Review of The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) by Daniel K — 30 Jul 2009
2: This was definitely a disappointment for me and I can now see why the film has been largely forgotten over time. It made me think of an extremely sanitized Hollywood version of a Holocaust film. Granted, it was the first Hollywood film about the Holocaust, but it aches of ridiculousness in this day and age.
Even back in 1959, for those that had seen Resnais's Night and Fog, this would seem tantamount to a pro-Nazi film. The problem was that neither Stevens nor the Hollywood forces that propelled him were capable of making a powerful and true account of this life in the 1950's.
The bickering over the relative lack of food, cramped quarters, and inconvenience seem ridiculous to viewers accustomed to more severe depictions of the suffering at the hands of the Nazis. Granted, this may have been closer to what life was actually like for these families, but it still left a bitter taste in my mouth and left me unlikely to identify with or sympathize with these characters.
In this respect, I would say the film has aged about as poorly as any film I can think of. It isn't ridiculous enough to seem interesting and comical, but it is out of place enough in today's viewing environment to simply seem inferior.
I still have to give it some credit and try to examine it as a contemporary viewer might have. Millie Perkins plays Frank to perfection. She is strikingly beautiful and seems to be just the kind of girl capable of writing a diary like this in a time like this.
The photography and staging were brilliant, as one would expect from a master of the craft (Stevens) and an astounding cameraman (Cardiff in his first black and white piece). Some of the romantic scenes did indeed seem a bit over the top, but they were still relatively effective.
I will definitely grant that if the film is viewed more as simply the story of a little girl and one forgot about the background of the Holocaust, it would probably be more effective. I didn't find myself able to do this though.
This review of The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) was written by Daniel K on 30 Jul 2009.
The Diary of Anne Frank has generally received positive reviews.
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