The casting of Burt Lancaster of "Ernst Janning"

Rating: Null/10 (22 April 2007)

Burt Lancaster is my favorite actor.Having said this,my thoughts and feelings on Lancaster playing the role of the aged German Jurist"Ernst Janning" are mixed.Clearly,Lancaster was not the best suited actor to portray the role of Janning.Lancaster,was i believe 47 years old when he made "Judgement at Nuremberg".Some may think he was to young. The character of Janning was probably 15 or 20 years older than that.However i believe that The age make up on Lancaster was at least fairly effective.In addition,The German accent that Lancaster employs is sometimes OK but mostly only fair.i have read that Larry Olivier was considered for the role of Janning.Perhaps Olivier,who was several years older than Lancaster and who later employed thick German and Jewish accents in films like "Marathon Man" and "The Boys from Brazil" would have been better in the role.I believe that Lancaster was cast in the role for the reason of star power,in fact "Judgment at Nuremberg" may have been one of the first or the first movie to have the so-called all star cast banner to it.Lancaster is just on several big name stars in this film.The all star cast movies were popular in the 1960s and the 1970s.Less than 2 years later, Lancaster would be cast in the "The Leopard",playing the role of an Italian Prince.He was cast because 20th century Fox,who was assisting in financing the film, wanted a big named actor for the lead role for box office draw.Once again, Olvier was considered for the role,but he was not considered box office draw by 20th century Fox-Lancaster was, so he got the role despite not even attempting to speak with an Italian accent.Most reviews of Lancaster in "The Leopard" were very good and in fact,he looks great in the movie.He is a towering physical figure of machismo and he emotes so well.I believe the same can be said of Lancaster in "judgment at Nuremberg".Lancaster's Janning is not a wimpy, small statued,chair bound, pencil pusher of a man.In Lancaster,Janning is a big,,powerful man,but also a man of great intellect.In the final scene between Lancaster and Spencer Tracy in Janning's cell,Lancaster towers over Tracy.During The lengthy speech by Janning towards the end of the film,Lancaster's intensity and passion is true, and if you want to see great acting without saying a word, watch Lancaster's facial expression when Spencer Tracy states his final words to Janning.I have great respect for Burt Lancaster as an actor because he attempted to stretch himself as an actor,he took risks by making unconventional films but also conventional films.In the end, his good films far out number his bad films and his good performances far outweigh his not so good ones.