Judgment at Nuremberg (released in the UK as Judgement at Nuremberg) (1961) is a fictionalized film account of the post-World War II Nuremberg Trials, written by Abby Mann and directed by Stanley Kramer, starring Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Marlene Dietrich, Maximilian Schell, Judy Garland, Montgomery Clift, Werner Klemperer, and William Shatner. Originally written for television,^[1] the film depicts the trial of certain judges who executed Nazi law. Such a trial did occur: the film was inspired by the Judges' Trial before the U.S. Nuremberg Military Tribunal in 1947. By the time the film was made, all of the convicts had already been released, including four of them who were sentenced to life in prison. A key thread in the film's plot involves a "race defilement" trial known as the "Feldenstein case". In this fictionalized case, based on the real life Katzenberger Trial, an elderly Jewish man was tried for an improper relationship with an "Aryan" woman, and put to death in 1942.

The film examines the questions of individual complicity in crimes committed by the state. It does not shy away from difficult issues. For example, defense attorney Hans Rolfe (Schell) raises such thorny issues as the support of a U.S. Supreme Court justice for the practice of eugenics, and Winston Churchill's words of praise for Adolf Hitler. One noteworthy scene is the testimony of Rudolph Petersen, a German civilian baker, who, considered mentally incompetent, was sterilized by the Nazis in accordance with their social laws. As played by Montgomery Clift, Petersen's nervousness about recounting the horrific tale of his past is visible from the start; he shifts and fidgets constantly on the stand and stammers in his speech. The tension is further amplified when he is cross-examined by defense attorney Rolfe, who reveals that Petersen was removed from school for an inability to learn and because his mother was also deemed mentally incompetent. During the course of the trial, prosecuting attorney Col. Tad Lawson (Richard Widmark) shows the actual historical footage filmed by American soldiers after the liberation of the concentration camps. The footage and its use in a mainstream American film is historically significant. It was one of the first attempts by the American film industry and mass media to expose the American public at large to the full nature and scope of the Nazi atrocities.

The movie won the Academy Award for Best Actor (Maximilian Schell) and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, and was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Spencer Tracy), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Montgomery Clift), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Judy Garland), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White, Best Costume Design, Black-and-White, Best Director, Best Film Editing and Best Picture. This is one of the few times that a film had multiple entries in the same category (Tracy and Schell for Best Actor), and Schell was the first Best Actor winner to be billed fifth. Many of the big name actors who appeared in the film did so for a fraction of their usual salaries because they believed so deeply in the social importance of the project.

In June 2008, the American Film Institute revealed its "Ten top Ten"?the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres?after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. Judgment at Nuremberg was acknowledged as the tenth best film in the courtroom drama genre.^[2]

In 2001, a stage adaptation of the film was produced for Broadway, starring Schell, and George Grizzard, with John Tillinger as director.^[3]

Cast

See also

• List of Holocaust films
• Trial movies

Notes

External links

• 3 Speeches from the Movie with Text, Audio and Video from AmericanRhetoric.com

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