George_Chabot's Full Review: Judgment at Nuremberg
Absorbing courtroom drama of the Nazi war crimes trial of 1949 wherein four high court judges were accused of participating in war crimes in support of Adolf Hitler's regime.
Produced and directed by Stanley Kramer, using black and white film, it earned over $5.5 million, a resounding success for the times and garnered two Oscars, Maximilian Schell as Best Actor and another for Abby Mann's screenplay.
The lead character is Spencer Tracy as Chief Judge of the American Tribunal that tries the Nazi judges. The overzealous Prosecuting Attorney is played by Richard Widmark. The Defense Attorney is Played by Maximilian Schell, in a riveting performance. He plays a zealous attorney who transforms the case against his client to an indictment against the whole German people. Schell's performance is really over the top and makes the movie work.
Three other characters give notable performances; Werner Klemperer, as one of the defendants, "Emil Hahn", gives a convincing display of the arrogance one would associate with a man who had lived above the law for too many years; Marlene Dietrich, as the wife of an executed German general who forms a relationship with Tracy during his time off and tries to convince him that all Germans did not support Hitler; Montgomery Clift, horribly ravaged in appearance and emotions thru acute alcoholism, gave a convincing portrait of a victim of the machinations of the Nazi state whose tools were the judges.
Judy Garland also gave a fine performance as a German housewife who befriended a Jewish man and was therefore punished by the Nazi tribunal.
Regarding a comment one reviewer made that the German characters did not speak German, the director did a neat trick to explain that: He began the courtroom scene with the Germans speaking German and the Americans speaking English, while listening to translations through headphones. A few minutes of that laborious work of hearing everything repeated in both languages, and he had Maximilian Schell switch from German to English in mid-sentence. From that point on, everybody spoke English. It was an extremely effective way of dealing with an awkward situation, in my opinion.
This drama kept me on the edge of my seat, particularly Schell's mesmerizing rhetoric.
The film has a few lagging moments as the scene shifts outside the courtroom to show Tracy's activities after work. Otherwise, it is a stunning film!
The German music adds a nice touch, recalling the power of the Nazi regime and taking the edge off of the all too real subject matter.
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