended. After climbing the stairs to a deserted garret, he is joined and comforted by Miep Gies and Mr. Kraler, office workers who shielded him and his family from the Nazis. Otto begins to search for the diary written by his youngest daughter, Anne. Miep promptly retrieves it for him and he receives solace reading the words written by Anne three years earlier.

The action moves back to July 1942, and Anne begins by writing of the restrictions placed upon Jews that drove the Franks into hiding over the spice factory. Sharing the Franks' hiding place is the Van Daans and their teenage son, Peter. Kugler, who works in the office below, and Miep, his assistant, have arranged the hideaway and warn the families that they must maintain strict silence during daylight hours while the workers are there. Kraler delivers food and a box for Anne compiled by Otto, which contains her beloved photos of movie stars and a blank diary.

As the months pass, Anne's irrepressible energy reasserts itself and she constantly teases Peter, whose only attachment is to his cat, Mouschi. Otto schools Anne and her sister, Margot, while Mrs. Van Daan passes the time by recounting fond memories of her youth and possesses the fur coat given by her father. The strain of confinement causes the Van Daans to argue and pits Anne against her mother, Edith. One day, Kraler brings a radio to the attic, providing the families with ears to the world. Soon after, he asks them to take in another person, a Jewish dentist named Albert Dussell, who recounts the dire conditions outside, in which Jews suddenly disappear and are shipped to the concentration camps, and confirms the disappearance of many of their friends.

One night, Anne dreams of seeing one of her friends in a concentration camp and wakes up screaming. In October 1942, news came of the Allied landing in Africa but the bombing of Amsterdam intensified. During Hanukkah, Van Daan abruptly announces that Peter must get rid of Mouschi because he consumes too much food. Their argument is cut short when they hear a prowler break in the front door and the room falls silent, only when Peter crashes into an object on the floor while trying to catch Mouschi. The startled thief grabs a typewriter and flees. A watchman notices the break-in and summons two police officers, who search the premises, until Mouschi knocks a plate from the sink, reassuring them that the noise was caused by a common cat and they leave. Otto, hoping to foster faith and courage, leads everyone in a Hanukkah song.

In January 1944, Anne begins to attract Peter's attention while Miep brings the group a cake. Then Van Daan asks Miep to sell Petronella's fur coat so that he can buy cigarettes. Kraler warns that one of his employees asked for a raise and implies that something strange is going on in the attic, which Dussell dourly comments that it is just a matter of time before they are discovered. Anne blames the adults for the war which has destroyed all sense of hope and ideals and storms out of the room, where Peter follows and comforts her. Later, Anne confides her dreams of becoming a writer and Peter voices frustration about his inability to join the war effort.

One morning, Van Daan tries to steal some bread from the others but Edith catches him and denounces him, ordering him and his family to leave. As Dussell and Mrs. Van Daan quarrel over food, word comes over the radio of the Allied invasion of France and Mr. Van Daan breaks into tears of shame. Heartened by the news, everyone apologizes for their harsh words, and Anne dreams of being back in school by the fall.

By July 1944, the invasion had bogged down and Kraler was hospitalized with ulcers. Upon hearing that the police have found the stolen typewriter, Anne writes that her diary provides her with a way to go on living after her death. The Van Daans begin to quarrel once more, and Peter declares that he cannot tolerate the situation and Anne soothes him by reminding him of the goodness of those who have come to their aid. Their conversation is interrupted by the sirens of an approaching police truck. Certain of their impending arrest, they passionately kiss. As the German uniformed police break down the premises and the bookcase entrance, Otto declares they no longer have to live in fear but can go forward in hope.

Back in 1945, Otto tells Miep and Kraler about his long journey home after his release from Auschwitz. He learned about the deaths of Edith, Margot, the Van Daans, and Dussell, and he hopes that Anne had somehow survived until he sadly reveals that he met a woman who had been in Bergen-Belsen with Anne and confirmed her death. He then glances at Anne's diary and reads, "In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart," and reflects upon her unshakeable optimism.

