Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)

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  March 16, 2011

  axadntpron

  Quite possibly the most riveting and masterfully filmed courtroom dramas I have ever seen. While I hear that Kramer went on to become a studio hack, he hit it out of the park here. I honestly couldn't believe that a director could utilize the space of a room in the ways that Kram... read moreer did. His camera is rarely static and never distracting. It is graceful and delicate. Tracy and Lancaster are brilliant but that is business as usual. The man who really steals the show is Maximilian Schell. It will probably go down as one of the best supporting performances that I have ever seen.

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  December 7, 2010

  gokhale1

  I did not think much of Kramer's previous courtroom drama, "Inherit the Wind" which also starred Spencer Tracy. But the mere premise and ensemble starcast of "Judgment at Nuremberg" was reason enough to rent this film and give it a shot.
  
  Inspired by true events, this fictiona... read morelized account of the trials stars Spencer Tracy as Judge Dan Haywood who is supposed to give judgement in the trial of four Nazi judges who have been charged with crimes against humanity. They have been accused of twisting the law during the Nazi regime and helping the government to put away some socially undesirable individuals and also advocating and permitting the forceful sexual sterilization of some others. One of these judges is Ernst Janning, played by a sad-faced and silent Burt Lancaster, who has once been a much respected figure in the ministry of justice. Books published by him, still being used in some universities, Judge Haywood is baffled about how a man who values justice so much, can be responsible for such heinous acts of brutality.
  
  What follows is a gripping courtroom battle of wits between the prosecuting attorney, Col. Lawson (Richard Widmark) and Hans Rolfe (Maximilian Schell). Amidst all this courtroom chaos, Judge Haywood himself has some experiences of his own, when he is not sitting on the judge's chair, getting acquainted with German people who have lived to see the ghastly past of the Nazi regime, yet seem to be completely oblivious to most of the details, including the holocaust.
  
  Stanley Kramer does a great job of directing this film written by Abby Mann. Ernst Gold's original music nicely complements some other German traditional music used in this film, particularly the group singing in bars.
  
  The performances: Great..all of them. Special mention, though, about:
  
  Spencer Tracy: Excellent as Judge Haywood who is clearly taken aback on how some of the "good" Germans he has come to be acquainted with in his short stay can claim to not have any knowledge about the war crimes and holocaust in the Nazi regime.
  
  Burt Lancaster: Wonderful portrayal of the sad-eyed Dr. Ernst Janning full of regret for the acts he has been accused of committing.
  
  Marlene Dietrich: Great as the widow of a German soldier who was executed.
  
  Maximilian Schell: The most scene-stealing performance of them all. He gets some of the most powerful scenes to chew on and pulls it off brilliantly!
  
  Last but not the least, the "single-scene stealers" as I call them, these actors took my breath away in their very brief appearances:
  
  Judy Garland as Irene Hoffman and Montgomery Clift as Rudolf Petersen. Splendid performances, both of them! Academy Award nominations, well-deserved.
  
  
  This film runs more than three hours long, and may require some patience on part of the viewer for all the verbose courtroom proceedings. But once the "Exit music" starts playing, you know that you have just had the pleasure of viewing one of the most powerful courtroom films out there. This is also one of those films that will ensure that you have as much the same dilemma, about who to root for, as faced by some principal characters in this film!
  
  Recommended!

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• 
  
  November 22, 2010

  ajv2688

  There are two reasons to watch this movie: the all-star cast and the educational/intelligent view of WWII. These reasons weren't good enough to get a higher rating in my opinion, the movie is very long and boring. Overall a pretty good movie, it would have been better if it had... read more a bit more suspense.

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  August 14, 2010

  FrizzDrop

  This is not just a film. No, a film is a story that is told with a certain perspective. This story was black and white to many. Making the gray areas apparent was all in Kramer's direction, and the amazing cast. Performances by Tracy, Garland, Lancaster, and Clift stand out as mu... read morech as the Oscar winner Maximilian Schell. Extremly long, but time whisks by, I promise you.

