This film was listed numerous times in the IMDb Top 250 movies, and it has a great ensemble cast, I was hoping it would be a long film I wouldn't get bored by, produced and directed by Golden Globe winning, and Oscar nominated Stanley Kramer (The Defiant Ones, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner). Basically, in 1948, Nuremberg, Germany, a military tribunal is taking place, where four German judges and prosecutors stand accused of crimes against humanity for their involvement in atrocities committed under the Nazi regime. The tribunal is overseen by Chief Judge Dan Haywood (Oscar nominated Spencer Tracy) with a -judge panel of Allied jurists who will hear and decide the case against the defendants. Haywood is most interested in respected jurist and legal scholar Dr. Ernst Janning (Burt Lancaster) and learning how he could have committed the atrocities he is accused of, including sentencing innocent people to death. Haywood wants to understand how German citizens could have possibly been unaware of or ignored the Nazi regime's crimes. During the tribunal, he befriends Mrs. Bertholt (Marlene Dietrich), the widow of a Nazi army officer executed by the Allies. He talks with other Germans who have different perspectives on the Second World War. US Army Captain Harrison Byers (William Shatner) is assigned to assist the American judges hearing the case. A reluctant witness of the atrocities is Irene Hoffmann (Oscar and Golden Globe nominated Judy Garland), who is afraid to provide testimony that may strengthen the prosecution's case against the judges. Rudolph Petersen (Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe nominated Montgomery Clift also testifies that his parents were Communists and suffered in the concentration camps. German defence attorney Hans Rolfe (Oscar and Golden Globe winning, and BAFTA nominated 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, including the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939 which removed the last major obstacle allowing Germany to invade and occupy Poland, and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Meanwhile, Janning refuses to testify or participate, keeping quiet for the majority. But as the proceeding becomes more and more intolerable to him, he dramatically breaks his silence. He chooses to testify before the Tribunal as a witness for the prosecution, admitting he is guilty of condemning to death a Jewish man on charges of having a sixteen-year-old girl when he knew there was no evidence to support such a verdict. Janning explains that well-meaning people such as him helped Adolf Hitler's antisemitic, racist policies out of patriotism despite being aware it was wrong and that all of Germany is partly responsible for the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime. Haywood must weigh and consider many elements against his own ideals of justice. The trial is set against the background of the Berlin Blockade, and there is pressure to give the German defendants a lighter sentence to gain German support in the growing Cold War against the Soviet Union. 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. The third defendant, Friedrich Hofstetter (Martin Brandt), claims he had no choice but to follow the laws of Hitler's government. Only the fourth defendant, Emil Hahn (Werner Klemperer), shows no remorse for his actions, saying that the Americans live to regret not allying with the Nazis against the Soviet Union. Ultimately, Haywood cannot ignore their wrongful actions and all four defendants are found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. Haywood visits Janning in his cell. Janning agrees with Haywood that his verdict was correct, 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. An epilogue details that 99 defendants were sentenced to prison during the Nuremberg trials, and that (in 1961) none of them are serving their sentence. Also starring Richard Widmark as Colonel Tad Lawson, Edward Binns as Senator Burkette, Kenneth MacKenna as Judge Kenneth Norris, Joseph Bernard as Major Abe Radnitz, Alan Baxter as Brigadier General Matt Merrin, Virginia Christine as Mrs. Halbestadt, The Sword in the Stone's Karl Swenson as Dr. Heinrich Geuter, Ray Teal as Judge Curtiss Ives, and Ben Wright as Halbestadt. Tracy as the leading judge, Lancaster as the intellectual, Schell as the determined defence attorney, and the cameos of Garland and Clift as victims all give fantastic performances. I thought it being three hours I would likely fall asleep (or watching on DVD I'd have to rewind it), but the script is brilliantly engaging, the direction by Kramer is terrific, and the all-star cast is superb. I wasn't expecting footage included of the thousands of bodies from the holocaust, it is horrendous but powerful, I can see why it is considered the Schindler's List of its day, a must-see epic historical courtroom drama. It won the Oscar for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium for Abby Mann, and it nominated for Best Picture for Stanley Kramer, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Costume Design, and Best Film Editing, it was nominated the BAFTA for Best Film from any Source, and it was nominated the Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture - Drama, and Best Film Promoting International Understanding. Very good!
Review of Judgment at Nuremberg
