PLAYHOUSE 90: JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG {THE GLASER FOUNDATION FIRST AMENDMENT COLLECTION} (TV)
Summary
One in this dramatic anthology series. Telford Taylor, former brigadier general and chief counsel for the prosecution at the Nuremberg war-crimes trials, introduces this live presentation and explains the historical importance of the trials. He praises dramatist Abby Mann's drama for recreating, in his words, "the atmosphere of the Nuremberg trials, the difficult legal and moral problems they involved, and the terrible events with which they were concerned." Over documentary footage of the verdicts levied against twenty-two top Nazi leaders in Nuremberg, Germany, on October 1, 1946, and footage of the death by hanging of several important Nazi officials, Taylor offers a background history of the Nuremberg trials. As Act One opens in early 1947, the second set of Nuremberg trials is in progress, and the American chief justice Dan Haywood and his wife Mary are shown around the house they will occupy for the duration of the trials. Judge Haywood confesses to his wife that he knows little about international law and feels unqualified to handle a trial of this magnitude. As the tribunal begins, three of the defendants -- Emil Hahn, Frederich Hoffstetter, and Werner Lammpe -- enter pleas of "not guilty," but former Reichsminister of Justice Ernst Janning does not recognize the authority of the tribunal and lodges a formal protest through his counsel. The American prosecutor accuses these four defendants of constructing the legal framework that enabled the Nazis to commit crimes of execution, enslavement, and extermination. In his chambers after the day's proceedings, Judge Haywood questions his young military aide about the German people's feelings about the trial. The judge then sets out to learn more about Nuremberg and its people, and as he walks through the rubble-strewn streets footage of Nazi atrocities against Jews and of Nazi political rallies is shown. As the trial continues, the prosecution, led by General Parker, calls two witnesses -- Dr. Carl Wickert, who describes the power of the judges and the changes in the criminal law under the Nazi regime, and Rudolph Petersen, a baker's helper, who was forcibly sterilized by the Nazis. Meanwhile, the communists take over the government of Czechoslovakia in a coup, and fears of World War III abound. The Nuremberg trials become increasingly unpopular, and Judge Haywood feels mounting political pressure to hand down a lenient verdict. As Act Two begins, Parker reads letters written by Janning, calling upon Nazi judges to give stricter sentences. The prosecution then calls Maria Wallner, a woman imprisoned by the Nazis for violating racial-pollution laws. She explains that Leon Feldenstein, the other party in the case, was sentenced to death despite his innocence. Parker then introduces a series of films shot by the Allied Army Signal Corps, documenting the horrors of Nazi concentration camps. The following day, defense counsel Oscar Rolfe protests against the footage, calling it unfair to the defendants. He calls Mrs. Lindnow, a cleaning woman, to substantiate the verdict in the Feldenstein case. Defendant Ernst Janning asks to make a statement, and Haywood calls for a recess. In Act Three, Janning attempts to explain his verdict in the Feldenstein case and his actions during the reign of the Third Reich. Janning pleads guilty to his crimes, but Rolfe claims that, since the rest of the world knew of Hitler's actions and allowed him to come to power, Janning shares his guilt with the entire planet. After an eight-month trial, the judges find the defendants guilty of "conscious participation in a nationwide, government-organized system of cruelty and injustice in violation of moral and legal principles common to all civilized nations." At Janning's request, Haywood visits him in prison, where Janning begs the American to understand his actions. Haywood responds that he cannot. The program ends with a voice-over, stating that "on April 14, 1949, judgment was rendered in the last of the Nuremberg trials." The narrators adds, "Of ninety-nine sentenced to prison terms, not one is still serving his sentence." Includes commercials and a promo.
Cataloging of this program was made possible by Michael Finkelstein and Sue-ann Friedman, 1996.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: April 16, 1959 Thursday 9:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:28:21
- COLOR/B&W: B&W
- CATALOG ID: T:43627
- GENRE: Docudrama
- SUBJECT HEADING: Docudrama; Drama, historical; National socialists; Nuremberg trial of major German war criminals
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1956-1961
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV - Commercials - American Gas Association
- TV - Commercials - Ansco camera equipment
- TV - Commercials - Camel cigarettes
- TV - Commercials - Delsey bathroom tissues
- TV - Commercials - Kleenex paper towels
- TV - Promos - "Playhouse 90: A Corner of the Garden"
CREDITS
- Herbert Brodkin … Producer
- Herbert Hirschman … Associate Producer
- Anthony Barr … Associate Producer
- George Roy Hill … Director
- James Clark … Direction (Misc.), Associate Director
- Abby Mann … Writer
- Joy Munnecke … Writer, Story Consultant
- Telford Taylor … Host, Technical Consultant
- Dick Joy … Announcer
- Claude Rains … Cast, Judge Haywood
- Paul Lukas … Cast, Ernst Janning
- Maximilian Schell … Cast, Oscar Rolfe
- Martin Milner … Cast, Captain Byers
- Melvyn Douglas … Cast, General Parker
- Ludwig Donath … Cast, Dr. Wickert
- Peter Capell … Cast, Geuter
- Werner Klemperer … Cast, Emil Hahn
- Albert Szabo … Cast, Rudolph Petersen
- Marketta Kimbrell … Cast, Maria Wallner
- Torben Meyer … Cast, Werner Lammpe
- Gregory Gay … Cast, Frederich Hoffstetter
- Wendell Holmes … Cast, Judge Ives
- Alex Gerry … Cast, Judge Norris
- Oliver McGowan … Cast, the Senator
- Tyler McVey … Cast, the General
- Celia Lovsky … Cast, Elsa Lindnow
- Mary Adams … Cast, Mrs. Haywood
- John Bleifer … Cast, Mr. Halbestadt
- Irene Seidner … Cast, Mrs. Halbestadt
- John Conwell … Cast, a Court Interpreter
- Tom Tugend … Cast, a Court Interpreter
- Steven Chase … Cast, the Man in the Corridor