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  May 11, 2009

  5oclockcoffee

  Black screen and a German marching song. An overture nearly four minutes long. A three hours long film, but never overlong. A supporting and amazing cast. Some heartbreaking acting like Judy Garland as Irene Hoffman Wallner. Breathtaking. After such Nazi atrocities, all tha... read moret matters is (still) political conveniences.
  
  
  
  After watching Judgment at Nuremberg (and the tapes they show of the concentration camps), I rethought about "The Reader" and reconsidered my feelings and impressions about Hanna Schmitz, played by Kate Winslet. Like Dr. Ernst Janning, Hanna Schmitz was, after all and spite of anything, guilty.
  
  
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  April 14, 2008

  pier007

  A cast of legends and an excellent screenplay made easier for Stanley Kramer to achieve such powerful and compelling courtroom drama. A film that any person should have the opportunity to watch, especially the world leaders.

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  April 6, 2007

  jjnxn

  a fine film but somber and long.

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  January 27, 2007

  mjgildea

  I caught all but the last two minutes but I really liked it. It's full of great performances, namely from Burt Lancaster. It also asks a lot of great ethical questions as well. At a running time of about 3 hours its definitely not for everyone but a must for WWII history buffs.

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  May 31, 2013

  crossbladezero

  Wow, Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Marlene Dietrich, Montgomery Clift, Judy Garland and even a young William Shatner are but a few people in this $3 million period epic, so I think it's safe to say that Stanley Kramer knew how to save money more than he knew how... read more to save on time. Yup, in case "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" wasn't overlong enough for you, well, this probably won't impress you, because I hear the original cut of "World" is, for some reason, about thirty minutes longer than this film, and plus, as overlong as this film is, it's a bit more worthy of a hefty link... apparently. I don't know what is up with everyone's ideas that courtroom dramas have to be really, really long, but hey, we've still gotten some pretty good, really long legal dramas, so it's only fitting that this, a film that is about as long as any legal drama, be good. Man, I can't help but think about how weird it is that Stanley Kramer did this sprawling, thorough study on the trials against the particularly high-ranking Nazi monsters against the merciless purging of millions of people in the name of anti-semitism, then followed it up with "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World". Hey, say what you will about the guy's taste in runtimes, he was nothing less than versatile, or at least I think he was, because this film and "World" are the ones of his that people remember, and even then, people barely remember this "little" number. It's a shame, quite frankly, because we should never forget any kind of portrayal of the terrible, terrible travesties against the Jews, especially if those portrayals are as long as this one, because, I don't know about y'all, but if I'm investing three hours of my life into something, I better enjoy and remember it. Well, as sure as sunshine, this film is worthy of your time, though not entirely, as this legal epic is guilty of more than a few problems.
  
  Opening up only on the first night before the first day of the Nuremberg trials, this film doesn't really feel the need to give you all that much insight into the stories of the characters who will be driving this epic-length character study, and sure, compensation for expository shortcomings can be found within meaty characterization and richly well-defined performances, yet development issues still stand, giving you little immediate information and leaving you to go somewhat distanced from the full human depths of the final product. It's fairly impressive how much this film is able to flesh out its characters in spite of developmental shortcomings, especially considering the limitations in storytelling sensibilities at the time, but only so much can be done to obscure lulls in exposition, and even less can be done to drive your attention away from lulls in atmospheric kick, because as firmly secured as intrigue generally is, there are slow spots, something that a film this bloated cannot afford to have. At an astonishing 186 minutes of courtroom dramas and more simple, less juicy talkativeness beyond the courtroom, this film outstays its welcome by a considerable margin, seeming tight in some areas due to its being so good at sustaining intrigue on the whole, but truly being nothing if not exceedingly overlong, with excess material and filler, and, of course, repetition. The film is three hours well-spent, but this is still three hours we're talking about, and as momentous as the thematic depth of this important and humanly rich subject matter is, the plotting structure concept itself is anything but sweeping enough to sustain a runtime that boasts this sprawling of a length, which in turn only calls your attention further to natural shortcomings. Really, the flaws just discussed aren't as severe as I make them sound, as expository shortcomings are compensated for more often than not, and the runtime is made generally comfortable by intrigue that also thins out the sting of the atmospheric slow spells, so what might very well be the most serious shortcomings of the final product are of a natural persuasion, because there is something very minimalist about this conversationalist legal drama, thus the final product was never to be as potent was it clearly wants to be, and the sprawling runtime that was to breathe more well-rounded power into this worthy subject matter ends up doing only so much more than bloat storytelling into aimlessness. No matter how aimless the film gets, it grips, but not tightly enough for you to feel exactly what Stanley Kramer clearly wanted you to feel, as there is too much aimlessness to this overlong and slightly undercooked dialogue drama to consistently sustain your investment. Still, on the whole, no matter how much it is shaken, your investment never slips so far that the final product finds itself unable to reward, for although flaws are difficult to deny when it comes to this overblown drama, strengths are abundant enough to compensate and attract, even on a visual level.
  
