The Diary of Anne Frank | |
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Directed by | George Stevens |
Written by | Frances Goodrich Albert Hackett |
Based on | The Diary of Anne Frank 1955 by Frances Goodrich Albert Hackett The Diary of a Young Girl 1947 by Anne Frank |
Produced by | George Stevens |
Starring | Millie Perkins Joseph Schildkraut Richard Beymer Shelley Winters Diane Baker Ed Wynn |
Cinematography | William C. Mellor |
Edited by | David Bretherton William Mace Robert Swink |
Music by | Alfred Newman |
Distributed by | 20th Century-Fox |
Release date |
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Running time | 179 minutes |
Country | United States |
Languages | English German |
Budget | $3.8 million[1] |
Box office | $2.3 million (est. US/ Canada rentals)[2] |
The Diary of Anne Frank is a 1959 American biographical drama film based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1955 play of the same name, which was in turn based on the posthumously published diary of Anne Frank, a German-born Jewish girl who lived in hiding in Amsterdam with her family during World War II. It was directed by George Stevens, a Hollywood filmmaker previously involved with capturing evidence of concentration camps during the war, with a screenplay by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett. It is the first film version of both the play and the original story, and features three members of the original Broadway cast.
All Frank's writings to her diary were addressed as "Dear Kitty". It was published after the end of the war by her father, Otto Frank (played in the film by Joseph Schildkraut, who was also Jewish). His entire family had been murdered in the Holocaust. The interiors were shot in Los Angeles on a sound stage duplicate of the Amsterdam factory, with exteriors filmed at the actual building.[3]
The film was positively received by critics, currently holding a 81% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[4] It won three Academy Awards in 1960, including Best Supporting Actress for Shelley Winters. Shelley Winters later donated her Oscar to the Anne Frank Museum. In 2006, it was honored as the eighteenth most inspiring American film on the list AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers.