The Diary pf Anne Frank

 "The Diary pf Anne Frank" 1959 was a long ambitious film but did director George Stevens receive much criticism for his mostly non-Jewish cast? Ed Wynn is simply too old for the handsome Fritz Pfeffer I found Millie Perkins uninspiring and Richard Beymer was too old to be playing a teen aged boy. The script takes liberties such as the bookcase door being there from the start and Anne receiving her diary in the Secret Annex but she had it a good number of days earlier.

Joseph Schildkraut. Lou Jacobi and Shelley Winters are fine although several sources state Mrs. van Pels was stronger and of a better humor than depicted. The film with Brenda Blethyn showed this clearly. "Anne Frank: The Whole Story" is very worth seeing but for me it started with the George Stevens film and it's from a play that ought to be performed today.