Cast

• Millie Perkins as Anne Frank
• Joseph Schildkraut as Otto Frank (reprising his stage role)
• Shelley Winters as Petronella van Daan
• Richard Beymer as Peter van Daan
• Gusti Huber as Edith Frank (reprising her stage role)
• Lou Jacobi as Hans van Daan (reprising his stage role)
• Diane Baker as Margot Frank
• Douglas Spencer as Mr. Kraler
• Dodie Heath as Miep (credited as Dody Heath)
• Ed Wynn as Albert Dussel
• Orangey as Mouschi

Otto Frank wrote to Audrey Hepburn, asking her if she would play the part of his daughter Anne. He told Hepburn that his daughter would have been honoured to have such a famous Hollywood actress play her on film, and he also noted the striking resemblance that existed between Anne and Hepburn when she was an adolescent. She was initially interested in the role, and her name appears on the back cover of copies of the diary printed and sold to promote the "upcoming film".

During the casting period, Hepburn ultimately wrote back declining the offer, saying she felt she was too old, and lacked the skills to portray Anne. She said she was greatly honoured to have been given the choice, and noted the similarity between her own war experience and that of the Franks and the others in the annex. Hepburn and Anne were born within a month of each other in May and June 1929, and both spent their adolescences in Nazi-occupied Holland. The role went to American newcomer Millie Perkins.

Production

The film's trailer

The film is an adaptation of the successful Broadway play based on Anne Frank's diary, which was first published in English in 1952. At the time of the film's production, the book had already sold millions of copies around the world.

According to a 1955 article published on the Daily Variety, Garson Kanin, who had staged the Broadway play, and Milton Sperling from Warner Bros. had intended to acquire the film rights, but ultimately they were sold to Buddy Adler of 20th Century-Fox. Originally, William Wyler was in talks to direct before George Stevens signed on as producer and director.

Principal photography took place from 5 March to 11 August 1958, with additional scenes shot in November. Location work was done in Amsterdam, while the set of the annex was constructed at the 20th Century-Fox Studios in Los Angeles. George Stevens initially resisted the idea of shooting the film in CinemaScope because he thought that this format would not convey the claustrophobic effect he wanted to reproduce. When Spyros Skouras, president of 20th Century-Fox, insisted on CinemaScope, Stevens and cinematographer William C. Mellor decided to reduce the space by limiting the action to the center of the screen. Mellor further developed the look of the film by using fluorescent tubes, filters and gas rather than traditional studio lighting.

Premiere

The film premiered March 18, 1959, at the Palace Theatre in New York City.

Reception

Critical reception

The film was mostly positively received by critics. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 81% of 21 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.2/10. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 59 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.

IMDb listed the film's 9 Wins and 14 nominations from the Academy Awards, the Golden Globes, the Directors Guild of America, the Laurel Awards, the Moscow International Film Festival, the National Board of Review (USA), the Writers Guild of America, and the International Film Music Critics Association.

Variety, in its review on December 31, 1958, stated: "The Diary of Anne Frank...is a film of often extraordinary quality. It manages, within the framework of a tense and tragic situation, to convey the beauty of a young and inquiring spirit that soars beyond the cramped confinement of the Frank family's hideout in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam.

"And yet, with all its technical perfection, the inspired direction and the sensitivity with which many of the scenes are handled, Diary is simply too long. Everything possible is done to keep the action moving within its narrow, cluttered space, and a remarkable balance is achieved between stark terror and comedy relief, yet there are moments when the film lags and the dialog becomes forced. Unlike the play, the picture leaves too little to the imagination."

Of Shelley Winters, the Academy Award winner for Best Supporting Actress, Variety stated: "As the Van Daan couple, Shelley Winters and Lou Jacobi come up with vivid characterizations that score on all levels."

