The Diary of Anne Frank (1959)

Based on a true story and The Pulitzer prize winning play; The Diary of Anne Frank tells the story about a young Jewish girl named Anne (Millie Perkins) who goes into hiding to escape the Amsterdam Nazis in a secret room in a factory called the secret Annex with her Family, The Van Daan Family, and a Jewish Dentist (Ed Wynn).



The acting in the film was great because it kept the movie moving. Millie Perkins made a very fine Anne in the film because she gives us the feeling of how Anne would have felt while she was hiding. Joseph Schildkraut performance as Otto Frank was very good, especially in the scene where he tells everybody what they should do and not what to do while they’re in hiding and he really does resemble Otto. Diane Barking didn’t look too much like Margot, but she does a great job acting like her; I like how quiet and calm her character is in the film which is exactly how Margot is. Gusti Huber as Edith Frank almost made me want to cry by seeing how caring she is too Anne. Lou Jacobi played the role of Hans Van Daan really tough and I like how Jacobi's shows his anger toward Anne and how greedy he portrays him. Richard Beymer (Who later played Tony in the Film “West Side Story”) portrayal as Peter Van Daan, first showed us an annoying side to his character, but then later on showed a caring side to himself like in the scenes with Anne or scenes where he’s with his pet cat.The Performance that really blew me away was Ed Wynn’s performance as Mr. Albert Dussell because looking back at some of his previous films like his performance as The Mad Hatter in Disney’s “Alice in Wonderland” or his later film “Mary Poppins” as Uncle Albert (The guy laughing on the ceiling) he’s usually so comical, but in this film he played the role of Mr. Dussell so seriously that I couldn’t believe it was him (but if you look carefully at the film he might show a little comic side to his character). Who could forget Shelley Winters Oscar Winning performance as Petronella Van Daan (who later donated her Oscar to the Anne Frank museum in Amsterdam.)? She showed a happy side, a worried side, an upset side and a very quiet side to her character. So the acting in the film without a doubt is great!

The set design for the secret Annex is realistic, especially in a scene where bombs are falling down and you see the whole place shaking. The cinematography in the film was another thing that made this movie great because instead of just hearing noises outside like you do in the play, you actually get to see out the window and you see the green troops marching down the streets or see the snow falling out the window in the winter. The cinematography also makes you feel isolated from the outside world and trapped with the characters. There were even scenes that were suspenseful and scenes that can probably make you cry like the scene when Anne has a nightmare of going to a concentration camp. The costume design was also authentic and the score was wonderful, especially in the opening credits where you just see seagulls fly in the open sky.

If you love the play or the book of “The Diary of Anne Frank” then I’m sure you’ll like or enjoy this movie.

My rating for this film is a 5/5

A LITTLE FUN TRIVIA

Millie Perkins second film (After the movie) was a movie called "Wild in the Country" starring the king of Rock N Roll and my favorite musician himself Elvis Presley.