Number 54: Shelley Winters as Mrs. Petronella Van Daan in "The Diary of Anne Frank" (Best Supporting Actress Ranking)

I used to give this overall performance a much better location in my position and I also like it when the Academy recognizes un-showy performances that really don't seem tailor-produced to earn awards – but at the very same time I just don’t like it as well considerably when I have to ‘look for an Oscar-winning performance’, indicating that I would possibly in no way even observe Shelley Winters in The Diary of Anne Frank if she had not received an Oscar for it. So, she’s perhaps caught with a very slim component that pales in contrast to nearly each other a single in the film but Shelley Winters nonetheless produced a big perception in this talented ensemble.

She played Mrs. Van Daan, the mom of Peter and one particular of the Jews hiding from the Nazis. When compared to the nearly saint-like, best dad and mom of Anne (played by Joseph Schildkraut and Gusti Huber who each ought to have been the nominees for this motion picture), the mother and father of Peter are a lot more ‘realistic’ – they combat, they argue, they aren’t easy to be about with consistently. And this is also the factor from which the movie gains a whole lot of its power – it shows how hard it is for all these people to devote day right after day right after day locked together. A lot more than something, The Diary of Anne Frank shows the clash of diverse figures in an intense predicament. All this would make it quite effortless for the audience to dislike the Van Daans but Shelley Winters was ready to blend the irritating elements of her function with two other people that are usually positive to get the sympathy of the viewers – the struggling spouse and mother. It is very clear that she problems about her son just as significantly as Mrs. Frank worries for her daughters only Mrs. Van Daan also has her egocentric partner, who often treats her like dirt, to care of. It’s largely these scenes that show Shelley Winters manage Mrs. Van Daan’s life with her husband that are her greatest accomplishment – she is immensely transferring when her spouse desires to promote her cherished coat to get some cigarettes for himself or when she has to defend herself in entrance of Mrs. Frank that she always offers her husband a minor far more to try to eat than every person else. And this also lead to her greatest scene when Mr. Van Daan is caught stealing food in the middle of the night time and Mrs. Frank needs to throw him out – Shelley Winter’s plead to enable them stay is quite relocating and most likely a single of the most strong times of the motion picture.

All round, Shelley Winters’s character is not only the opposite of Mrs. Frank but she also employs the opposite performing fashion than Gusti Huber – while Gusti Huber is primarily quite delicate and not demonstrating the concerns that torture her character, Shelley Winters constantly demonstrates the fears of Mrs. Van Daan. This way, she receives some quite successful near-up that present her worry of demise, of the Nazis, of currently being ultimately caught.

Amongst the ensemble of The Diary of Anne Frank, Shelley Winters does not genuinely stand out but she is a potent part of it.