  Shot completely in black-and-white, this film found enough visual shortcomings within its being lensed at a time with limitations in photographic quality, so don't go into this film expecting its visual style to be especially advanced for its time, but do expect Ernest Laszlo to still show that he, at least when backed by Stanley Kramer's sharp directorial eye, sure knew his way around a camera, playing with framing in an occasionally stylish and consistently intimate fashion, while keeping what lighting there can be deep enough to give a sense of grit, augmented by the limitations in coloring. Stylistically, the film is hardly killer, but it is impressive when you step back to meditate upon what is accomplished here, unless, of course, it's too difficult to see this film's stylistic strengths through all of the much more rich substance strengths, which you should have no trouble seeing through all of the shortcomings in storytelling. Again, the film is too long for its own good, going into aimless spells - occasionally exacerbated by atmospheric limp spells - that give you more time than you should have to think about how limited this film's story concept is when it comes to structural meat, and yet, no matter how limited this story is in dynamicity, at its core is subject matter that is very worthy, rich and all around intriguing, with the potential to be executed into the compelling legal drama that it, in fact, is at the end of the day, partially thanks to Abby Mann's script's which boasts sharp dialogue to keep intrigue from slipping too much when struck by all of the narrative lulls, as well as many areas of subtly genuine characterization that may not be able to fully compensate for expository shortcomings, but do an adequate job of earning your investment in the characters, whose depths are truly powered by the performances that were somewhat ahead of their time. Not enough material is there for everyone to be stellar, but if nothing else is surprising about this film, especially considering the dramatic limitations of the time, it's just how much this star-studded cast delivers, with most every member having his or her time to shine as distinguished and effective, perhaps even powerful forces who drive much of the human depth within this character drama, whose outstanding secondary performances include such much too briefly present talents as the strong Montgomery Clift as a nervous, unstable and all around traumatized witness, and a piercing Judy Garland as a woman whose faith in a Nazi she thought was kind goes crushingly shaken while she finds herself tortured with accusations of an illegal statutory affair with the Nazi in question, and whose more primary cast members command your attention throughout the film, with Spencer Tracy being charismatic as the trial's chief judge, and a then-up-and-coming Maximilian Schell being effectively convincing in his immersed and layered portrayal of an intense seeker of justice for the unjust whose passion grows to corrupt his understandable, if somewhat misguided intentions, while the great Burt Lancaster all but steals the show in his initially quietly striking and gradually intensifying portrayal of a guilty man who regrets the terrible crimes that he and his peers are accused to exacting in the name of love for their flawed country. The names just mentioned are but a few worth mentioning in this hefty cast of classic talents, almost all of whom deliver with onscreen inspiration that goes matched only by Stanley Kramer's offscreen inspiration, because in spite of his inability to fully compensate for the final product's shortcomings, Kramer does enough to flesh this story out with a subtlety and range that is surprisingly audacious, being unafraid to take what chances it needs to (This film even has the guts to shamelessly feature a sequence that shows the fainthearted audience of the early '60s footage evidence of what was going on in the concentration camps) in order to reinforce intrigue of both a human and legal nature. The film is too overdrawn, aimless and naturally thin to be all-out powerful on the whole, but the thoughtfulness that Kramer puts into the telling of this intriguing tale gracefully fleshes out depth and intrigue enough to compel you time and again, and craft a final product that overcomes, not necessarily its natural shortcomings, but its flaws enough to reward the patient.
  
