User reviews

Throughout the movie, it's the hopefulness that is constantly being expressed that makes this all the more sad to watch - because, of course, we (the viewer) know the hopelessness of the situation; we know how it's going to end.

The story is based on a stageplay which was in turn based on the actual diary of Anne Frank, whose family (being Jewish) went into hiding in Nazi-occupied Holland in 1942, sharing a very small space with several others. As the title implies, the movie is largely about Anne. We watch her grow up in this claustrophobic setting - starting at age 13 and spending more than two years there until the group was discovered. Starting out as a child with a natural rebellious streak, Anne grows into a young woman, falling in love with a young man sharing the living quarters. Millie Perkins was excellent as young Anne, and I was impressed with Joseph Schildkraut as her father Otto, who was in the end the only survivor. The movie begins and ends with his post-war visit to the place where they were hidden, and his grief at being the only survivor among his family is powerfully portrayed. In general, all the performances in this were quite good, and there was a believable portrayal of the difficulties involved in so many people sharing so little space under such stressful circumstances, and there are a number of very suspenseful moments involved. It's a very moving story.

Based on the famous diary and the stage play, this is the story of one of the most well known victim of the Nazis. In 1942, she receives the blank diary on her 13th birthday. Soon, the family is hiding in the attic of her father's business with others. A few employees would help them stay hidden for over 2 years before they are discovered by the Nazis.

Surprisingly, there is real tension especially during the robberies. The quiet brings a heighten intensity. The cast's acting is generally great. There is a poignancy with this first film production of the material. The only drawback is Millie Perkins. Her inexperienced acting actually works for her in this case although as a twenty year old, playing Anne at 13 is a little off. She doesn't have the youth to play the character's brattiness. It's a minor problem in an otherwise terrific production.

Just as Otto Preminger gambled in the casting of unknown Jean Seaberg in the title role of "St. Joan," so George Stevens similarly took a big risk with Millie Perkins in "The Diary of Anne Frank."

As the story goes, Stevens saw model Millie on a magazine cover, fell in love with her expressive eyes, and theorized that this unknown would be more effective than an established star to portray Anne.

Though Perkins had no acting experience, Stevens--at the peak of his career--was confident that he could teach Millie to act, at least for this film.

Although Audrey Hepburn was very interested in the part (as was Stevens in her) Stevens finally decided that it would be more effective to use a fresh actor--one with whom the public would have no pre-conceptions. (Other successful cases to support his theory being Hurd Hatfield as Dorian Gray and Robert Alda as George Gershwin.) Still, it was a huge gamble, since Anne was the pivotal role in this major production.

Well, the results are now history. For many moviegoers Perkins was just fine. While some critics easily spotted her reedy inexperience and rather sympathized with her being thrust into a super-professional arena, they conceded that Millie did do a commendable job.

Unfortunately, Perkins took a lashing from most critics, and her subsequent acting career has been relegated to minor roles in "B" films. Those are the "breaks," though in the fickle film world.

Yet, with all this, many people still think of Perkins' countenance when they envision of Anne Frank. So she and Stevens made a lasting impression.

Likewise, for many, this production remains the definitive version of a profoundly touching World War II real-life chronicle.

I had read the book as a child and was swept up in the depiction of lives lived hidden away in the attic of a factory in Amsterdam, the strong true voice of Anne in her diaries capturing a world of imprisonment, the only crime being that of the wrong religion. Anne's spirit is never quenched as she experiences all the trial and tribulations of burgeoning adolescence, difficulty with her mother and a slow falling in love with a teenage boy, Peter, who shares her quarters.

The book was made into a successful play and then transfered to the screen where it was shortened considerably from the original. And that is where I saw it first, on the screen, but the shorter version, not being aware of the original length.

The cast are amazing, particularly Millie Perkins, who was the least experienced of all the cast and has to be in almost every scene. She candidly shared her experience of the six months' filming when the cast was virtually in captivity and mentioned in passing that the most difficult time she had was not surprisingly with the director, George Stevens, who was extremely supportive but rather with Joseph Schildkraut, who plays Otto Frank, her father in it. He made her life hell on set and never let her forget she was totally inexperienced, unlike the rest of them, in the way of acting. I'm mentioning this as not an inkling of this tension comes across on screen, and Millie has to share a lot of loving scenes with Joseph. Only a gifted actress could overcome her distaste for the man and perform as she did.

