The Diary of Anne Frank
Short description
The Diary of Anne Frank tells the story of a Jewish family in Amsterdam during the Nazi occupation, forced into hiding in a concealed annex of an office building. Otto Frank, his wife Edith and their daughters Anne and Margot share the cramped space with the Van Daan family and a dentist, living under the constant threat of discovery while Anne records her thoughts in a diary. The film follows the years they spend in confinement and the arrest that ends them.
George Stevens directed and produced the film, working from a screenplay by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, adapted from their stage play based on the diary. It came after Giant in a run of films that also includes A Place in the Sun and Shane, and before The Greatest Story Ever Told. Millie Perkins plays Anne, with Joseph Schildkraut as Otto Frank, Shelley Winters as Petronella Van Daan, Richard Beymer as Peter and Gusti Huber as Edith.
The production cost about 3 million dollars and returned roughly 5 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds a rating of 7.4 from around 15,000 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 7.2 from 381 votes. A critics' rating of 7.7 from 21 reviews places it slightly above both audience scores. At close to three hours, the film treats its historical subject at length.
What's left behind the scenes
- Initially, the film was planned to be shot in the actual "Secret Annex" at Prinsengracht 263, but it turned out to be impossible to accommodate the filming equipment there, so most of the film was shot on sets in the United States. However, the exterior scenes were filmed in real Amsterdam, including the opening scene of the film where Otto Frank gets off the truck, which was filmed on Prinsengracht near building number 263.
- Otto Frank asked Audrey Hepburn to play the role of Anne (as she was about the same age and also lived in the Netherlands during that period and personally witnessed the forced deportation of Jews), but she declined the offer for three reasons: firstly, she was tempted by the role in "Green Mansions"; secondly, she had personally experienced the horrors of the German occupation and did not want to stir up sad memories (several of her relatives were executed for participating in the Resistance); and thirdly, as she was around 30 years old, she believed she could no longer play a teenager.
- Although Otto Frank consulted the film crew extensively, he could never bring himself to watch the film.
- Filming took place from March to November 1958.
- The film is based on the Broadway play of the same name by Francis Goodrich and Albert Hackett (1955), which was written based on "The Diary of a Young Girl" – the diary of a Jewish girl hiding from the Nazis in Amsterdam during the German occupation.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
