Tweet
Released by: Twilight Time Releasing
Released on: November, 2015.
Director: Stanley Kramer
Cast: William Shatner, Richard Widmark, Marlene Dietrich, Spencer Tracy, Judy Garland, Burt Lancaster, Maximilian Schell, Montgomery Clift
Year: 1961
Purchase From Screen Archives
The Movie:
The wages of sin.
One of the first "adult" books I remember reading as a child was William L. Shire's "The Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich". How this all got started I can't really remember but somehow, by the age of 13, I was a full fledged WWII history nut with a particular fascination with Germany's darkest hour. As I became obsessed with film, the monsters of the reich became a topic of endless fascination. From the pulpy BOYS FROM BRAZIL to the riveting DAS BOOT to the brilliant DOWNFALL, I've never run out of interest. For while the Nazis represented a very old and disturbing human horror - tyranny and persecution leading to mass murder - they have always curiously stood apart as "other". One of the great tragic ironies of the reich was that one of Western Europe's fountainheads of high culture, philosophy and art at one point fell into an almost unrivaled moral abyss.
Stanley Kramer's JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG will always be his most famous film but also the film that best encapsulates his messianic temperament. As film historian Julie Kirgo astutely notes in her excellent liner notes for this release, Kramer made "message" films. In today's deeply cynical era, that is something that has sadly fallen into disrepute. But Kramer was far from the hectoring instrument of moralistic blunt force trauma that his latter day critics tried to derisively offload him as. He was a true populist that delivered enduring entertainment. His films may have been earnest but they were never dull. He never took his audience's attention for granted or took the easy way out. It's also interesting to see how he avoids a straight point and shoot style for this potentially hidebound courtroom drama. The camera snakes and slithers around the room sometimes zooming in unexpectedly for an ultra tight closeup on an actor's face.
Nuremberg Germany, 1948, The Palace Of Justice. The big fish like Hermann Gí¶ring are all either dead, in prison, or have been executed following the first, and most famous Nazi war crimes trial. The American public has lost interest in the subsequent Nuremberg proceedings. Even finding a judge for these smaller trials has become difficult. Enter Judge Dan Haywood (Spencer Tracy) of Maine. Not the first or even the third choice of the powers that be, he's the warm body that has been selected to oversee this trial of a small group of German judges. The four defendants - the unrepentant Emil Hahn (Werner Klemperer), the spineless jellyfish Werner Lampe (Torben Meyer), the taciturn Ernst Janning (Burt Lancaster), and the faceless bureaucrat Friedrich Hofstetter (Martin Brandt), represent the face of judicial evil of Nazi Germany. By order and decree, these men have sent many innocents to death at the bidding of the political death machine that Hitler built.
The German defendants have been assigned brilliant young defense attorney Hans Rolfe (Maximilian Schell) who must square off against the bullish American lawyer Col. Tad Lawson. Lawson, who was present at the liberation of the concentration camp Dachau, is determined to get some Old Testament style justice. Judge Haywood - encountering pressure from certain quarters to go a bit easy because of the ongoing Cold War ("We need the help of the German people against soviet aggression and we can't get that if they hate us" he's admonished at one point) - steadfastly attempts to get to a fair assessment of the situation. There is also the matter of the enigmatic defendant Janning. Janning was a widely respected and published elder legal scholar when the Nazis took power. His three co-defendants represent something coarse and banal that Janning never did. Judge Haywood finds himself drawn to unraveling that mystery. How do good men go so horribly wrong?
JUDGEMENT AT NUREMBERG is a courtroom drama that's three hours long (as a roadshow picture with entrance and exit music and an intermission, tack on 20 minutes). Abby Mann's script, fleshed out from his television production, mostly features talking heads. And yet, this is a gripping film that moves briskly. Impeccably cast and brilliantly scripted, this is a film that deals with the big moral questions without ever taking the easy route. Schell's German attorney is a revaluation. He weaves a credible defense of these men using an amazing battery of logic, blame-shifting and moral relativism. His motives are almost pure. He want to leave a broken and disgraced Germany with something, anything, that can allow it some shred of dignity and the ability to move forward. When Lawson, in the film's most devastating sequence, screens Nazi concentration camp footage, Rolfe acknowledges the horror. But then he moves to counterattack. The world knew of Hitler and did nothing. Churchill praised Hitler's dedication to his people at one point. Oliver Wendell Holmes had some kind words for eugenics. American industrialists got rich off funding the German armament industry. "My country, right or wrong". Is that any less true for a German or American patriot?