The expanded version of the movie is remarkable. It engenders a claustrophobic feeling in the viewer and an overwhelming sadness, knowing that none of these characters, apart from Otto, will survive the madness of the camps.

Anne's positive spirit drenches every scene, she believes in the intrinsic goodness of everyone in spite of everything.

Shelley, as Peter's mother, deserved her Oscar, she conveys her unhappy marriage, her reliance on the material, her love for her son, so well. Diane Baker, as Margot, Anne's sister, hands in a great performance as does the above mentioned Joseph. Ed Wynn, breaking type, plays Dussell the dentist as an irritating busybody.

In the way of the Oscars, so many superb movies fail to attain the best picture of the year. This is one of them. That year, the best picture Oscar went to Ben Hur. This is a far superior movie.

9 out of 10. Superb, especially in the restored length. Not to be missed. B&W at its finest.

The film The Diary of Anne Frank is not taken directly from her world famous diary, but it is rather an adaption of a play based on that diary. The play was written by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett and it ran on Broadway from 1955 to 1957 for 717 performances.

Three members of the original Broadway cast did their roles for the screen, Joseph Schildkraut, Lou Jacobi, and Gusti Huber. Joseph Schildkraut as Otto Frank is the backbone of the film, providing the moral authority in the cast. He's a teacher and a scholar and makes sure that even under these circumstances, the education of his daughters is not neglected. Gusti Huber is Mrs. Frank and Lou Jacobi is Mr. Van Daan.

The Van Daans and the Franks have been offered shelter in a third floor apartment that is kept secret by a hidden door in a factory owner. The owner Mr. Kraler played by Douglas Spencer is an anti-Nazi and has offered to keep these two Jewish families hidden for the duration of the war in Holland. For two years they live in that apartment and aside from radio news all they know of the outside world is that street in Amsterdam where the factory is located. Director George Stevens to keep the viewer from getting claustrophobic provides us with occasional shots of the outside street and canal. This film is the ultimate in cabin fever.

But it has to be so for the Van Daans and the Franks are hiding for their lives. It's a community of necessity that's created up in the third floor.

Young Millie Perkins does fine in the title role originated on Broadway by Susan Strassberg. She has an Audrey Hepburn like appeal, but never had the career Audrey certainly did. Her sister Margit is played by Diane Baker who's career was a bit more substantial. Two very normal average teenage girls, except that Anne has a talent for writing and observing.

The frightening thing about this film is the very ordinariness of the characters. What have these people ever done that the might of the Nazi war machine should be out looking for them? Some of them are certainly not noble specimens as the movie shows, but their lives are so humdrum like millions of us. Simply because for politics sake, someone was scapegoating a religion.

Ed Wynn as Drussel the dentist and Shelley Winters as Mrs. Van Daan were nominated for supporting players in the male and female categories that year. Wynn lost, but Winters won the first of her two Oscars for this film. Up to then Ms. Winters played some pretty brassy characters in film. She fought for and won this role and got acclaim worldwide for her portrayal as a wife and mother. It was a transition into those kind of roles for her.

So Anne observed and wrote about her impressions of what she saw and heard and the people around her for two years. In a sense this is like Moby Dick with the Pequod being the apartment and the white whale being the Nazis. Joseph Schildkraut is no Ahab, he's just trying to lead his community for survival.

When the Nazis come, Anne's diary is hidden and after the war one of the community comes back and like Ishmael retrieves the diary and very much tells the tale.

Anne's diary, the hopes and dreams of a teenage girl caught up in a world of hate she couldn't comprehend, is now classic literature. It serves as a dark reminder of the bestial nature we can sink to. And it reminds us that hope, courage and love can spring from the darkest places.

