The Diary of Anne Frank on PBS

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 4/12/10 at 8:56pm

Did anyone else catch this? It aired here last night, but being PBS it could be airing later in other parts of the country. Or may have already aired.

Anyway, I was surprised at how effective it was. It bears very little resemblance to the stage and previous film versions, but really humanizes these people in a way that I've never seen.

Watch it if you can.

[StockardFan]

Posted: 4/12/10 at 9:00pm

Well hell we just switched to FIOS and I don't even know if we have PBS. *runs to find channel guide*

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 4/12/10 at 9:02pm

You can also watch it on PBS Online

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 4/12/10 at 9:03pm

Tell me this one has a happier ending...

[StageManager2]

Posted: 4/12/10 at 9:39pm

She's in the attic! She's in the attic!

[Q]

Posted: 4/12/10 at 9:44pm

Thanks, PRS - definitely worth checking out.

I'm curious, though, why there's a warning for 'younger viewers'. I can think of little else that younger viewers should see! Not kindergartners, obviously, but tweens on up for sure - at least to my way of thinking.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 4/12/10 at 10:06pm

If it's anything like the 2001 miniseries ANNE FRANK: THE WHOLE STORY (which aired on network TV) that had nudity in the camp scenes.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 4/12/10 at 10:11pm

There are no camp scenes in this. Perhaps the warning is because - and I'm not condoning it - of the focus on Anne's budding sexuality? I don't know.

[Piper3500]

Posted: 4/12/10 at 10:22pm

thanks for that link to the PBS show PRS. They have a lot of shows on about the holocaust and right now on my PBS it is about North African jews who were taken and killed. (concentration camps people probably didn't know existed) and stories from France. It is all quite interesting.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 4/13/10 at 12:08am

Judging by the accents, it sounds like they decided to switch locations and have Anne hide out at RADA.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 4/13/10 at 1:14am

Thank you Phyllis. Just watched it on line. It was pretty good! That story never fails to move me. Still can't wrap my mind around the insanity!

[Q]

Posted: 4/13/10 at 1:53am

"the focus on Anne's budding sexuality"

Think of the children!

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 4/13/10 at 2:17am

I think this was done with the intention of staying away from some more conventional retellings of the story that have been tailored to young children. I think they were going for a more realistic approach with this version so maybe they just wanted to let audiences know this wasn't aimed at younger kids necessarily? Just a wild guess. It has gotten a lot of praise.

[StockardFan]

Posted: 4/13/10 at 7:22am

Thanks, Phyllis. I'm going to watch it after I go to the gym.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 4/13/10 at 11:21am

In opening up the story (seeing Anne at home in the beginning, let us get an idea of the spatial set up of the annex), I think it really added something you don't get in the other versions.

And Goth, it's an English production. Should they have been speaking English with Dutch accents?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 4/13/10 at 11:24am

I started to watch it but got so choked up when Anne left her cat that I decided I just wasn't going to be able to take the whole thing. It looked great though.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 4/13/10 at 11:30am

Aw, that got me, too. I know I could never take Kringas into hiding. He'd get us caught before we even unpacked!

I just read the the BBC version was half an hour longer, but I don't know what was cut when it crossed the pond.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 4/13/10 at 11:34am

I found the way their final discovery was directed to be heart wrenching. I also liked that Ann was portrayed as having a little bit of teen aged bitchiness at times. It helped make for more three dimensional characterizations.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 4/13/10 at 11:35am

Phyllis, at least you could count on Kringas to bite several Nazis before they took him down.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 4/13/10 at 12:07pm

Crap! I missed it!

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 4/13/10 at 12:08pm

PBS Online, baby.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 4/13/10 at 12:12pm

"And Goth, it's an English production. Should they have been speaking English with Dutch accents?"

I would put Anne Frank in the category of "well known" person. So actors should make every attempt to portray them as close to reality. For example, Anthony Hopkins didn't keep a British accent when he portrayed Nixon. I think for this they could have done something more than Standard British English.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 4/13/10 at 12:15pm

But what should they have done? They spoke Dutch in real life, not English.

Both Hopkins and Nixon are/were native English speakers. Updated On: 4/13/10 at 12:15 PM

[StageManager2]

Posted: 4/13/10 at 12:16pm

They could've hired Dutch actors and have subtitiles.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 4/13/10 at 12:20pm

"They could've hired Dutch actors and have subtitiles."

Or they could have gone the Shelley Winters route and had some Italian woman dub her. LOL