I love this movie so much

Admirable film.

A different way of telling a story

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

In 1948, an American court in occupied Germany tries four Nazi judges for war crimes. The biggest problem with 'Judgment at Nuremberg' is that it takes completely place inside a court room and as fun as that might sound it really isn't and just picture 'A Few Good Men' inside there for 3 hours now it wouldn't be the epic film that it turned out to be now would it? The acting was alright and so was the cinematography and direction but other than that? It was way long and just needed alot of scenes to cut out like fifty of them maybe even more. (5/10)

With a star studded cast and a very long running time, this is a philosophical but fictionalised account of the Nuremberg trials inspired by true events.Once the more infamous Nazis have been tried and prosecuted, it is the turn for the more lesser known suspects. Spencer Tracy as lead Judge Dan Haywood presides over the trial of four judges who have been charged with war crimes as they implemented the laws of the Nazi regime. These include enforcing laws of racial purity and sterilising undesirables such as the feeble minded.Burt Lancaster plays a renowned jurist Ernst Janning whose activities baffle Dan Haywood as his work on the law is so well respected.In the background of rising tensions between the Americans and the Russians with the developing Cold War, there is a ferocious courtroom battle between prosecuting attorney, Colonel Lawson (Richard Widmark) and Hans Rolfe (Maximilian Schell) who relentlessly badger the witnesses.Lawson who liberated one of the concentration camps holds the entire nation responsible for the atrocities, yet his own actions at the courtroom are cynical. Rolfe is more pragmatic about any other nation trying to claim a moral high ground. As he tells Janning, the Americans dropped a nuclear bomb in Hiroshima that killed countless women and children.Judge Haywood tries to understand himself about the German people during the war, he mingles with locals and gets to know a widow, Frau Bertholt played by Marlene Dietrich. Her own husband was executed by the Nuremberg trials but she insists that many Germans had no idea about the holocaust. However Haywood is troubled about the Nazi atrocities, those who were enablers and other who turned a blind eye to it.Director Stanley Kramer keeps this long film enthralling, some of the court cases are vignettes allowing actors such as Montgomery Cliff and Judy Garland to give short memorable performances.Maximilian Schell gets the more emotional role as the defence lawyer and at times he gets to chew the scenery but he also won a best actor Oscar. Burt Lancaster is more restrained as Janning, he hardly speaks for most of the film but his face is solemn and stern. A man who has realised he did wrong by condemning some of his own people to death and now has to pay the price for just following orders.

Judgment at Nuremberg centers on a military tribunal convened in Nuremberg, Germany, in which four German judges and prosecutors stand accused of crimes against humanity for their involvement in atrocities committed under the Nazi regime. Judge Dan Haywood (Spencer Tracy) is the Chief Trial Judge of a three-judge panel that will hear and decide the case against the defendants. Haywood begins his examination by trying to learn how the defendant Ernst Janning (Burt Lancaster) could have sentenced so many people to death. Janning, it is revealed, is a well- educated and internationally respected jurist and legal scholar. Haywood seeks to understand how the German people could have turned blind eyes and deaf ears to the crimes of the Nazi regime. In doing so, he befriends the widow (Marlene Dietrich) of a German general who had been executed by the Allies. He talks with a number of Germans who have different perspectives on the war. Other characters the judge meets are US Army Captain Byers (William Shatner), who is assigned to the American party hearing the cases, and Irene Hoffman (Judy Garland), who is afraid to provide testimony that may bolster the prosecution's case against the judges.

Are you responsible for heinous acts sanctioned by you even when you were "just following orders"? How true is the mantra "My country, right or wrong"? The movie delves deeply into this issues, while touching on topics of justice, race, eugenics, feeble-mindedness (WTF?), forced sterilizations, and other horrors of Nazi Germany. Also, a particularly poignant moment in the movie was the infamous Feldenstein Case, where a German woman was to testify. Just imagine the wrath of neighbors and fellow countrymen that person has to tolerate to contemplate doing this. This is just one nugget, the movie is chock full with these. Performances of Spencer Tracy (Chief Judge Dan Haywood) and Maximilian Schell (Hans Rolfe) were particularly good, the latter netting an Oscar for his stellar work.A classic movie with highly relevant lessons for today on so many issues. Can't recommend it enough.