Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
A powerful essential historical drama from producer-director Stanley Kramer (written by Abby Mann) about the post World War II trials of German officers as war criminals. The cast couldn’t be better headlined by Spencer Tracy as the judge in the case(s) and Burt Lancaster as one of the accused. It features Maximilian Schell’s Academy Award winning performance (on his first nomination) as the defense attorney a Best Actor Oscar nominated performance from Tracy and Supporting Actor/Actress Oscar nominations for Montgomery Clift and Judy Garland (their last) who play witnesses. Other fine supporting performances are given by Richard Widmark as the prosecutor Marlene Dietrich as a German woman (Tracy’s character gets to know) that denies knowledge of the Nazi crimes and Werner Klemperer (before TV’s Hogan’s Heroes) as another of the accused. William Shatner appears as Tracy’s aide. The film and its director were Oscar nominated; Abby Mann took home the gold (on her first nomination) for Best Writing Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium. Ernest Laszlo’s B&W Cinematography Jean Louis’s B&W Costume Design Frederic Knudtson’s Editing and the film’s B&W Art Direction-Set Decoration also received nominations. Added to the National Film Registry in 2013.