One of the best scenes. Spencer Tracy gazing at the spot in Nuremberg where Hitler gave his speeches, trying to understand how such evil could happen.

Judgment At Nuremberg is a fictionalized account of the war crime trials that took place in 1947 against some Nazi judges; ones that ordered people sterilized, sent to the death camps or immediately executed. It may be a work of fiction but all of the crimes described and shown in the film did indeed take place. For these reasons and more I really consider this film to be one of the best made about the atrocities that happened during WWII.

After WWII a lot of German civilians claimed that they didn’t know about the extermination camps and the other atrocities that took place, but that has been proven to be false by modern historians. That is one of the reasons why this film is so damn important; it shows what some Germans actually knew and calls them out on it. Also, the fact that it wasn’t filmed in colour gives it more gravitas. Steven Spielberg used the same technique in Schindler’s List so I wouldn’t be surprised if he got that idea from this film.

There are so many great actors and actresses in this movie: Spencer Tracy, Judy Garland, Marlena Dietrich, Maximilian Schell, Montgomery Cliff, Burt Lancaster, and Richard Widmark. Everybody in this film is excellent and I can’t imagine how emotional it had to be to make this film. I always get teary during the scene in which Judy Garland’s character testifies against one of the judges, it is perhaps her best ever performance. This is a very emotional watch, but it is worth the tears.

I feel that this would be an excellent film to show teens, and adults, about the trauma that WWII brought forth. With the rise of neo-Nazi type crap happening yet again in Europe it is very important for them to know what occurs when you let monsters lead nations and don’t do anything to try to stop it.