No less than three of 1959’s Best Picture Oscar nominees were about the indomitability of the human spirit. Two of them, William Wyler’s Ben-Hur and Fred Zinnemann’s The Nun’s Story, won the lion’s share of the year’s awards, yet it is the third, George Stevens’ The Diary of Anne Frank, that has increased in reputation over the last fifty years.

Shown in public schools, film schools and acting classes, Stevens’ at once personal and universal tale of prevailing optimism and hope despite the constant threat of death endures and becomes even more remarkable with the passage of time.

The book on which the film is based is a diary kept by a young girl who hoped to one day have it published, become a famous writer and go to Hollywood. Her wishes were ironically fulfilled after her death in a concentration camp at 15.

Discarded by the Nazis who arrested the girl’s family and friends who were in hiding together, the diary was found by the woman who hid them and given to Anne’s father, Otto, the only survivor, after the war. Though he had it in his possession from 1945, it took him a long time to bring himself to read it. Finally in 1952, he acceded to his daughter’s wishes and had it published. It wasn’t until the Pulitzer Prize winning Broadway play of 1955, however, that the work became widely known.

Fox’s 50th anniversary edition on Blu-ray comes with tons of extras, the most intriguing being interviews with the film’s two young stars, Millie Perkins who played Anne, and Diane Baker who played her sister Margot. Though interviewed separately, the two old friends’ reminiscences are remarkably similar. Both adored director Stevens and co-stars Richard Beymer and Ed Wynn. Perkins, in particular, was not enamored of either Joseph Schildkraut and his constant attempts at scene stealing – ordered by Stevens to throw the handkerchief he uses to wipe his brow to Perkins during one of her big dramatic scenes, he pulls another one out of his pocket and starts to wipe his brow all over again – or Shelley Winters’ constant need for reassurance and her constant grilling of Perkins, demanding to know how such an untrained actress could be capable of such deep emotion.

One interesting tidbit is that Perkins, generally assumed to have turned twenty during the 1958 filming, was actually two years older. She lets slip that she is now 73.

Also included are interviews with composers David and Thomas Newman on their father Alfred Newman’s score which accounted for one his 45 Oscar nominations, though not one of his nine wins. They seem most proud of their father’s composing of the Fox fanfare.

Perhaps the most poignant extra is George Stevens Jr. quietly reading letters from Otto Frank and his father written during the filming. The elder Frank, though a great supporter of both the play and the film, could never bring himself to see either.

The Diary of Anne Frank is also being reissued on standard DVD.

Also released in celebration of milestone anniversaries are the 45th anniversary edition of Dr. Strangelove and the 25th edition of Ghostbusters.

Released at the height of the cold war, Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove Or: How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is a satirical masterpiece that knocked the era’s paranoia on its ear. At heart it’s the saga of two psychotic generals, Joint Chief of Staff Buck Turgidson, played by George C. Scott, and Air Force Strategic Commander Jack Ripper, played by Sterling Hayden, who orders a bomber squadron to attack the U.S.S.R. triggering a secret Soviet weapon, the “Doomsday Machine”.

Enter Peter Sellers who plays three different men who try to avert the catastrophe: British Captain Lionel Mandrake, the only person with access to General Ripper; U.S. President Muffley; and Dr. Strangelove, a demented former Nazi scientist. Slim Pickens is the bombardier who memorably rides the bomb to oblivion to the strains of Vera Lynn singing her World War II signature song “We’ll Meet Again”. All this craziness led to a box office phenomenon and four Oscar nominations as well as the failure of the movie-going public to take seriously any other film about nuclear annihilation for a long time.

The Blu-ray disc comes with an exclusive picture-in-picture trivia track. Both the Blu-ray and standard DVD release of the 45th Anniversary Edition include a slew of extras including archival interviews with Peter Sellers and George C. Scott and an interview with Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson.

One of the most successful films of the1980s, Ivan Reitman’s Ghostbusters featured Bill Murray and the film’s co-writers Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis as three former college professors who go into the ghost-busting business. Gorgeous Sigorney Weaver and nerdy Rick Moranis are their first clients.

Blu-ray exclusives include a picture-in-picture trivia track and featurettes on resurrecting the classic Ecte-1 car and a video game. Both the Blu-ray and standard DVD release include numerous other extras.

One of the landmarks of international cinema, Ingmar Bergman’s 1957 film The Seventh Seal has been given an expansive new Criterion release on Blu-ray.

Bergman’s dark, quizzical masterpiece is a manifesto on existentialism that has been parodied more than any film in history. Even those who have never seen it are aware of the knight’s chess game with Death. Max von Sydow, in his first great screen role, plays the 14th Century knight who bargains with Death, trying to hold onto life as long as he can. Bergman regular Bib Andersson co-stars.

The new digital transfer features an introduction by Bergman filmed in 2003; audio commentary by Bergman expert Peter Cowie with a new afterward; Bergman Island, a 2006 documentary on Bergman; an archival audio interview with Von Sydow; a 1989 Bergman tribute by Woody Allen; Bergman 101, a selective Bergman filmography; the theatrical trailer; new English subtitles; and an optional dubbed English soundtrack.

New from Criterion on standard DVD, Henry Cass’ 1950 film Last Holiday is a joy to watch whether you’ve never seen it or are experiencing it for the umpteenth time.

Made on the heels of Alec Guinness’ international sensation in Robert Hamer’s 1949 film Kind Hearts and Coronets, in which he portrayed nine outrageous characters, the masterful Guinness does an about face and plays a low key timid man given weeks to live by his doctor. Co-starring Kay Walsh, this droll, social commentary and unpredictably dark comedy about life, death and luck is a timeless masterpiece that more people should get to know. Avoid the dumbed-down remake with Queen Latifah, and see this instead. You’ll be glad you did.

-Peter J. Patrick (June 16, 2009)