Review: The Diary of Anne Frank

The story of the young Jewish girl of the title (played by Diana Davila), her family and several other people attempting to hide in an attic from the Nazis during WWII. Donald Pleasence plays the fussy Mr. Dussel, who isn’t fond of children, especially precocious loudmouth children like Anne.

 

Made for ABC TV in America, this 1967 version of the world’s most famous diary is directed by Alex Segal (who did a lot of theatre-based TV directing gigs) and is based on the play by Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich. Adapted by James Lee (The silly Elvis movie “Change of Habit”, the landmark TV miniseries “Roots”), it’s not one of the more effective presentations of the story, and perhaps that’s why it’s a bit of a forgotten relic, something Anne’s diary itself should never be rendered (In my view it’s the most important historical document of all-time). As a historical document there’s some interest here and some solid performances. However, I’d rather re-read Anne’s diary, or watch one of the other, better filmed versions of the diary/play.

 

I did appreciate seeing Viveca Lindfors take the same character Shelley Winters memorably portrayed in the 1959 film version, and interpret that character quite differently. My one and only issue with Lindfors is that the way she portrays Mrs. Van Daan she doesn’t come across as someone who would care about a fur coat. Still, it’s an interesting performance. Max von Sydow meanwhile, is pitch-perfect as Otto Frank, with Lilli Palmer also quite good as Edith Frank. Donald Pleasence was at his peak around this time and gets the plum role of Albert Dussel. Here he gets to do his fussy, allergic act but in the case of Mr. Dussel, it’s an established trait of the character and not just Donald Pleasence playing to the cheap seats. It’s not a subtle performance – that’s not Pleasence’s bag – but he’s spot on in the role. Diana Davila might not be as good or as charismatic a performer as Millie Perkins was in the 1959 version (an underrated performance), but the version of Anne that we get here is the closest to the diary’s Anne that I’ve come across. The bratty, precociousness of Anne is absolutely nailed down here. Anne doesn’t always come across as likeable because she was a kid and kids can be annoying.

 

I can’t say the entire cast thrilled me here, with three very noticeably dragging behind. Theodore Bikel makes for a boring Mr. Van Daan, and Peter Beiger makes zero impression as his son. The biggest casting issue for me is 35 year-old Marisa Pavan playing Margot Frank, who is supposed to be 18-19 years old in the end. Does Pavan look 35 here? Maybe not, but she doesn’t look anywhere near her teens and it’s distractingly obvious. In her hands and in Lee’s script, Margot is rendered even more uninteresting than usual. In fairness to these three performers, they’re admittedly playing the three least interesting characters. However, the right casting can liven up even the dullest of roles. I thought Diane Baker made for an excellent Margot in the 1959 film version, for instance.

 

The studio set here is pretty phony-looking, you half expect Mr. Rogers (or his less avuncular African-American equivalent, Mr. Robinson) to pop in through the door. It also looks way too big to represent the annex, the real life living quarters were surely more cramped and it does serve to take away that claustrophobic feeling Anne and her fellow inhabitants must’ve felt. Normally a stage play has everything feeling…stagey, or cramped and you’d think the television format would further cramp things. Instead it’s the opposite, even the 1959 film version didn’t feel too opened up.

 

Despite not being overly fond of this re-telling, I’m really glad I was able to see it. Thought lost at one point, you can find it online if you’re clever. It’s worth tracking down if you’re interested, just be aware that it’s not very good. It’s not overly effective as a piece of filmed storytelling, but it has worth as a curio of seeing what televised plays were like in the 60s. You just don’t see something like this very often anymore if at all.  

 

Rating: C+