THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK - Blu-Ray (2oth Century-Fox 1959) Fox Home Video

Based on the best-selling authorship of a 13-yr-old Jewish exile, hiding with her family from Nazi persecution in the attic of a Holland spice factory, director, George Stevens’ The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) remains one of the most poignantly wrought melodramas of all time. Not an overwhelming financial success at the time of its release, the picture was undeniably fueled by Stevens’ passion for the project. That is somehow failed to attract the ‘big ticket’ sales in 1959 – a year, overwhelmed by William Wyler’s multi-Oscar-winning remake of Ben-Hur, to say nothing of the other goodies on tap for the year (North by Northwest, Some Like It Hot, Imitation of Life, Anatomy of a Murder, Sleeping Beauty, Pillow Talk, Rio Bravo, and, On the Beach – to name but a handful), was a terrible oversight, as the reputation of The Diary of Anne Frank has only since ripened with the passage of time. The sobering reflections put forth by the real Anne Frank had been a publishing phenomenon in 1946 and only matured in their popularity over the advancing 10 years. But by 1959, audiences – if hardly Hollywood – were eager to, if not entirely forget about the war, then to distinctly file it away in the collected annals of history as ‘one for the books’, hopefully never again to be repeated in any lifetime. And there was, in truth, something quite uncanny about the way Stevens – a master craftsman in his medium – made the elongated vices of vintage Cinemascope appear claustrophobic. Virtually all of The Diary of Anne Frank takes place in one cramped attic room, Stevens allowing for a certain amount of latitude in designers, George W. Davis and Lyle R. Wheeler’s art direction, exquisitely lensed in B&W by William C. Mellor.

Stevens, who as a field unit cameraman during the liberation of Europe had witnessed first-hand the atrocities and Nazi desecration of humanity within its concentration camps in 1947, was deeply affected by the experience and fervently devoted to giving Anne’s documented plight a voice up on the big screen. Upon returning to America, Stevens, primarily known for his frothy screwball comedies and escapist adventures, instead became focused on more introspective material, truer to life. For Stevens, movies could no longer simply entertain. They had to also serve as a mirror, held to society as the standard bearer of the truth – an indictment as well as a social critique. Critics usually dub such entertainments as 'the message picture', pronounced with a heavy-handed inability to entertain as well as educate. Yet, Stevens found a way to make his social commentary stick – moreover, work as both a teachable moment and as pure popcorn-muncher.  In late 1955, Stevens met Anne Frank's father, Otto, who has miraculously survived those final days, to discuss the possibility of bringing Anne’s story to the big screen. Although Otto was a congenial gentleman through and through, his association with the motion picture ended after preliminary discussions and principle casting was completed. After interviewing hundreds of hopefuls for the lead, Stevens decided on Millie Perkins, a New York model with virtually no acting experience. Perkins proved an inspired choice. Unaccustomed to the Hollywood lifestyle, her naivety transmitted precisely that fresh-faced vitality so essential for the unassuming Anne.

To help craft his intimate epic, Stevens turned to noted screenwriters, Francis Goodrich and Albert Hackett, who had already written a successful stage adaptation based on Anne Frank’s diaries. Reluctantly, at the studio’s behest, Stevens also agreed to shoot his movie in Cinemascope – Fox’s patented widescreen process, though he bartered – and won the opportunity to shoot in B&W (the studio would have preferred he make it in color). And although, the 2:35:1 aspect ratio was not without its challenges, Stevens managed to make the anamorphic process appear confined. After a gorgeous main title by Fox’s resident composer, Alfred Newman, our story begins in Amsterdam shortly after the war breaks out. Anne’s (Millie Perkins) prudent father, Otto (Joseph Schildkraut) has arranged with spice factory manager, Kraler (Douglas Spencer) and Miep (Dody Heath) to take his family underground to avoid being sent to a concentration camp. The Franks are joined by another family, the Van Daans – wife, Petronella (Shelly Winters), husband, Hans (Lou Jacobi) and their teenage son, Peter (Richard Beymer). Over the next two years, both families will share this impossibly cramped hidden attic space, its doorway concealed by a book shelf. At first, the families congregate, mostly in hushed silence, if under the most congenial of circumstances. However, as time wears on – patience wears thin. Under the cover of night, the Franks and the Van Daans move about the rest of the complex freely until one evening when a wayward thief attempting a break-in threatens to expose their secret hideaway.

