The Hiding Place (film)

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The Hiding Place
The Hiding Place poster (1975).jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJames F. Collier
Written byAllan Sloane
Lawrence Holben (screenplay)
Corrie ten Boom
John and Elizabeth Sherrill (book)
Produced byFrank R. Jacobson
William F. Brown
Starring Julie Harris
Eileen Heckart
Arthur O'Connell
Jeannette Clift
Cinematography Michael Reed
Edited byAnn Chegwidden
Music byTedd Smith
Distributed by World Wide Pictures
Release date
  • May 1975 (1975-05)
Running time
150 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Hiding Place is a 1975 film based on the autobiographical novel The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom. [1] The film recounts the ten Boom family's experiences in the Netherlands as they provide a hiding place for Jewish refugees during the Holocaust, which leads to their arrest and imprisonment in the Ravensbrück concentration camp.

Contents

It was directed by James F. Collier and stars Jeannette Clift as Corrie, Julie Harris as Betsie ten Boom, and Arthur O'Connell as Casper ten Boom in his final film appearance. It was produced by World Wide Pictures, the motion-picture ministry of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. [1] The project originated after Graham's wife, Ruth Graham, met ten Boom in Switzerland and recommended her story to the book's eventual authors. [1]

The film's 1975 world premiere at the Beverly Theatre was disrupted by a tear-gas canister marked with a swastika, and the premiere resumed the next day. [1] For her performance, Clift received nominations for the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress [2] and the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles. [3]

Plot

As the Nazis invade the Netherlands in 1940, Corrie (Jeannette Clift George) and the rest of her family bravely choose to open their home to Jews as a hiding place, trusting that God would help them to do this. A part of their home is specially remodeled by members of the Dutch resistance to form a hidden room that the Jews can escape to in the event of a Nazi raid. The family makes several mistakes, such as allowing the Jews to sing so loudly on one occasion that it disturbed the neighbors, but the Jews remained safely hidden. However, after the betrayal of a Dutch collaborator, the house is raided by Nazis on February 28, 1944, and the entire family and its friends are arrested. The house is thoroughly searched, but the Jews and the hiding place are never found by authorities.

Corrie's father, Casper, dies before he reaches the concentration camp, and Corrie worries that she will never see her home again. The Nazis send Corrie and her sister, Betsie (Julie Harris), to the Ravensbrück concentration camp, Germany, for hiding Jews in their home. At the concentration camp, Betsie encourages Corrie to remain hopeful that God will rescue them from the brutalities they experience.

With little food, constant work and brutal treatment, the women suffer constantly, and Betsie dies. Ultimately, Corrie leaves the camp in December 1944 through what is discovered years later to have been a clerical error, as everyone else in her group of prisoners was exterminated by poison gas the next month (January 1945). Her life after the ordeal was dedicated to showing that Jesus's love is greater than the deepest pit of humanity.

Cast

Production

The film was produced by World Wide Pictures, the motion-picture ministry of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. According to Billy Graham's autobiography, his wife, Ruth Graham, met Corrie ten Boom in Switzerland and was so impressed by her story that she recommended it to authors John and Elizabeth Sherrill. The Sherrills subsequently co-wrote the book The Hiding Place with ten Boom. [1]

Release

The film's 1975 world premiere at the Beverly Theatre in Beverly Hills, California, [4] was disrupted when a tear gas canister marked with a swastika was thrown into the theater, forcing the crowd to evacuate. Billy Graham held an impromptu street meeting while police and fire departments investigated. At a reception later that evening, Corrie ten Boom commented on the incident, stating, "What we have to do is love these people who hate us—love them, pray for them. These people are wounded people who have hate in their hearts." Graham later noted that the "furor over the tear-gas canister created enormous interest in the film", which premiered successfully the following night. It became the most widely seen motion picture produced by World Wide Pictures. [1]

Reception

The New York Times critic Vincent Canby described the film as "pious" and noted that the performers' "Dutch accents sound quite Swedish on occasion". [5]

For her performance as Corrie ten Boom, Jeannette Clift (credited as Jeanette Clift George) received nominations for the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress in 1976 [2] and the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles in 1978. [3]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Corrie ten Boom Impacts New Generation". billygraham.org. Archived from the original on May 5, 2012. Retrieved November 16, 2025.
  2. 1 2 "Jeannette Clift". Golden Globe Awards. Retrieved November 13, 2025.
  3. 1 2 "Most Promising Newcomer To Leading Film Roles". British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Retrieved November 13, 2025.
  4. ↑ "Beverly Theatre". Los Angeles Theatres. Retrieved November 16, 2025.
  5. ↑ Canby, Vincent (November 6, 1975). "Screen: Hiding Place: Story of Dutch Family During Occupation". The New York Times .
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