Fritz Bauer Institut · Cinematography of the Holocaust
ID |
FBW000661 Fiction |
Country / Year |
USA, 1961 |
Original Title |
JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG |
Other Title(s) |
DAS URTEIL VON NÜRNBERG (German) |
Directed by |
|
Produced by |
Roxlom Films, Inc.; for United Artists Corp., Los Angeles, CA / New York, NY |
Staff |
Producer: Stanley Kramer; Associate producer: Philip Langner; Production manager: Clem Beauchamp, Pia Arnold (German crew); Production assistance: Anne Kramer; Business manager: Hubert Karl (German crew), Egon Haedler (German crew), Lyn Hannes (German crew), L. Ostermeier (German crew); Location manager: Frank Winterstein (German crew); Assistent director: Laci von Ronay (als: Laci Ronay) (German crew), Ivan Volkman; Script: Abby Mann; Script, var: Marshall Schlom (Script Supervisor); Camera: Ernest Laszlo; Cameraman: Charles Wheeler; Special optical effects: Richard Richtsfeld (German crew); Lighting: Don Carstensen; Editing: Frederick Knudtson; Sound editing: Walter Elliott; Musical editing: Art Dunham; Assistant editing: Hannelore von Winterfeld (German crew); Sound: James Speak; Art direction: Rudolph Sternad, Albrecht Hennings (German crew); Grip: Morris Rosen (Company grip); Technical assistance: Martin Kashuk (Company grip); Set decoration: George Milo; Props: Richard Eglseder (German crew), Art Cole; Costumes: Joe King; Costume design: Jean Louis (für Marlene Dietrich); Makeup: Robert J. Schiffer; Music: Ernest Gold; Songs: Ernest Gold ("Care for me", "Liebeslied", "Tea Time in Berlin", "Wenn die Soldaten", "Notre Amour Ne Peur", "Du Du, Liegst mir in Herzen"), Hans Leip ("Lili Marleen"), Thomas Connor ("Lili Marleen"), Norbert Schultze ("Lili Marleen"), Alfred Petry ("Liebeslied") |
Cast |
Spencer Tracy (Judge Dan Haywood); Burt Lancaster (Ernst Janning); Richard Widmark (Col. Tad Lawson); Marlene Dietrich (Mme. Bertholt); Maximilian Schell (Hans Rolfe); Judy Garland (Irene Hoffman Wallner); Montgomery Clift (Rudolph Petersen); Edward Binns (Sen. Burkette); Werner Klemperer (Emil Hahn); Torben Meyer (Werner Lammpe); Martin Brandt (Frieidrich Hofstetter); William Shatner (Capt. Harrison Byers, Haywood's Aide); Kenneth MacKenna (Judge Kenneth Norris); Alan Baxter (Brig. Gen. Matt Merrin); Ray Teal (Judge Curtiss Ives); Virginia Christine (Mrs. Halbestadt, Haywood's Housekeeper); Ben H. Wright (Mr. Halbestadt, Haywood's Butler); Joseph Bernard (Maj. Abe Radnitz, Lawson's Assistant); John Wengraf (Dr. Karl Wieck, Former Minister of Justice); Karl Swenson (Dr. Heinrich Geuter, Feldenstein's Lawyer); Howard Caine (Hugo Wallner, Irene's Husband); Otto Waldis (Pohl, Nazi Exterminator); Olga Fabian (Mrs. Elsa Lindnow, Witness in Feldenstein Case); Paul Busch (Schmidt, Haywood's Chauffeur); Bernard Kates (Max Perkins, UP Reporter); Sheila Bromley (Mrs. Ives); Joseph Crehan (Courtroom Spectator at verdict); Bess Flowers (Concert Attendee); Ed Nelson (Captain at Night Club Announcing the Calling-up of Officers); Norbert Schiller (Waiter); Rudy Solari (Interpreter in Courtroom); Jana Taylor (Elsa Scheffler, Byers' Girl) |
Length |
190' |
Format |
35mm/sw |
Dates |
- 22 Jan 1961-00 May 1961: Shooting period |
Further Remarks |
- Casting: Stalmaster-Lister Co. |
Abstract |
Courtroom drama. Dramatized version of the 1947 trial of the secondary Nazi leaders for crimes against humanity. Dan Haywood, an American judge recently defeated for reelection in Maine, arrives in Nuremberg to preside over the trial of several German judges accused of destroying law and justice to support Hitler’s infamous mandates which took the lives of 6 million innocent people. From the moment the prosecuting attorney, Colonel Tad Lawson, makes his emotion-packed opening statements, it is obvious that he is determined to obtain the maximum punishment for the judges. The defense lawyer, Hans Rolfe, counters by charging that these men are guilty because they upheld the laws of their country, then all of Germany must be tried. To support the accusations of inhuman actions, Lawson offers the testimony of Rudolf Petersen, victim of sterilization who, it develops, was castrated because of mental incompetence. During the long weeks of the trial, Haywood wanders about the city trying to „understand“ the German people, trying to determine if they really undersood what Hitler stood for. In particular, Haywood often chats with the aristocratic Madame Berthold, the widow of a German general executed after the earlier war crimes trials. The proceedings reach a climax when a woman named Irene Hoffman is called to the stand. When she testifies that a former friend, an aged Jew, was falsely accused of being intimate with her and then executed. Rolfe tries to break down her story by frantically accusing her of distorting the truth. As the distraught woman breaks into hysterical denials, one of the accused, Ernst Janning, interrupts the hearings and asks to make a statement. Throughout the trial he has remained silent, but he know voluntarily takes the stand and admits to being guilty of both ignoring and rationalizing the inhuman Nazi acts because he felt they were for the ultimate good of the country. As Haywood and his two associate jugdges ponder their decisions, the news that Russia has blockaded Berlin prompts military officials to hint that lenient judgements might be wise – and expediant, But Haywood, determined to stand for „justice, truth, and the value of a single human being,“ refuses to compromise, and he sentences the defendants to life imprisonment. The defiant Rolfe sneers that in 5 years the convicted men will be free. Some newsreel footage of concentration camp atrocities. |
Subject Terms |
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Holdings |
- Kinemathek Hamburg, Hamburg |
Bibliography |
- Manvell, Roger: "End at Nuremberg", in: Films and Filming (London), Vol. 7, Nr. 2, November, 01.11.1960 |