Through it all, Anne endures many hardships, danger and extreme loneliness, yet without bitterness, and always, inspired with renewed hope to see a better tomorrow. Despite her current predicament, she genuinely believes in the goodness of people. Regrettably, her prayers for the future are to remain unfulfilled. The Nazis discover the Franks and Van Daans. The families are seized, separated, and, sent to various concentration camps, inevitably to be put to death. Only Otto survives. He returns to the spice factory after the war, without fear, only to find Anne's diary still lingering among their few pitiful and discarded belongings, buried under dust in the attic. With tears in his eyes, he randomly turns to a chapter and reads aloud from Anne sincere promise to search for the goodness of all people. Her blind faith in humanity, so eloquently expressed, shames Otto, curing him of his lingering bitterness. The Diary of Anne Frank is an emotional roller coaster. Nearly everyone has heard of Anne Frank. As such, the outcome of the picture cannot be obscured by Hollywood’s verve for the proverbial ‘happy ending’. Nor, does Stevens shy away from closing the picture on a decidedly dour note of recognition – a nod to the girl who continues to inspire us, but also a sober acknowledgement of everything lost with her untimely passing.  Stevens achieves minor miracles along the way, capturing the essential mood of the great war's most intimate tragedy, while preserving Anne’s enduring legacy for all time.  

Millie Perkins was not at all well received by the critics when the picture came out. Indeed, the part had originally been offered to Audrey Hepburn, a decision championed by the real Otto Frank. Nevertheless, Hepburn politely declined the offer, on the grounds, first, that there was a scheduling conflict with Green Mansions, the picture she had already signed on to, and, second, that at age 30, she firmly believed no one would take her seriously as a teenage girl. However, more than likely, Hepburn found the project hitting a little too close to home for comfort. At the outbreak of war, Hepburn and her mother had, in fact, taken similar refuge as the Franks, in occupied Holland, daily to witness the rounding up of Jews, herded into box cars slated for the death camps. And while Perkins’ acting ability could hardly be considered top-drawer, she does embody a sort of naïve hopefulness essential to our understanding of the character. Shelley Winters is a bit of an attention whore in this one, her performance teetering on awkward caricature. Richard Beymer Gusti Huber (as Anne’s mum, Edith) and Diane Baker, as Anne’s elder sister, Margot never make much of a splash and are token stick figures in this story at best. This leaves the heavy lifting to Perkins and Joseph Schildkraut who, especially in the latter half of the movie, manages to convey a wonderfully poignant sense of dark despair.  

Fox Home Video’s Blu-Ray for its 50th Anniversary offers a more refined B&W transfer than the ‘Studio Series’ standard DVD released just a few years ago. And yet, this latest preservation effort is not without its flaws. The image in general suffers from sporadic ‘breathing’ on all sides of the Cinemascope image, constantly in flux with light bleeding to affect its overall contrast. Certain scenes possess unnaturally elevated grain levels, presumably owing to limitations in the source material, while fine details are occasionally lost during the most darkly lit scenes. Edge enhancement is also intermittently scattered throughout this transfer. By now, the practice of artificially sharpening film-based content to make it ‘appeal’ as overly processed video, ought to have been made antique. But there it is! The audio is 5.1 DTS, with a 4.0 Dolby Digital also included, and better to approximate the aural reproduction of vintage Cinemascope 6-track magnetic stereo. Where this Blu-ray bests the DVD is in its extra. In addition to the original 90-minute documentary on the real Anne Frank, we also get goodies to cover the making of the movie, plus George Stevens' film career from every conceivable angle. George Stevens Jr., Diane Baker and Millie Perkins lend new thoughts and back story, and, there are some period featurettes to immeasurably flesh out the historical record. Finally, we get an engaging and informative audio commentary from George Stevens Jr. and Millie Perkins, along with the original theatrical trailer. Bottom line: Anne Frank’s story needs to be rediscovered by each new generation. Whether one chooses to read Frank’s memoirs, or see this movie, both serve as a powerful reminder of just how close the world came to slipping completely into the abyss of madness. Very highly recommended!

FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)

4.5

VIDEO/AUDIO

3

EXTRAS

5+