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Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
Director: Stanley Kramer
Writer: Abby Mann
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Maximilian Schell, Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, Montgomery Clift
Genre: Drama, History, War
Length: 3h 6min
Nuremberg 1948: the Allies are holding one of the last of the Nazi war crime trials. Four former judges who served under the National Socialist are on trial themselves for war crimes against humanity. CR
This was my third time watching this classic. I'm totally impressed by all aspects of this film. This has to be the best courtroom films I've ever seen. All aspects of the film making process are superbly crafted. It's rare to find a film that does so much, and does it so well.
The Zepplin Grandstand at the Nuremberg Rally Grounds. I love this shot which conveys the isolation that the elderly American Judge (Spencer Tracy) felt.
Normally people give the director all the credit for a great film and as fine of a job that Stanley Kramer did, there are other people that deserve credit.
1, Abby Mann, The script written by Abby Mann was so lively and yet so real that it's the backbone of the movie. So many courtroom movies have dialog that seem less than real. But here everything that's said by both the defense lawyer and the prosecutor seems totally plausible. I love the way BOTH lawyers could sway you with their line of questioning and summary speeches. And that's the key to this movie, all thanks to Abby Mann.
The four accused judges.
2, Judgment at Nuremberg is chalked full of great actors. The three stand out performances were Montgomery Clift, who did a helluva job as a mentally slow person who was forcibly sterilized. Watch his face and hand movements, he's living the part and that's method acting at it's best.
Judy Garland, who many may only think of as a light comic, musical actress...she turns in an impressive performance as a woman wronged by the Nazis and scared to testify.
But the best performance was Maximilian Schell who played a German defense lawyer. It would be so easy for his role to take on a negative stereo type and present an unpalatable character. Instead Schell is powerful and even likable at times, he can sway the audience into believing his defense parlances.
Maximilian Schell won and Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role
3, Stanley Kramer, what a great job at directing he did. He shows us at the start of the film actual scenes of bombed out German cities, that gives us the scope of how devastating the war had been. The camera work in the courtroom keeps our attention focused and lets face it, long scenes set in a courtroom can get stale fast. Here, the camera fluidly moves and we are treated to a 360 degree coverage of the actor on screen. The cinematography is excellent, everything about the production is top notch.
4, The most impressive part of this film is the way it weaves history into the script as we learn about the beginnings and reasons for the National Socialist movement, aka Nazis. Without understand how and why the Nazis came into power, all you would get is a good guys vs bad guy movie, but this film is miles beyond that.
After my third watching of Judgment at Nuremberg, this has become one of my all time favorite films.
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
Director: Stanley Kramer
Writer: Abby Mann
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Maximilian Schell, Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, Montgomery Clift
Genre: Drama, History, War
Length: 3h 6min
Nuremberg 1948: the Allies are holding one of the last of the Nazi war crime trials. Four former judges who served under the National Socialist are on trial themselves for war crimes against humanity. CR
This was my third time watching this classic. I'm totally impressed by all aspects of this film. This has to be the best courtroom films I've ever seen. All aspects of the film making process are superbly crafted. It's rare to find a film that does so much, and does it so well.
The Zepplin Grandstand at the Nuremberg Rally Grounds. I love this shot which conveys the isolation that the elderly American Judge (Spencer Tracy) felt.
Normally people give the director all the credit for a great film and as fine of a job that Stanley Kramer did, there are other people that deserve credit.
I found these to be the most important aspects:
1, Abby Mann, The script written by Abby Mann was so lively and yet so real that it's the backbone of the movie. So many courtroom movies have dialog that seem less than real. But here everything that's said by both the defense lawyer and the prosecutor seems totally plausible. I love the way BOTH lawyers could sway you with their line of questioning and summary speeches. And that's the key to this movie, all thanks to Abby Mann.
The four accused judges.
2, Judgment at Nuremberg is chalked full of great actors. The three stand out performances were Montgomery Clift, who did a helluva job as a mentally slow person who was forcibly sterilized. Watch his face and hand movements, he's living the part and that's method acting at it's best.
Judy Garland, who many may only think of as a light comic, musical actress...she turns in an impressive performance as a woman wronged by the Nazis and scared to testify.
But the best performance was Maximilian Schell who played a German defense lawyer. It would be so easy for his role to take on a negative stereo type and present an unpalatable character. Instead Schell is powerful and even likable at times, he can sway the audience into believing his defense parlances.
Maximilian Schell won and Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role
3, Stanley Kramer, what a great job at directing he did. He shows us at the start of the film actual scenes of bombed out German cities, that gives us the scope of how devastating the war had been. The camera work in the courtroom keeps our attention focused and lets face it, long scenes set in a courtroom can get stale fast. Here, the camera fluidly moves and we are treated to a 360 degree coverage of the actor on screen. The cinematography is excellent, everything about the production is top notch.
4, The most impressive part of this film is the way it weaves history into the script as we learn about the beginnings and reasons for the National Socialist movement, aka Nazis. Without understand how and why the Nazis came into power, all you would get is a good guys vs bad guy movie, but this film is miles beyond that.
After my third watching of Judgment at Nuremberg, this has become one of my all time favorite films.