It's a pleasure to report that the long wait for George Stevens' THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK to come to the DVD format has been worth the wait. The restoration is far better then the fine 1995 Laser Disc issue, which was the only previous release to include the Overture, Intermission and Exit Music for the film as well as the "roadshow", 170 minute version of the film. As Alfred Newman's score is one of his finest, the addition of the extra music is a true treat. Issued as one of Fox's "Studio Classics", the DVD shows that a great deal of tender care has gone into this outstanding release. The complete films is contained on one side. Side two is full of some nice extras, headed by a full-length documentary, "ECHOS FROM THE PAST", that is very informative. There is a nice excerpt from the documentary feature, "GEORGE STEVENS: A FILMMAKER'S JOURNEY", which was produced and directed by George Stevens, Jr. Stevens' son also provides the commentary track along with actress Millie Perkins for the film itself. There are two interesting previews included, one for the U.S. release after the film was taken off the roadshow run (and CUT by almost 20 minutes) and also the International version, which uses Newman's music over the scenes without any dialog from the film itself. Perkins' screen test, newsreel footage a number of excellent behind the scenes photographs and a restoration comparison round out the second side. The film and this DVD are HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

The first time I saw this film was on the old Saturday Night at the movies back in the early sixties. I have since bought the video.

I have had people tell me how depressing this movie is.Those folks have missed the point for years. We do know what fate befell Anne and her family and friends,but the overriding feeling is,as Anne says near the end of the film, that in time things can and will change. The entire cast is wonderful.Millie Perkins brings a charm and innocence to Anne that cannot be duplicated. Joseph Schildkraut and Gusti Huber as Anne's parents are different as day and night in their relationship to Anne.Shelley Winters deserved her Oscar as the 'ultimate Jewish mother" Mrs Van Daan. Lou Jacobi is superb as Mr Van Daan and Ed Wynn is brilliant as fussbudget Dussel. As a long time fan of Richard Beymer, I have to say that Peter remains his best work. The "First kiss" sequence still gives me goosebumps,and the final segment in the attic just before the SS arrives still brings tears. A bravo to Diane Baker as the long suffering Margot.

The fact that director George Stevens shot the film in black and white adds to the tension. I just hope it never gets colorized. I know that the film was nominated for Best Picture, but didnt stand a chance against "Ben Hur",although I would have picked it! When I travel I always take a copy of the book. If the movie comes out on DVD,I may take it too.

From 1942 to 1944, in a Nazi occupied Amsterdam, the thirteen years old German Jewish girl Anne Frank (Millie Perkins) lives hiding in an attic of a condiment factory with her sister, her parents, three members of another family and an old dentist. Along more than two years, she wrote in her diary, her feelings, her fears and relationship with the other dwellers.

When I was about the same age of Anne Frank, I read her book for the first time and I recall how sad I became. Then I read it at least two times more, and in the bottom of my heart, I was maybe expecting a happy ending and that this teenager and the other persons were saved after their tough struggle for survival. In the 90's, I visited her Museum and again I became very sad. Her story is certainly the saddest and most touching journal ever written and published, and shows how cruel the human being can be. This movie has been recently released on DVD in Brazil with 171 minutes running time, and I really liked it. The cinematography is very beautiful, and the tense and claustrophobic story highlights some of the most important parts of the book with minor modifications to keep the movie tense and in an adequate pace. The cast is excellent, and although having about twenty-one years old at that time, the mignon Millie Perkins performs a good Anne Frank. The person who betrayed Anne Frank and the other Jews has never been discovered. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "O Diário de Anne Frank" ("The Diary of Anne Frank")

This worthwhile cinematic tribute to "The Diary of Anne Frank" offers a solid cast, some very effective settings, and a generally well-considered selection of episodes. No mere movie could convey the full force of the original diary, which no one who has read it can forget. But this movie version is good in its own right, and it does add some memorable, if sometimes non-historical, images to the story. The script does alter some details, and it's hard to see why they could not simply have filmed a selection of actual events, since that could have been more than effective enough. But, as a movie in its own right, it works well.

The Diary is most important for its record of the daily lives of real individuals who lived in constant fear because of the Nazis and their irrational persecutions. It puts names and faces on the kind of human disaster that is all too often described in terms of mere numbers. The movie does well in bringing out this aspect of the diary, making the characters come to life in settings that are interesting, detailed, and believable. The photography also makes good use of the settings and the details.

The other significant aspect of the Diary is its portrait of Anne herself. Her writings combine observations on the overall situation with observations about her own life and self, with a surprising degree of perception. This does not come out so much in the movie, though of course this would be much harder to accomplish. Millie Perkins projects a rather different image from the original Anne, but then again, there is nothing really wrong with her performance in itself. She does make a sympathetic and generally believable heroine. The supporting cast generally does a good job. The fine character actor Joseph Schildkraut gives the best performance, as Anne's father Otto.

