Judgment at Nuremberg - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of Judgment at Nuremberg or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to Judgment at Nuremberg

[frances]

The space between the attorney's box and the witness stand was forty feet in the real courtroom, which set designers compressed to 28 feet. Nevertheless, actors in the far distance had to have a lot of light cast on them to stay in focus, causing them to greatly perspire.

[sylvia]

During a monologue Spencer Tracys character mentions all of the "people who were gassed at Dachau". Although a gas chamber was built, no one was ever gassed at Dachau.

[oscar]

Mrs. Bertholt, played by Marlene Dietrich, is the widow of a German general who had been executed for war crimes. She bitterly recalls how her husband had asked to "die like a soldier" in front of a firing squad, but was denied. This identifies General Bertholt's real-life counterpart as field marshal Wilhelm Keitel, who requested this of the American tribunal before he was hanged at Nuremberg in 1946.

[darrell]

Judy Garland was alerted to the part by her business partners Freddie Fields and David Begelman, who learned about it through one of their clients, Marlene Dietrich. When they approached Stanley Kramer, he was interested but remained noncommittal, so they continued with plans for an extensive concert tour for the singer-actress. Like everyone in the business, Kramer was aware of her reputation for being difficult and unreliable and her long addiction to drugs. She had not made a movie since A Star Is Born (1954), but when he went to see her concert in Dallas, he was struck not only by the "tremendous emotional range" of her performance but by the fierce adulation she inspired in her audiences. Reasoning that it was only an 18-minute part that would take no more than eight days on the set, he offered her the role for an agreed-upon $50,000. Despite her reputation for being difficult, Garland proved to be punctual, cooperative, and professional throughout the shoot.

[ethel]

Judy Garland and Montgomery Clift became close friends during filming. Clift hung around an extra week after his scene was completed, so he was able to sit in the corner and watch Garland do her scenes. (It also greatly inflated his "expenses only" agreement). As she broke down on the stand, he wept openly. When she finished her take, he went over to Stanley Kramer, his eyes and cheeks still wet with tears, and said, "You know, she did that scene all wrong."

[caroline]

Judy Garland persuaded Maximilian Schell to be more hostile towards her during the cross-examination scene. Afterward, she sent him flowers and a little note that said "Thank you for being so mean to me."

[riley]

Spencer Tracy, Montgomery Clift, and Judy Garland all died only a few years after this film was completed. Clift passed away in 1966, Tracy one year later in 1967, and Garland in 1969.

[addison]

For the premiere, Stanley Kramer flew hundreds of journalists from America to Germany. The German critics were understandably less impressed with the film than their American counterparts.

[michele]

Selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry in December 2013.

[melinda]

Burt Lancaster was paid $750,000 for his part, Spencer Tracy earned $400,000, and Montgomery Clift reputedly did his role for free.

[frances]

Judy Garland was coached in her accent by a linguist recommended by the German-born actress Uta Hagen.

[janice]

Spencer Tracy loved Abby Mann's script and was adamant about his fellow cast members performing it exactly as written, "and that goes for this guy and this guy and this guy," he'd say on the set as he pointed to all the big stars. He complained to Mann angrily that Marlene Dietrich was having Billy Wilder rewrite all her lines. So when she arrived on the set one day with her script marked with "little changes," Mann tore it up on the spot and told her to go out and read her lines in his words. Tracy then got angry with Mann for being too demanding with Dietrich in front of the crew.

[jim]

Marlene Dietrich was reluctant to play her role until every detail was ironed out to her satisfaction. She insisted her frequent designer Jean Louis create all her clothes. Dietrich also had Stanley Kramer alter the painting of the man who was supposed to be her dead military officer husband because she didn't think he looked dignified enough. Each day she would march onto the set and immediately give orders about how she was to be lighted and where the camera should be placed.

[sophie]

Marlon Brando wanted to play the role of Hans Rolfe, the German lawyer who defends the German judges. Brando, in a rare attempt to garner the part, actually approached director Stanley Kramer about it. Although Kramer and screenwriter Abby Mann were very intrigued with the idea of having an actor of Brando's talent and stature in the role, both were so impressed with Maximilian Schell's portrayal of the same part in the original television broadcast Playhouse 90: Judgment at Nuremberg (1959) that they had decided to stick with the relatively unknown Schell, who later won the Oscar for Best Actor for that role.

[bessie]

Joseph Bernard would appear on an episode of Star Trek, starring William Shatner.

[amber]

Montgomery Clift was so eager to be in the film that he offered to do it for expenses only and no salary. His deal didn't turn out to be such a reasonable break for the production budget since his expenses included an open tab for him and his friends at the Bel-Air Hotel, chauffeured transportation, and all the liquor he wanted.

[tom]

Otto Waldis guest starred on Hogan's Heroes wherein Werner Lemperer famously played Colonel Klink. Here, Waldis plays the prisoner, Pohl: when he tells the story of the concentration camp he helped run, he's in the same shot as Klemperer.