It's a splendidly done movie, a tale of eight Jews hiding in a Dutch attic for two years during the war, effectively directed by George Stevens and magnificently photographed by William Mellor.
And I can't watch it very often because I know how it's going to end and it's embarrassing to be moved. I feel the same way about some other tragedies. I want to warn Janet Leigh before she steps into the shower in "Psycho." I want to tell Montgomery not to send the Polish airborne into the hellish cauldron of Arnhem. I want Vincent and Paul to found their artists' colony in Arles. I don't want to watch Brutus going around begging for one of his friends to run him through with his own sword. I want to grab Romeo and tell him Juliet isn't really dead. I want Stanley Kowalski to shut the hell up and let Mitch marry Blanche DuBois, not that he'd listen.
On top of that, I can't just dismiss this as just a movie, because, before that it was a play, and before that it was an historical event. Well, mostly. Someone went through the historiography of Anne Frank's diary and found it had been sanitized over the years, first by Mr. Frank, then by the playwrights. She was pretty candid about her sexual development, and not nearly as forgiving as the movie makes her out to be. She was more nearly human than the figure we see on the screen.
Millie Perkins is Anne. She's not bad considering her age but there are some painful moments too. Everyone else is professional at least. The director, George Stevens, started his career with Laurel and Hardy two reelers and masterpieces like "Kentucky Kernels" but went on to develop an extremely effective directorial approach that was his alone in movies like "Shane" and "A Place In The Sun." He's very good here and uses the Cinemascope screen like a master.
There are moments of suspense, terror, sentiment, and even some comedy, but the film can't escape it's historical roots. How could civilized human beings do things like this to one another?
And I can't watch it very often because I know how it's going to end and it's embarrassing to be moved. I feel the same way about some other tragedies. I want to warn Janet Leigh before she steps into the shower in "Psycho." I want to tell Montgomery not to send the Polish airborne into the hellish cauldron of Arnhem. I want Vincent and Paul to found their artists' colony in Arles. I don't want to watch Brutus going around begging for one of his friends to run him through with his own sword. I want to grab Romeo and tell him Juliet isn't really dead. I want Stanley Kowalski to shut the hell up and let Mitch marry Blanche DuBois, not that he'd listen.
On top of that, I can't just dismiss this as just a movie, because, before that it was a play, and before that it was an historical event. Well, mostly. Someone went through the historiography of Anne Frank's diary and found it had been sanitized over the years, first by Mr. Frank, then by the playwrights. She was pretty candid about her sexual development, and not nearly as forgiving as the movie makes her out to be. She was more nearly human than the figure we see on the screen.
Millie Perkins is Anne. She's not bad considering her age but there are some painful moments too. Everyone else is professional at least. The director, George Stevens, started his career with Laurel and Hardy two reelers and masterpieces like "Kentucky Kernels" but went on to develop an extremely effective directorial approach that was his alone in movies like "Shane" and "A Place In The Sun." He's very good here and uses the Cinemascope screen like a master.
There are moments of suspense, terror, sentiment, and even some comedy, but the film can't escape it's historical roots. How could civilized human beings do things like this to one another?