Overall, if viewed with reasonable expectations and evaluated apart from the book, this adaptation is an interesting and worthwhile movie.

On July 6th, 1942 Jewish Otto Frank, his wife Edith and their daughters Anne and Margot had to hide from the Nazies.They went to a hidden room in Otto's office in the middle of Amsterdam.On July 13th they were joined by the van Pels family, Hermann, Auguste and Peter van Pels.On November 16th they got another member to the secret annex, the dentist Fritz Pfeffer.A total of eight members had to hide from the evil, that was outside waiting.The evil won, as it too often does.On August 4th in 1944 it came in and took them all.Only one came back alive, Otto Frank, who had to live with the memories and the pain for the rest of his life.All the time his daughter Anne was hiding, she was writing to her diary about everything that was going on there.About her quarrels, about her growing, about her falling in love with Peter van Pels...George Stevens' The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) is the first movie made of this wise young girl.It's a very good portrayal of those events.I could mention that in the diary and in this movie some of the names aren't the original names.Millie Perkins, a model who had no acting experience, is really good as Anne Frank.They originally thought of the great actress Audrey Hepburn for the part, but she had too painful memories of it all, since she had lived in Holland.There were also some other similarities with Anne Frank, for instance they both were born the same year, in 1929.Joseph Schildkraut is great as Otto and so is Gusti Huber as Edith.Diane Baker is amazing as Margot Frank.The always great Shelley Winters was the perfect choice to play the part of Petronella van Daan (Auguste van Pels).Lou Jacobi is terrific as Hans van Daan (Hermann van Pels).Richard Beymer does the role of Peter van Daan (Peter van Pels) and he does it excellently.Today this boy would turn 80, if things would have gone differently.Ed Wynn is magnificent as Mr. Alber Dussel (Mr. Pfeffer).Their wonderful helper Miep Gies is played by Dodie Heath.Douglas Spencer plays another helper, Kraler (Kugler).This is a touching story, a true story about innocent people who did nothing wrong.Their only crime was to be born as Jews, a crime that isn't a crime.This movie focuses pretty much on the relationship between Anne and Peter.The first kissing scene is beautiful.They kiss in the shadows of the secret annex.The movie is in black and white, and the shadows have a big part here.It reminds how the shadows are always lurking there somewhere, trying to take over in our lives.The shadows won back then, in 1944, but none of them died.They all live in the pages of the books, in movies that are made.They all will keep on living in the secret annex. Only hoping the war will be over some day.Hoping to walk out and to be free.

The claustrophobic nature of the Franke family as they hide from the Nazi's in an annex is the star of the show. We have all heard the story before. What is interesting is the fact that they are able to lead a sort of life in a microcosm of peace. But Anne comes of age and begins to realize that she can't be what every young girl wants to be. She first is contentious but soon begins to fall in love. But the threat hangs over them every day, as well as over the benefactors. There are some differences between the book and the movie, but the themes and events, while changed, make the same impression. An outstanding performance by Millie Perkins.

This movie was a shockingly inaccurate re-telling of Anne Frank's life in hiding. Obviously, there wasn't a lot of effort put into it. Names were mispronounced, (Mar-go became Mar-git, Anna became Ann, etc. etc)scenes were fabricated especially for the film (The Hannukah celebration) and almost no one resembled (In any way shape or form) the characters they were set to portray. Millie Perkins plays Anne out to be a saint, and although she was an amazing person, she, like all of us, had her short comings. By not including this, the character became onedimesnional, and unrelatable, which certainly isn't Anne in the least bit.

This movie is good in it's own right, but is definitely not the way to go for someone seeking to know the real Anne Frank.

6/10.

Some stories are simply begging to be told. Since the end of World War 2, the conflict had provided inspiration for hundreds of motion pictures, and most of these were for the purposes of gung ho entertainment rather than poignant reflection. There's nothing shameful in that. It is just the case that with some of the more horrific aspects of the war, we needed more time to come to terms with them and understand them. And with a story like this, it was also essential that it be handled by a team who could get it exactly right.

