Review of Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) by Reno F — 07 Mar 2015

Judgment At Nuremburg is a great movie in every sense. It is well shot, the plot is moving, and the acting is superb for any era and well beyond almost any acting in film today. The courtroom scenes are full of glowing performances but most especially the performances of Spencer Tracy as (Chief Judge Haywood), Burt Lancaster (as Dr. Ernst Janning), and Maximilian Schell (as Hans Rolfe) were quite simply stunning. Be that as it may, this movie is not for the faint of heart. The subject matter (judges accused of atrocities during the holocaust) is quite graphic and includes actual footage of concentration camps and extermination methods used by the Nazis upon their victims. I found myself hard pressed to keep my eyes on the screen while bulldozers shoved hundreds and thousands of cadavers into mass graves. Many of us, in these modern times, forget how truly awful it was. There are those among us who use terms like "it's worse than what the Nazis did to the Jews" to describe things as trivial and stupid as a parking ticket. This movie explores the question of justice versus law and how, sometimes, those two things can be exclusive. If you feel that you have a strong enough stomach to handle aforementioned documentary footage and you love a good drama film then I highly recommend this movie to you.

P.S. Keep an eye out for a VERY young William Shatner as a courtroom aide!