Film Snail

8.0

Judgment at Nuremberg

NR·1961·191m

Drama

History

Drama

History

Summary

In 1947, four German judges who served on the bench during the Nazi regime face a military tribunal to answer charges of crimes against humanity. Chief Justice Haywood hears evidence and testimony not only from lead defendant Ernst Janning and his defense attorney Hans Rolfe, but also from the widow of a Nazi general, an idealistic U.S. Army captain and reluctant witness Irene Wallner.

Cast

Spencer Tracy

Dan Haywood

Richard Widmark

Tad Lawson

Maximilian Schell

Hans Rolfe

Burt Lancaster

Ernst Janning

Marlene Dietrich

Mrs. Bertholt

Judy Garland

Irene Hoffman Wallner

Montgomery Clift

Rudolph Petersen

William Shatner

Harrison Byers

Werner Klemperer

Emil Hahn

Kenneth MacKenna

Kenneth Norris

Torben Meyer

Werner Lampe

Joseph Bernard

Abe Radnitz

Alan Baxter

Matt Merrin

Edward Binns

Senator Burkette

Virginia Christine

Mrs. Halbestadt

Otto Waldis

Pohl

Karl Swenson

Heinrich Geuter

Martin Brandt

Friedrich Hofstetter

Ray Teal

Curtiss Ives

John Wengraf

Karl Wieck

Ben Wright

Halbestadt

Howard Caine

Hugo Wallner

Olga Fabian

Elsa Lindnow

Paul Busch

Schmidt

Bernard Kates

Max Perkins

Bess Flowers

Concert Attendee (uncredited)

Frank Baker

Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)

Brandon Beach

Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)

Joseph Crehan

Courtroom Spectator at Verdict (uncredited)

Sayre Dearing

Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)

Sam Harris

Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)

Shep Houghton

Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)

Reed Howes

Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)

William Meader

Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)

Colin Kenny

Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)

George Nardelli

Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)

Waclaw Rekwart

Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)

Jack Stoney

Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)

Oscar Beregi Jr.

Waiter at Court Lounge (uncredited)

Norbert Schiller

Waiter (uncredited)

Chet Brandenburg

Concert Attendee (uncredited)

Herman Hack

Concert Attendee (uncredited)

Sheila Bromley

Mrs. Ives (uncredited)

Harold Miller

Courtroom Officer (uncredited)

Hans Moebus

Assistant Defense Attorney (uncredited)

Ed Nelson

Captain at Nightclub Announcing Call-up of Officers (uncredited)

William H. O'Brien

German Prisoner in Cafeteria (uncredited)

Rudy Solari

Interpreter in Courtroom (uncredited)

Bert Stevens

German Prisoner in Cafeteria (uncredited)

Hal Taggart

German Counsel (uncredited)

Jana Taylor

Elsa Scheffler (uncredited)

Ralph Moratz

Army Major at Trial (uncredited)

Tony Regan

Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)

Dick Cherney

Concert Attendee (uncredited)

Norman Stevans

Club Patron (uncredited)

Raoul Freeman

Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)

Crew

Director

Stanley Kramer

Original Story, Screenplay

Abby Mann

Reviews

Geronimo1967

April 20, 2023

Spencer Tracy is the presiding judge at the fictitious trial of some of the most evil Nazis to have survived the end of WWII. Chief amongst them is the formidable former jurist "Dr. Ernst Janning" (Burt Lancaster). Richard Widmark is tasked with leading the prosecution; Maximilian Schell as their defender. Make no mistake, this is no standard courtroom melodrama. The performances from all - especially a sensitive and measured Tracy who tries, despite every sense of humanity within himself pulling him otherwise - to remain as impartial and fair in the face of the evidence of brutality presented to him and his fellow judges. There are a couple of wonderful cameo performances from victims of the alleged abuses - notably Judy Garland and Monty Clift with Marlene Dietrich as the widow of a former Nazi general who seems to be in some sort of a daze of denial (we are never quite certain what she did/didn't know). The story challenges the very basis of an independent judiciary and the principles of blind obedience motivated by pure evil, zeal or fear. The use, only once, of actual British footage from a liberated concentration camp is heart-rending and sickening in equal measure. A real must see.