The picture was based on an earlier stage play by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, not too especially well-known names in filmdom, although they were responsible for some of the best screenplays of Hollywood's classic era, including It's a Wonderful Life. As such it should come as no surprise then that their dramatization of Anne Frank's diary is bursting with tenderness, frank humanity and above all a reverence for human life. They have often condensed several significant events into the same scene, and possibly exaggerated a few characters, but this is the way it must be to make it work as a play, and no disservice has been done to Anne's work (As a side note however, I would recommend everyone read up on Fritz Pfeffer, the real name of the Alfred Dussel character, as his story is far more complex and tragic than what we see here). This screen version of the Goodrich-Hackett play was produced and directed by George Stevens, and there may have been no better man for the project. Stevens's method in his 1950s pictures was to shoot from every conceivable angle, and have the perspective sometimes change jarringly from shot to shot. This may seem confusing at first, but it makes the audience lose track of the size and shape of rooms, and focus totally on the actors. However, he does things slightly differently for this picture. He begins by making us very much aware of the space, with lots of foreground clutter, and doorways leading off in the background. It is as if we are somehow being held back from the action, as if we are looking in on it from outside. Then gradually, around about the time Anne begins her diary, the camera begins to move inside the space. As we get to know the characters, the camera becomes more intimate, and as usual with Stevens he makes us forget the place and remember the people.

And this is an appropriately memorable cast. Originally Audrey Hepburn was sought for the lead role, and while she would surely have been excellent, her substitute Millie Perkins is perhaps a better yet for this role. She has a kind of genuine youthful exuberance to her, and is able to appear much more like a real teenager. It is also appropriate to have an unfamiliar face for the part. An equally young Richard Beymer (better known as Tony in West Side Story) is also ideal for the same reasons. The supporting players are a delight. People like Josef Schildkraut and Shelley Winters are like a mark of quality on any picture. They did not have egos, they did not want to steal the show or upstage anyone; they simply undertook each part with sincerity and played it to the best of their abilities. The real surprise however is Ed Wynn, a daffy comedy actor, but here playing it mostly straight and even eliciting some sympathy for a character who is basically the fall guy in the absence of any tangible villain.

But why is Anne Frank's story so important? It is not of great historical value. It does not make for an unflinching account of Jewish persecution by the Nazis. What it is, is an incredibly touching and insightful narrative by someone in a trying and excruciating situation. It is astonishingly well written, and as such has at times been denounced as a hoax, although its authenticity has now thankfully been proved. Anne unwittingly made herself a spokesperson for a generation and for a people. Her story is one we are lucky enough to have handed down to us, among the millions that can never be told, and as such it should become known and spread. Anne herself may not have survived, but her diary… her diary is life after death.

The harrowing, unforgettable true story of a 13-year-old Jewish girl in World War II Amsterdam who writes of her experience hiding from the Nazis along with her family and friends in an employer's attic. Adaptation of Anne Frank's memoirs by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, filtered through the theatrics of their Broadway play, is certainly worth-seeing but suffers from sluggish pacing and an unsuitable CinemaScope presentation. Hotly anticipated in 1959, the film's lead performance by newcomer Millie Perkins came under a great deal of debate--she's simply too mature and conventionally pretty as Anne (a 20-year-old model, Perkins reportedly won the part over some 10,000 hopefuls). The supporting cast fares better, with Shelley Winters wonderful as Anne's flirtatious neighbor (the sequence where she brags about her love-life is particularly sweet). For those who haven't read the book or seen the play, this rendering may be a good place to start as it features moving and suspenseful moments, though William C. Mellor's Oscar-winning black-and-white cinematography isn't an asset--his use of widescreen doesn't suit the claustrophobic mood director George Stevens was apparently trying to create. Remade for TV in 1980. Eight Oscar nominations in all, also winning for Winters as Best Supporting Actress and Best Art Direction-Black-and-White. Six Golden Globe nominations with one win: Best Film Promoting International Understanding. **1/2 from ****

I admire this movie quite a bit because it refused to give in to an over-idealized version of events in order to portray the families as somehow noble or transcendent. While this IS true of some of them, some others are truly annoying and difficult to like--in particular, the lady played by Shelley Winters. She was so annoying and realistic (as many of us are far from being angels), that Miss Winters won the Oscar for her performance. The movie COULD have chosen the easier way out by portraying everyone hiding in the movie as saint-like, but its deliberate choice for realism provides a much more believable and universal story. Excellent performances all around and an incredibly heart-wrenching conclusion. A must-see film.