  To come to my own judgment, moderate expository shortcomings slow down momentum, though not as much as the slow spells and repetitious padding that reflect the natural limitations in this relatively thin story enough for the final product to fall short of what it wants to be, though not so short that you can't still appreciate it as rewarding, as there is enough attractiveness to Ernest Laszlo's cinematography, sharpness to Abby Mann's script, power to the performances within this star-studded cast, and audaciously intriguing thoughtfulness to Stanley Kramer's inspired storytelling to make "Judgment at Nuremberg" a thoroughly compelling, if naturally restrained dramatization of the Nuremberg Trials and study on how passion can intensely corrupt.
  
  3/5 - Good

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  February 23, 2009

  trisarahtops22

  The movie was a bit long, but all the performaces were engaging. It really shows you there's no black and white when dealing with world war II.

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• Spencer Tracy as Judge Dan Haywood
• Burt Lancaster as Ernst Janning
• Richard Widmark as Col. Tad Lawson
• Marlene Dietrich as Mme. Bertholt
• Maximilian Schell as Hans Rolfe
• Judy Garland as Irene Hoffman
• Montgomery Clift as Rudolph Petersen
• Werner Klemperer as Emil Hahn
• Edward Binns as Sen. Burkette

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• 
  Schindler's List (80%)
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  Inherit the Wind (64%)
• 
  The Grey Zone (83%)
• 
  Downfall (Der Untergang) (79%)

• • Gen. Merrin: To Lawson: Look, I'm not your commanding officer. I can't influence your decision, and I don't want to. But I want to give this to you, and I want to give it to you straight. We need the help of the German people. And you don't get the help of the German people...by sentencing their leaders to stiff prison sentences. The thing to do is survive, isn't it? Survive as best we can, but survive.
• • Hans Rolfe: Why did we succeed, Your Honor? What about the rest of the world? Did it not know the intentions of the Third Reich? Did it not hear the words of Hitler's broadcasts all over the world? Did it not read his intentions in Mein Kampf...published in every corner of the world? Where is the responsibility of the Soviet Union...who signed in the pact with Hitler...enabled him to make war? Are we now to find Russia guilty? Where is the responsibility of the Vatican...who signed in the concordat with Hitler...giving him his first tremendous prestige? Are we now to find the Vatican guilty? Where is the responsibility of the world leader Winston Churchill...who said in an open letter to the London Times in : 'Were England to suffer a national disaster, I should pray to God...to send a man of the strength of mind and will of an Adolf Hitler.' Are we now to find Winston Churchill guilty? Where is the responsibility of those American industrialists...who helped Hitler to rebuild his armaments, and profited by that rebuilding? Are we now to find the American industrialists guilty? No, Your Honor. Germany alone is not guilty. The whole world is as responsible for Hitler as Germany.
• • Col. Tad Lawson: 'The hare was shot by the hunter in the field.' It's really quite simple.
  • Capt. Harrison Byers: Colonel, I think we ought to be going.
  • Judge Dan Haywood: Yes, we really shouldn't be discussing this.
  • Col. Tad Lawson: No, Judge. We're fair Americans, and true-blue. We mustn't do anything that's out of order.
• • Mme. Bertholt: I wish you understood German. The words are very beautiful. Very sad. Much sadder than the English words.
• • Col. Tad Lawson: We beat the greatest war machine since Alexander the Great.
• • Mme. Bertholt: My husband was a military man all his life. He was entitled to a soldier's death. He asked for that. I tried to get that for him, just that, that he would die with some honor. I went from official to official. I begged for that. That he be permitted the dignity of a firing squad. You know what happened? He was hanged with the others... and after that, I knew what it was to hate. I never left the house, I never left the room. I drank. I hated with every fiber of my being. I hated every American I had ever known.

• 'Judgment at Nuremberg' was another courtroom movie with Spencer Tracy - this time as a judge. Who played the prosecuting attorney?   Answer »
• Spencer Tracy won an Oscar for his role in Judgment At Nuremberg ?  Answer »
• What 9 time Oscar nominee directed Judgment at Nuremberg?  Answer »

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