The Diary of Anne Frank

I liked this movie even though I found Melissa Gilbert to be quite irritating, and all the Van Danns to be miscasted. But I thought everyone else did a good acting job, especially Herr Schell and Miss Plowright. It's a good children's version of the story. It shows a terrible situation without the terror, and the hope that Anne Frank had about mankind.

Rarely have I seen a work of literature translated so badly to the screen. The hysterical cast of b-movie and sitcom extras simply make the characters seem like bad Jewish stereotypes. The worst of all is Melissa Gilbert, who you hate from scene one and never develop any sympathy for. Performances like this should be noted and used against actors who wish to work again. All in all, a seedy, low-budget made-for-TV film of the sort that gives made-for-TV films a bad name.

After watching this you'll be willing to tell the Nazis where Melissa Gilbert and Doris Roberts are hiding! On the positive side Maximillian Schell does a decent job in his part... Melissa Gilbert is something to watch as an older teenaged girl pretending to be 13 but acting more like an 8 year old Laura Ingalls, and still trying to run out of as many scenes as possible in tears. (well it worked on Little House) This film has "bad TV play" written all over it. The actor who plays the teenage boy was also decent in his role. I believe he is the same actor who played opposite Jody Foster in "The little Girl who lives down the lane". He and Mr. Schell are the only ones who avoided bringing shame to the final product.

I saw this on television when I was in the 7th grade and at the time knew absolutely NOTHING about the Holocaust. Yes, Melissa Gilbert's Anne is real perky, the whole movie is, well, a little perky, which only STUNNED the 12 year-old me when I found out these people were MURDERED. This shock got me very interested in this period of time. I believe this is an excellent introduction to a terrible and interesting and sad chapter in human history.

Some stories don't need to be dramatised. The weight of the genuine events that took place in the life of the Franks, the awful reality of the suffering of those who died in concentration camps and the terrifying implications all these events have for the nature of the human are beyond the grasp of all but the most brutal and bleak of film productions.

Enter Melissa Gilbert of Little House on the Prairie, skipping gaily, full of life and joy and entirely lacking in depth or gravity.

As a country girl of ludicrous naiveté in 'Little House' Gilbert is nauseating enough but to watch her trample all across the character of a young Jewish holocaust victim is bordering on offensive.

Some cast members are convincing and assured enough to carry off the roles to which they have committed themselves but the truth is that these are in the minority. The overall picture comes across as a poor taste 6th Form production put together by minds too young to realise the blasphemy of their actions.

I have the misfortune of having to show this drivel to pupils at the school in which I teach. It makes me feel uneasy to think I'm polluting the minds of young adults with such low culture.

Keep away.