MovieChat Forums > Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) Discussion > The black soldier shown during the film ...

The black soldier shown during the film scene


This was a great film in many ways.

One particular scene which stands out in my mind is the reaction of the various
persons in the courtroom when the film of the Nazi atrocities was shown.
It was dark, but I believe that one of the court officers, a black soldier
(presumably American) was shown briefly. The look on his face was unforget-
table. I wondered to myself "is he thinking about the plight of African
Americans and the atrocities done to them during the earlier part of our
nations history?" This actor portrayed him as a dignified man. I did
not find his name even in the uncredited section. Does anyone know who this
actor was? Truly memorable.

Of course, the facial reactions of Spencer Tracy, Maximillian Schell, and
others said so much without them uttering so much a word. This is real
talented acting.

As I said, a truly great film in many ways.

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"is he thinking about the plight of African
Americans and the atrocities done to them during the earlier part of our
nations history?""\

The director focused on him while the attorney (or the witness, I can't remember) was testifying about the hanging of children, so I assumed the director filmed that explicitly to conjure up images of lynchings by white Americans of black Americans. I think the filmmakers did that to portray the irony of where the black soldier was at the time compared to where his parents' generations had been in history. The black American soldier was providing security for the delivery of justice in a courtroom, but less than a generation before he could have been exterminated in America with no resulting justice for his death. It was just another way to show the moral line societies can cross when the individuals that make up those societies don't confront each others' evils.

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It was for the propaganda value of the film.

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Blacks were still being lynched into the 50's & 60's so he would have well understood about the hangings.

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Maybe he was thinking, and I thought my people had it bad. Now I know what the term really means.

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Even black children were never 'lynched'.

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Emmett Till was 14 when he was lynched.

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At the moment they showed the black guard, they were talking of hanging I believe of innocent minorities associating with a white Aryan, I assume he related to that as there were many such similar atrocities against his people even during that time.

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Perhaps he was just bored?

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