Judgment at Nuremberg

Judgment at Nuremberg centers on a military tribunal convened in Nuremberg, Germany, in which four German judges and prosecutors stand accused of crimes against humanity for their involvement in atrocities committed under the Nazi regime.

Judge Dan Haywood (Spencer Tracy) is the chief judge of a three-judge panel of Allied jurists who will hear and decide the case against the defendants. Haywood is particularly interested in learning how the defendant Ernst Janning (Burt Lancaster), a respected jurist and legal scholar, could have committed the atrocities he is accused of, including sentencing innocent people to death.

Haywood seeks to understand how the German people could have been deaf and blind to the Nazi regime's crimes. In doing so, he befriends the widow (Marlene Dietrich) of a German general who had been executed by the Allies. He talks with other Germans who have varying perspectives on the war.

Other characters the judge meets are US Army Captain Harrison Byers (William Shatner), who is assigned to assist the American judges hearing the case, and Irene Hoffmann (Judy Garland), who is afraid to provide testimony that may bolster the prosecution's case against the judges. (Hoffman's character bears resemblance to Irene Seiler, a key figure in the notorious Nazi kangaroo court case, the Katzenberger Trial.)

German defense attorney Hans Rolfe (Maximilian Schell) argues that the defendants were not the only ones to aid or ignore the Nazi regime. He claims the United States has committed acts just as bad or worse than the Nazis, such as US Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.'s support for the first eugenics practices; the German-Vatican Reichskonkordat of 1933, which the Nazi-dominated German government exploited as an implicit early foreign recognition of Nazi leadership; Joseph Stalin's part in the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939, which removed the last major obstacle to Germany's invasion and occupation of western Poland, initiating World War II; and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the final stage of the war in August 1945.[8]

Janning, meanwhile, testifies for the prosecution, admitting he is guilty of condemning to death a Jewish man of "blood defilement" charges—namely, that the man had sex with a 16-year-old Gentile girl—when he knew there was no evidence to support such a verdict. Janning explains that well-meaning people like himself supported Adolf Hitler's anti-Semitic, racist policies out of patriotism even though they knew it was wrong, and that all of Germany bears some measure of responsibility for the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime.

Haywood must weigh considerations of geopolitical expediency against his own ideals of justice. The trial is set against the background of the Berlin Blockade, and there is pressure to let the German defendants off lightly to gain German support in the growing Cold War against the Soviet Union.[9]

While the four defendants maintain their pleas of "not guilty" in their closing statements, Janning and fellow defendant Werner Lampe (Torben Meyer) show clear remorse for their actions, while a third, Friedrich Hofstetter (Martin Brandt) claims they had no choice but to execute the laws handed down by Hitler's government. Only the fourth defendant, Emil Hahn (Werner Klemperer) remains unrepentant, telling the Americans that they will live to regret not allying with the Nazis against the Soviet Union. Ultimately, all four defendants are found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.

Haywood visits Janning in his cell. Janning affirms to Haywood that his verdict was a just one, but asks him to believe that, regarding the mass murder of innocents, he never knew that it would come to that. Judge Haywood replies it came to that the first time Janning condemned a man he knew to be innocent.

Haywood departs; a title card informs the audience that of 99 defendants sentenced to prison terms in Nuremberg trials that took place in the American Zone, none were still serving a sentence when the film was released in 1961.[10][lower-alpha 1]

• "Lili Marleen"
  • Music by Norbert Schultze (1938)
  • Lyrics by Hans Leip (1915)
• "Liebeslied"
  • Music by Ernest Gold
  • Lyrics by Alfred Perry
• "Wenn wir marschieren"
  • German folk song (ca. 1910)
• “Wenn die Soldaten”
  • German folk song (ca. 1840)
• "Care for Me"
  • By Ernest Gold
• "Notre amour ne peur"
  • By Ernest Gold
• "Du, du liegst mir im Herzen"
  • German folk song, arrangement by Ernest Gold
• "Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13"
  • By Ludwig van Beethoven

The world premiere was held on December 14, 1961, at the Kongresshalle in West Berlin, Germany.[1] 300 journalists from 22 countries were in attendance,[15] and earphones offering the soundtrack dubbed in German, Spanish, Italian, and French were made available.[1] The reaction from the audience was reportedly subdued, with some applauding at the finish, but most of the Germans in attendance leaving in silence.[15]

Kramer's film received positive reviews from critics and was lauded as a straight reconstruction of the famous trials of Nazi war criminals. The cast was especially praised, including Tracy, Lancaster, Schell, Clift, and Garland. The film's release was perfectly timed, as its subject coincided with the trial and conviction in Israel of Nazi SS officer Adolf Eichmann.

