--- title: "Judgment at Nuremberg: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/judgment-at-nuremberg/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/judgment-at-nuremberg" critics_score: 77 critics_reviews: 9 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Judgment at Nuremberg (1961): what the critics said Critics' score 77 from 9 reviews: 9 positive, 0 mixed, 0 negative. All nine reviews are favourable, and none is mixed or hostile. The praise clusters on two things. The first is the film’s seriousness about its subject: critics credit Kramer and Abby Mann with putting the question of how guilty those who followed orders were, and with refusing to answer it too neatly. The second is the cast. Spencer Tracy’s judge is singled out again and again as the calm centre of a three-hour picture, with Montgomery Clift’s shattered witness and Maximilian Schell mentioned almost as often. The spread is narrow, and the reservations are about craft rather than purpose. Several reviews find the direction and screenplay conventional, with the courtroom material stretched and occasionally glib. Variety judges the film slower and baggier than the television version it grew from, and Radio Times thinks Kramer sweetens a grim story. The New Yorker rates it higher as a record of argument than as drama. Notably, the warmest reviews are the most recent; the notices from 1961 are more measured. ## The Guardian Rating B+ (entertainment), A (history). 30 January 2013. Stanley Kramer's film is an exceptionally good historical drama that intelligently fictionalises the judges' trial while raising complex questions about responsibility, obedience and justice without easy answers. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/jan/30/judgment-at-nuremberg-reel-history) ## Los Angeles Times — Patrick Mott Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 28 April 1994. The critic praises the 1961 courtroom drama for riveting attention on the moral issues of the Nuremberg trials and its ensemble cast. He singles out Stanley Kramer's taut direction and Abby Mann's screenplay for evoking moral outrage while depicting Germany's struggle with its past. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-04-28-vl-51421-story.html) ## Radio Times — Tony Sloman Rating 4/5. The trial material might not seem obvious for a film, but Kramer makes this three-hour saga mesmerising through dramatic flair and an all-star cast led by Tracy. The film has great dignity and star power that makes the grim tale watchable, though Kramer is accused of sugaring the pill. [Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-ldrmoj/judgment-at-nuremberg/) ## The Times Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 1 May 2004. Kramer's courtroom epic is distinguished by its lack of absolutism as it explores even-handedly how culpable those who followed orders were; it features an impressive heavyweight cast including Tracy, Schell and others. [Read the review](https://www.thetimes.com/world/us-world/article/judgment-at-nuremberg-pg-7qjzz2tnm87) ## The New Yorker — Brendan Gill Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 16 December 1961. The picture is bold and continuously exciting despite its great length, posing formidable questions about individual and collective accountability that it intends viewers to answer seriously. As courtroom fiction it is only moderately successful, but forensically and as real life it is superb. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1961/12/23/out-of-evil) ## The New York Times — Bosley Crowther Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 20 December 1961. The film pins a powerful persuasive statement on the fundamental issue of Nazi war guilt. It cuts through specious arguments to accomplish a fine dramatic statement of moral probity, though it is sometimes compressive and glib. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1961/12/20/archives/the-screen-judgment-at-nurembergpalace-shows-stanley-kramer.html) ## Time Out — DT Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 10 September 2012. Kramer's film on the Holocaust features an impressive assembly of star turns in court, with Tracy's effortlessly brilliant performance as the superjudge and Clift's painfully convincing emotional disintegration standing out. There are no surprises in the direction or screenplay, but enough conviction rewards a patient spectator. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/judgment-at-nuremberg) ## Variety Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 31 December 1960. The film is twice the size of the concise TV production, with a faster tempo and more trenchant script editing needed to punch it up. Tracy delivers a performance of great intelligence and intuition, creating a gentle but towering figure. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1960/film/reviews/judgment-at-nuremberg-1200419953/) ## Collider Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 28 June 2025. The critic calls it one of the best legal thrillers ever made and among the bravest films of Hollywood's Golden Age. They single out its emotional depth, insightful exploration of justice and complicity, and the powerhouse ensemble cast including standout turns from Montgomery Clift and Judy Garland. [Read the review](https://collider.com/judgment-at-nuremberg-spencer-tracy-judy-garland-burt-lancaster-legal-thriller/) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/judgment-at-nuremberg.md