During the course of a forty year career, Alfred Newman composed the music for more than 200 films, earning a total of 45 Academy Award nominations and collecting nine such awards. It is doubtful whether any of those 200 plus films, award winning or not, was as compelling or moving as his score to The Diary of Anne Frank. Before undertaking what was such a complex and emotional commission, Alfred journeyed to Amsterdam in order to stand in the very rooms Anne Frank herself had called home during the Second World War. Not surprisingly, the film was a huge success upon release in 1959, collecting three Academy Awards including Best Supporting Actress (which went to Shelley Winters) and a further five nominations, one of which went to Arthur Newman for Best Original Score (the award went to Miklos Rozsa for Ben Hur). Despite not winning the award, Alfreds work is certainly a haunting score, one which conveys the mix of horror, dread, hope and humour and is the perfect accompaniment to the film. As a standalone soundtrack, it still sounds impressive, inviting the listener to close their eyes and imagine the action unfolding.