Abby Mann's script could not have been served by a better cast. Tracy, a big star in the 30's, was at the tail end of a magnificent career. His kindly gravitas and aura of powerful decency are simply perfect. When he interacts with an aloof but cordial Marlene Dietrich (playing the widow of an aristocratic German general) it is fascinating to watch him be simultaneously charmed and wary. She claims, as she wines and dines him at classical concerts and German cultural events, that she - and by extension everybody - knew nothing. Haywood isn't buying it. Montgomery Clift has one short scene. Playing a mentally deficient laborer sterilized by the state, he breaks your heart when he's badgered brutally on the stand by Rolfe. Rolfe serves the same fury on Judy Garland's Irene Hoffman. Accused of an illicit affair with a kindly older Jewish man when she was just 16, Irene has never fully recovered from the agony of watching this innocent old man that she loved like a father condemned to death. Ham icon William Shatner, playing a young Captain, shows us that at one time he was a handsome and gifted actor with a pleasingly naturalistic style. Lancaster gets his moment near the end too. Silent for most of the trial, he erupts and delivers an astounding confession of guilt in a stirring monolog. Even Werner Klemperer, that figure of ridicule from Hogan's Heroes, knocks it out of the park. Cold, creepy, aloof and utterly unrepentant, his icy assessment of Germany as a bulwark against Bolshevism strikes a disconcerting note. And finally there is Widmark. His performance struck some as too blunt but as a representation of the unflinching true blue American who believes in draconian justice against evil he strikes no false notes. The wonderful scene where he gets drunk and poignantly wistful works especially well because it plays against expectations.
Ultimately, JUDGEMENT AT NUREMBERG is a beautifully crafted and complex film that deals with profound moral issues. It avoids the cheap shot at every turn. And while it may raise as many questions as it answers about the nature of collective guilt and ultimate justice, it remains a deeply satisfying drama.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Twilight Time's 1080p AVC encoded 1.66:1 transfer is excellent. Aside from some very minor print marks like light scratches, elements were well-preserved. The crisp black and white image recalls excellent presentations from a similar era like the original Twilight Zone TV series Blu rays. Every crag of Tracy's magnificently weathered face is on sharp display. Clothing and object detail is strong. An organic grain field is present, black levels are good, and the entire image has a pleasing and natural appearance. Edge enhancement and DNR were blessedly awol.
Twilight Time have provided a bit of a treat on the audio front with one of the best remixed 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks I've ever heard. Repurposed from the film's original mono (also available here lossless in a perfectly serviceable presentation), this track manages to breathe amazing life into a dialog centric film. The panning sound effects never seem gimmicky but instead add a lifelike directionality to the dialog. Range is expectedly limited but never to a detrimental degree. Twilight Time have also provided an isolated score track in lossless 5.1.
Ported over from the DVD we have a fascinating chat between actor Maximilian Schell and writer Mann. Clocking in at 20 minutes, the two men have a lively and fascinating discussion. Some fascinating info emerges like the fact that when the material was done as a play many years later, Schell took Lancaster's role. Mann and Schell take some time as well to discuss the film's bigger themes. "The Value Of A Single Human Being" sees Mann talking about his screenplay for six minutes. The "A Tribute to Stanley Kramer" featurette sees the director's widow overseeing a fifteen minute career retrospective and the disc also includes the film's original theatrical trailer. The Overture, Intermission and Exit Music that accompanied the film on its roadshow appearances can be accessed from the main menu as well but are not standalone. Integrating them into the film adds to the runtime.
A quick note of praise for writer Julie Kirgo. Kirgo has been providing insightful and beautifully written liner notes for Twilight Time's releases for quite a while now. And her piece for JUDGEMENT is no exception. As anyone who has ever enjoyed the pleasures of a great Criterion or Eureka booklet can attest, quality film writing is a wonderful bonus.
The Final Word:
Stanley Kramer's most powerful film gets the HD release it deserves from Twilight Time. While the film itself is beyond reproach, the technical presentation here is first rate from the audio to the video to the bonus features right on down the line to the booklet. This one gets my highest possible recommendation.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
