Judgment at Nuremberg ***** (1961, Spencer Tracy, Richard Widmark, Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, Maximilian Schell, Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, William Shatner) – Classic Movie Review 3.503

Spencer Tracy is superb as the American chief judge, Dan Haywood, who sits in judgment over a 1948 war crimes trial in Nuremberg, Germany, in producer-director Stanley Kramer’s powerful and moving double Oscar-winning 1961 drama film Judgment at Nuremberg, greatly expanded by writer Abby Mann from his original 1959 Playhouse 90 TV play. Judgment at Nuremberg is rightly proud to boast one of those great golden years Hollywood all-star casts you just can’t argue with.

That remarkable cast delivers its highest quality work and the gay icons Marlene Dietrich and Judy Garland give perfectly judged serious acting turns as a Nazi general’s widow Frau Bertholt and a German wife Irene Hoffman. Richard Widmark impresses as the prosecutor Colonel Tad Lawson and Maximilian Schell, who won the 1962 Best Actor Oscar, is outstanding as an impassioned defence lawyer, Hans Rolfe, burdened with the awful task of defending Nazi war criminals.

Though he is repelled by the acts of individuals, Rolfe’s spirited defence sheds light on the way National Socialism arose. Mann’s subtle and intelligent depiction of this highly sensitive subject and Schell’s performance deserve the highest praise. Montgomery Clift as Rudolph Petersen and Burt Lancaster as defendant Dr Ernst Janning are also outstanding.

Abby Mann also took an Oscar for his thought-provoking Best Adapted Screenplay, and there is also distinguished work on black and white cinematography from Ernest Laszlo, music by Ernest Gold and production designs by Rudolph Sternad. Apart from the two wins, there were nine other Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, and acting nods for Tracy, Garland and Montgomery Clift.

Also in the cast are another gay icon Montgomery Clift as Rudolph Petersen, Burt Lancaster as Dr Ernst Janning, William Shatner as Captain Harrison Byers, Ray Teal, Edward Binns as Senator Burkette, Kenneth MacKenna as Judge Kenneth Norris, Werner Klemperer as defendant Emil Hahn, Alan Baxter as Brigadier General Matt Merrin, Torben Meyer as Werner Lampe, Virginia Christine as Frau Halbestadt, Karl Swenson and Joseph Crehan.

The film presents a fictionalised version of the Judges’ Trial of 1947, one of the 12 Nuremberg Military Tribunals conducted by the US military after the Second World War.

The great popular interest in the 1959 Playhouse 90 TV episode prompted Abby Mann to expand its dramatic elements to make into a movie, in which Schell and Klemperer re-create their roles.

In 2013, Judgment at Nuremberg was selected for preservation in the US National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.

The world premiere was held on 14 December 1961, at the Kongresshalle in West Berlin, Germany, with 300 journalists from 22 countries. Most of the Germans there left in silence. The film’s release coincided with the trial and conviction in Israel of Nazi SS officer Adolf Eichmann.

Maximilian Schell died on 1 February 2014, aged 83.

The cast are Spencer Tracy as Chief Judge Dan Haywood, Burt Lancaster as defendant Dr Ernst Janning, Richard Widmark as prosecutor Colonel Tad Lawson, Maximilian Schell as defence counsel Hans Rolfe, Marlene Dietrich as Frau Bertholt, Montgomery Clift as Rudolph Peterson, Judy Garland as Irene Hoffmann, William Shatner as Captain Harrison Byers, Howard Caine as Irene’s husband Hugo Wallner, Werner Klemperer as defendant Emil Hahn, John Wengraf as Dr. Karl Wiec, Karl Swenson as lawyer Dr Heinrich Geuter, Ben Wright as Herr Halbestadt, Virginia Christine as Mrs. Halbestadt, Edward Binns as Senator Burkette, Torben Meyer as defendant Werner Lampe, Martin Brandt as defendant Friedrich Hofstetter, Kenneth MacKenna as Judge Kenneth Norris, Ray Teal as Judge Curtiss Ives, Alan Baxter as Brig. Gen. Matt Merrin, Joseph Bernard as Major Abe Radnitz,  Olga Fabian as Mrs. Elsa Lindnow, Otto Waldis as Pohl, Paul Busch as Schmidt, and Bernard Kates as Max Perkins.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3,503

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