Bosley Crowther of The New York Times declared it "a powerful, persuasive film" with "a stirring, sobering message to the world".[16] Variety wrote: "With the most painful pages of modern history as its bitter basis, Abby Mann's intelligent, thought-provoking screenplay is a grim reminder of man's responsibility to denounce grave evils of which he is aware. The lesson is carefully, tastefully and upliftingly told via Kramer's large-scale production."[17] Harrison's Reports awarded its top grade of "Excellent", praising Kramer for employing "an ingenious device of fluid direction" and Spencer Tracy for "a performance of compelling substance".[18]

Brendan Gill of The New Yorker called the film "a bold and, despite its great length, continuously exciting picture", which asks questions that "are among the biggest that can be asked and are no less fresh and thrilling for being thousands of years old". Gill added that the cast was so loaded with stars "that it occasionally threatens to turn into a judicial Grand Hotel. Luckily, they all work hard to stay inside their roles."[19] Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post declared it "an extraordinary film, both in concept and handling. Those who see this at the Warner will recognize that the screen has been put to noble use."[20]

The Monthly Film Bulletin of Britain dissented, writing in a mostly negative review that "this large-scale trial film undermines faith in its philosophical and historical merit by colouring the better part of its message with hackneyed court-room hysteria", explaining that "in a series of contrived scenes ... the point is hammered home right down to the last shock-cut. The same specious technique (zoom-lens shots and camera-circlings predominant) and showmanship turn the trial into little more than a travesty—notably in the melodramatic switch in the character of Janning."[21]

The film grossed $6 million in the United States and $10 million in worldwide release.[22]

The television network premiere of the film was shown on ABC on 7 March 1965; it was interrupted to show news footage of the violence on "Bloody Sunday" during the Selma to Montgomery marches.[23] The juxtaposition of the film about Nazi atrocities and the news footage of violence against African-American people resulted in sympathy and greater support for the civil-rights cause.[24][25]

In June 2008, the American Film Institute revealed its "Ten Top Ten" 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.[27] Additionally, the film had been nominated for AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies.[28]

Judgment at Nuremberg was released in American theatres on December 19, 1961.

CBS/Fox Video first released the film as a two-VHS cassette set in 1986. MGM re-released the VHS version in 1991, while the 1996 and 2001 reissues were part of the Vintage Classics and Screen Epics collection respectively. In addition, the special edition DVD was released on September 7, 2004.[29]

Three Blu-ray versions of the film were also produced. A limited edition Blu-ray was released by Twilight Time on November 14, 2014. Kino Lorber re-released the Blu-ray as a standard release in 2018. The BFI released a 2-disc Blu-ray on January 20, 2020.[30][31]

The Australian Blu-ray was released as part of The Hollywood Gold Series.[32]

In 1985, a Soviet stage adaptation of the film under the title Judgment was produced for Baltic House Festival Theatre, with Gennady Egorov as director.

In 2001, another stage adaptation of the film was produced for Broadway, starring Schell (this time in the role of Ernst Janning) and George Grizzard, with John Tillinger as director.[33]

• German Concentration Camps Factual Survey, British and American army film of the camps
• List of Holocaust films
• Message picture
• Nuremberg Trials (a Soviet film on the trials)
• Spencer Tracy filmography
• Trial films
• War crimes trials
• Nuremberg, a 2000 TV miniseries about the actual Nuremberg Trials

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• Judgment at Nuremberg at IMDb
• Judgment at Nuremberg at Rotten Tomatoes
• Judgment at Nuremberg at AllMovie
• Judgment at Nuremberg at the TCM Movie Database
• Judgment at Nuremberg at the American Film Institute Catalog