In his New York Times review on March 19, 1959, Bosley Crowther stated: "GEORGE STEVENS' motion picture rendering of "The Diary of Anne Frank" is so good, so substantially sound and eloquent of so many ideas and moods that it genuinely grieves this observer to have to come out and say that it lacks the capstone strength of spiritual splendor in the projection of the Anne Frank role. Mr. Stevens has done a superb job of putting upon the screen the basic drama and shivering authenticity of the Frances Goodrich-Albert Hackett play, which in turn caught the magnitude of drama in the real-life diary of a Jewish girl. He has brilliantly flowed a three-hour picture through an attic in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam and etched a harrowing ordeal for survival in the brave behavior of eight Jews hiding there.

"...Mr. Stevens was able to get on the CinemaScope screen a sense of the closeness of the drama and hold it for as long as he does. The doings of eight bourgeois people in such cramped quarters for more than two years would seem to defy intense inspection and rapt anxiety for nigh three hours (two hours and fifty minutes precisely) via the techniques of this fluid medium. Yet Mr. Stevens has done it. With successive superbly detailed scenes that convey the cluttered, claustrophobic nature of that hideout in Amsterdam, he has developed a slow heat of friction among the people secluded there and frequent hot fusions of mental torment when discovery threatens from downstairs."

Accolades

Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Result	Ref.
Academy Awards	Best Motion Picture	George Stevens	Nominated
	Best Director		Nominated
	Best Supporting Actor	Ed Wynn	Nominated
	Best Supporting Actress	Shelley Winters	Won
	Best Art Direction – Black-and-White	Art Direction: Lyle R. Wheeler and George W. Davis; Set Decoration: Walter M. Scott and Stuart A. Reiss	Won
	Best Cinematography – Black-and-White	William C. Mellor	Won
	Best Costume Design – Black-and-White	Charles LeMaire and Mary Wills	Nominated
	Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture	Alfred Newman	Nominated
Cannes Film Festival	Palme d'Or	George Stevens	Nominated
David di Donatello Awards	Golden Plate		Won
Directors Guild of America Awards	Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures	George Stevens	Nominated
Golden Globe Awards	Best Motion Picture – Drama		Nominated
	Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama	Joseph Schildkraut	Nominated
	Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture	Shelley Winters	Nominated
	Best Director – Motion Picture	George Stevens	Nominated
	Most Promising Newcomer – Female	Diane Baker	Nominated
	Best Film Promoting International Understanding		Won
Laurel Awards	Top Female Supporting Performance	Shelley Winters	Won
	Top Score	Alfred Newman	Nominated
Moscow International Film Festival	Grand Prix	George Stevens	Nominated
National Board of Review Awards	Top Ten Films		4th Place
Writers Guild of America Awards	Best Written American Drama	Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett	Won

• The American Film Institute included the film as No. 18 in its list of the most inspiring movies, AFI's 100 Years... 100 Cheers.
• In 1975, Shelley Winters donated her Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress statuette to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam where it is on display.

Home media

The film was first released on DVD on February 3, 2004. The special features included some of the following; "The Diary of Anne Frank: Echoes From the Past" featurette, a press conference with director George Stevens, MovieTone news announcing public appearances by Millie Perkins, a screen test, and an audio commentary by Millie Perkins and George Stevens Jr, the director's son.

A fiftieth-anniversary edition of the film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on June 16, 2009, three months after its actual release anniversary, in commemoration of what would have been Anne Frank's 80th birthday. It included seven major new featurettes: three cast interviews, a behind-the scenes look at the score, two short documentaries about George Stevens' memories from the war and the history of the diary, and a perspective piece on the film's legacy by Thomas Rothman.

The Blu-ray was released only a month before Tony van Renterghem died on July 19, 2009. Renterghem, a Dutch cinematographer and technical, historical and script adviser who worked with Stevens for many years, consulted on both the play and the film. While his work was almost entirely behind the scenes, his knowledge helped in putting together the historical featurettes.

See also

• List of American films of 1959
• List of Holocaust films

External links

• The Diary of Anne Frank at IMDb
• The Diary of Anne Frank at the TCM Movie Database
• The Diary of Anne Frank at AllMovie
• The Diary of Anne Frank at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
• The Diary of Anne Frank at Rotten Tomatoes