Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)

Director:

Stanley Kramer

Writer:

Abby Mann (story)

Release Date:

18 December 1961 (Sweden)

Genre:

Drama | History

Tagline:

More than a motion picture...It is an overwhelming experience in human emotion you will never forget!

Plot:

In 1948, an American court in occupied Germany tries four Nazi judges for war crimes.

Plot Keywords:

Judge | Nazi | Trial | Germany | Cold War

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 12 wins & 21 nominations

Cast

Spencer Tracy	...	Chief Judge Dan Haywood
Burt Lancaster	...	Dr. Ernst Janning
Richard Widmark	...	Col. Tad Lawson
Marlene Dietrich	...	Mrs. Bertholt
Maximilian Schell	...	Hans Rolfe
Judy Garland	...	Mrs. Irene Hoffman Wallner
Montgomery Clift	...	Rudolph Petersen
Edward Binns	...	Sen. Burkette
Werner Klemperer	...	Emil Hahn
Torben Meyer	...	Werner Lampe
Martin Brandt	...	Friedrich Hofstetter
William Shatner	...	Capt. Harrison Byers
Kenneth MacKenna	...	Judge Kenneth Norris
Alan Baxter	...	Brig. Gen. Matt Merrin
Ray Teal	...	Judge Curtiss Ives

Also Known As:

Judgement at Nuremberg

Runtime:

186 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.75 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Norway:16 | West Germany:16 (f) | Finland:S (1990) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 (1961) | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany

Company:

Roxlom Films Inc.

Trivia:

Stanley Kramer allowed Marlene Dietrich to write a good deal of her own part, as the actress had personally experienced many of the wartime horrors of her character.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The actual text of the Nuremberg Law ("Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor", promulgated September 1935) only prescribes a prison term as punishment for "extramarital intercourse between Jews and subjects of the state of German or related blood", not death as stated in the script. So Mr. Feldenstein could not have been sentenced to death by a German court. Unfortunately, this would not have prevented the Gestapo from arresting such people and sending them without a legal trial to a concentration camp, where death was a very likely outcome. The Nazis rarely bothered with trials in such matters.

Quotes:

[last lines]
Ernst Janning: Judge Haywood... the reason I asked you to come: Those people, those millions of people... I never knew it would come to that. You *must* believe it, *You must* believe it!
Judge Dan Haywood: Herr Janning, it "came to that" the *first time* you sentenced a man to death you *knew* to be innocent.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in In Conversation: Abby Mann and Maximillian Schell (2004) (V)

Soundtrack:

Du, du liegst mir im Herzen

Justice be done

Probably one of the best movies on Justice and Nazism. Probably one of the best performances of actors that I know. Probably one of best pictures of the post war... and yet almost forgotten as if sacrificed on the altar of the cold war.

Too intellectual and too realistic, not enough young and fresh heroes.... Pointing an accusing finger where nobody wanted it to be pointed for so many years.

This movie is a compelling experience and historically so true. Watch it now and keep it for your children.