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A 1961 American film about the fictionalized Judges' Trial of 1947, one of the Nuremberg Military Tribunals after World War II. The film explores the legal and moral dilemmas of the Allied judges who try four German jurists for crimes against humanity.
Fictionalized depiction of the 1947 Judges' Trial, the third of twelve trials of Nazi war criminals conducted by the American occupying forces in Nuremberg, Germany, in which former judges of Nazi Germany were tried for their actions.
- (87K)
- Drama, War
- Stanley Kramer
- 1961-12-18
- Overview
- Production notes and credits
- Cast
- Academy Award nominations (*denotes win)
- GeneratedCaptionsTabForHeroSec
Judgment at Nuremberg, American dramatic film, released in 1961, that was based on the post-World War II Nuremberg trials of former Nazi leaders. The film explores the complicity of the German people in the crimes committed by the state, including the atrocities of the Holocaust.
(Read Martin Scorsese’s Britannica essay on film preservation.)
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The plot centres on the military trial of four German judges accused of crimes against humanity for having carried out Nazi law. American prosecutor Col. Tad Lawson (played by Richard Widmark) argues that the defendants should be held fully responsible for their actions and offers as a witness a man (Montgomery Clift) who was castrated for mental deficiency. Defense attorney Hans Rolfe (Maximilian Schell) counters that the judges were merely obedient to Adolf Hitler’s orders and therefore no different from any other law-abiding German. Meanwhile, to gain perspective on the postwar German mood, the trial’s presiding judge, Dan Haywood (Spencer Tracy), meets with Madame Bertholt (Marlene Dietrich), the widow of a German general, outside the courtroom. The trial reaches a dramatic climax during an investigation into the role of defendant Ernst Janning (Burt Lancaster) in a case he had presided over in which a Jewish man was executed for allegedly having an affair with a non-Jewish woman. After Rolfe aggressively interrogates the woman (Judy Garland), Janning takes the stand and admits his culpability. Although Haywood is advised to be lenient so as not to flare tempers in the wake of the recently enacted Berlin blockade, he ultimately sentences the defendants to life imprisonment.
The big-budget production was shot in Germany, and, in a bold move for a Hollywood feature of its era, original footage of the death camps as encountered by Allied troops at the end of the war was interjected into the film. Despite a highly publicized premiere in Berlin, Judgment at Nuremberg proved controversial in Germany, as many took offense at having their still-recent past dissected on the big screen. In the United States, however, the film received critical acclaim and became a major hit. It garnered 11 Academy Award nominations, including four among its star-studded cast (and a win for Schell). Though not nominated, Lancaster earned additional praise for his portrayal of an educated aristocrat seduced by Hitler’s plan and rhetoric, a role that served as a metaphorical stand-in for the German populace at large.
•Studio: United Artists
•Director and producer: Stanley Kramer
•Writer: Abby Mann
•Music: Ernest Gold
•Spencer Tracy (Chief Judge Dan Haywood)
•Burt Lancaster (Dr. Ernst Janning)
•Richard Widmark (Col. Tad Lawson)
•Marlene Dietrich (Madame Bertholt)
•Maximilian Schell (Hans Rolfe)
•Judy Garland (Mrs. Irene Hoffman Wallner)
•Picture
•Director
•Lead actor* (Maximilian Schell)
•Lead actor (Spencer Tracy)
•Supporting actor (Montgomery Clift)
•Supporting actress (Judy Garland)
Learn about the Oscar-winning film that dramatized the Nuremberg trials of former Nazi leaders after World War II. The article covers the plot, the cast, the controversy, and the historical context of the film.
- Lee Pfeiffer
A 1961 drama based on the trial of Nazi war criminals after World War II. Stanley Kramer directed Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Marlene Dietrich and Maximilian Schell in this historical and legal film.
- Stanley Kramer
- Spencer Tracy
Judgment at Nuremberg dramatizes historical atrocity with thoughtfulness and vitality, interrogating complicity and genocide with an all-star cast at the peak of...
- (26)
- Spencer Tracy
- Stanley Kramer
- Roxlom Films Inc.
Oct 5, 2012 · Judgment at Nuremberg Official Trailer #1 - Burt Lancaster Movie (1961) HD. Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers. 1.7M subscribers. 256K views 11 years ago. ...more.
- 3 min
- 256.9K
- Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers
A fictionalized account of the 1947 trial of four Nazi judges in Nuremberg, Germany, by a retired American judge. The film explores the legal, moral and political issues of the case, as well as the impact of the Nazi regime on the German people.
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