"Once more it is being done for love of country"

Rating: 7/10 (27 July 2008)

Stanley Kramer was more active as a producer rather than a director, but, when he stood for something, he would often take up the reigns himself. Kramer made no apologies for producing "message films," and, though his transparent motives have the potential to age poorly, there's no doubt that he had the stature to approach controversial issues  such as racism {'The Defiant Ones (1958)'}, religion {'Inherit the Wind (1960)'} and the Holocaust  with confidence and dignity. 'Judgement at Nuremberg (1961)' wears its pretensions on its sleeve, a film so utterly convinced of its own importance that Kramer must surely have already known about the eleven Oscar nominations before he opened production. Fortunately, much of this self-importance is quite justified. The epic 186-minute courtroom drama tackles some of the fundamental issues in the aftermath of WWII, such as the accountability of higher citizens for the Holocaust and how patriotism has the ability to corrupt human morals. With a mighty cast of Hollywood stars, Kramer impartially dissects the Nuremberg trials, exposing tragedy and hypocrisy.
Courtroom dramas have remained such audience favourites because they are a showcase for emotional outbursts and impassioned monologues. 'Judgement at Nuremberg,' in keeping with the tone of its subject matter, is largely gloomy and subdued, only occasionally reaching the thrilling highs of Sidney Lumet's '12 Angry Men (1957),' Robert Mulligan's 'To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)' or Kramer's own 'Inherit the Wind (1960).' Any speech by Maximilian Schell {who won the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role, despite being billed fifth} keeps you fixated on the screen, and, likewise, Burt Lancaster's confession and Montgomery Clift's interrogation are must-see moments. The remainder of the film occasionally falls in stagnation, perhaps an inevitable consequence of its format and length, though the drama remains quite watchable, even if I wouldn't fancy a re-viewing until several years from now. The performances are impressive across the board, though Judy Garland, who somehow still retains the rosy cheeks of her childhood, seems terribly out-of-place in such a grim drama.
When he isn't in court, American Chief Judge Dan Haywood (Spencer Tracy) experiences the post-war German lifestyle, as its defeated citizens attempt to reconstruct their shattered lives amid the humiliation of being branded "evil" by the rest of the world. Screenwriter Abby Mann has it both ways on this issue: on the one hand, he represents the ordinary German civilians as proud and resourceful people, who could never have known the true extent of Hitler's regime. However, Judge Haywood later lambasts this perception, asserting that this argument is merely a self-made delusion, and that their inaction  and, indeed, the inaction of the whole world  was just as contemptible as the acts of those who physically committed the atrocities of the Holocaust. In stating what he believes to be the truth, Haywood invokes the ire of the American government, and severs his close friendship with Mrs. Bertholt (Marlene Dietrich), whose husband was executed for his leadership of the German Army. The truth, it seems, was not something that most people wanted to hear, but Stanley Kramer said it, and we listened.