I believe that it is possible to dramatise an historical event and get away with it if the events are altered (Braveheart) if the film is entertaining enough. This however in my opinion does not work. Its very long and did not hold my interest. It should have been a documentary or a movie it tries to be a bit of a hybrid. The black and white cinematography is superb and a genuine feeling of claustrophobia is created with some clever shooting. At times the directing is very good the build up of tension during the air raid is superb and genuinely creates the fear they must have felt.Very little attempt is made to make the appearance of the characters look like they have been living in a loft for 3 years and they look as healthy the day the are arrested as the day they entered it. I found the growing emotional attachment between Anne and the young man a little too sugary and tended to detract rather than add to the movie. However the scene when she is "Fishing" for her good night kiss is well made and ends with a quite moving and well lit atmoshperic conclusion. Overall I enjoyed it but found it dragged somewhat and felt the opportunity to dig deeper into the conflicts between the inhabitants of the loft that must have occurred a mistake. The ending made me smile a little I had visions of Anne writing the "last entry" as the nazi storm troopers waited impatiently for her to finish before the dragged her off. A long film that although is well worth the 3 hrs of your life left me feeling a little let down by the substance and lack of character development.

No words are adequate enough to express the emotion that I feel each time I see this harrowing account of Jewish people hiding from Nazi terror in Holland.

I read that Director George Stevens assembled his cast to live in those quarters for a certain amount of time so as to get the idea of what confinement might actually mean.

Joseph Schildkraut gave a memorable performance. Where was his Oscar nomination? Were Academy voters afraid that if he had been nominated, he might have defeated Charlton Heston in "Ben-Hur?"

Ed Wynn brought comic relief with a gem of a dramatic performance as the condemned dentist. His losing the Oscar for best supporting actor was a slap in the face, especially for his many years in show business. Similarly, Lou Jacobi gave a tremendous performance as Shelley Winters' long suffering husband.(Who remembers Hugh Griffith in "Ben-Hur?") Few remember that he was the best supporting actor that year for the latter film.

What a great musical score reaching its height as the "fugitives" are about to be rounded up. That farewell kiss between Richard Beymer and Millie Perkins was wonderful.

How to criticise such a well-intentioned film on such a worthy subject? Anne Frank has come down the ages as a universal symbol of youthful innocence in the face of inhuman oppression and must therefore in any cinematic telling of her tale be accorded proper respect, all the more so when unlike other near-historic "sacred cows", for example Winston Churchill or Gandhi, she was destroyed even before she came to adulthood. Not only that but the film-maker has another major problem in holding the viewer's interest with a narrative which by dint of its content must include periods of inaction and in a greatly confined space at that. Therefore in judging the film on purely cinematic terms, I have to say I found the movie overlong and also guilty of some uneven acting, although the latter point is excused somewhat by the youth of the perpetrators, of which more later. George Stevens's later work tends to long-playing at the best of times ("Giant" anyone?) and here again, perhaps as I said out of over-respect for its source material, the film runs to a draining 170 minutes, a good hour too long I would say. Of course with all that time at his disposal, the director delivers lots of characterisation but there's little he can do to inject genuine action and tension and as we know in advance that the moment of discovery has to come at the film's finish, attempts to heighten tension at other points are weakened accordingly, also by their being drawn out inordinately over several overlong minutes. I also have a major problem with said moment of discovery coinciding with Anne and Peter's kiss, for me a distasteful Hollyood bowdlerisation of events as of course no such event ever occurs in the diary itself. Which leads me to the acting... The "seniors" are all very good and believable, particularly Joseph Schildkraut playing Otto Frank and Shelley Winters in one of her first older character parts, but the "juniors" are inconsistent, not even trying to adopt a Dutch accent and therefore jarring on the soundtrack. Again I hesitate to be over-critical of Millie Perkins in the title role but I did find her too, certainly old and also dare I say it, almost cute and subsequently unconvincing in her attempt at realism, despite the care and camera-friendly treatment the director gives her. It's no great surprise to me that adult stardom seems to have evaded her. It would be easy to sign off and just point everyone at the book itself but clearly this is a great story which will live forever and no doubt be re-told again and again on TV and on the big screen, as it deserves to. This first portrayal seems to me too much a child of its era, the black and white, stolid, 1950's and with a director too much in thrall to his subject. That said everyone should watch the film, especially if they haven't read the book, but your time will pass slowly and I don't think you'll be moved as much as you should be at the conclusion.