MovieChat Forums > Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) Discussion > Stanley Kramer's heavy hand

Stanley Kramer's heavy hand

posted 13 years ago by merryapril
4 replies | jump to latest

Of course I've seen this film before, first when I was a little girl, and I liked it then. I tried to watch it again last night but Stanley Kramer's preachiness may have finally turned me off for good and I tuned out before it was over. All too often he seems to be shaking an admonishing finger at the audience, if not clobbering us over the head with his moralistic style. I feel the same way about Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? Kramer's perspective is literally black and white in so many of his films. He has difficulty presenting nuance and shades of grey.

I used to really like Ship of Fools (I love the actors Simone Signoret and Oskar Werner) but when I eventually read the book by Katherine Anne Porter I was surprised at how much the movie bastardized the original work.

I still enjoy On the Beach but mainly because of the chemistry between Ava Gardner and Gregory Peck. Ironically, in the book their characters aren't nearly as romantically involved. Author Nevil Shute is as understated as Kramer is overstated.

Oh well. This is just a rant that's been building up for a long time. I still LOL watching It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World.

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] A_Fistful_of_Pennies 12 years ago

I have to disagree, I actually feel like his movies weren't that heavy handed, in their time or even in ours. A lot of movies hit you over the head with a message. I actually thought they humanized some of the nazis in many ways, Lancaster's character did horrible things but at the same time seemed like a decent man who got swept up in a sea of evil.

Also, Maximilian Schell's character was extremely dynamic and despite defending the Nazis, you get the sense he was just doing his job. None of this paints the Nais in a positive light but what kind of light should they be painted in? For a movie about Nuremburg, it's as unbiased as you could possibly expect.

[–] MyMovieTVRomance 11 years ago

That depends on who you're talking to. Some people believe that history has been interpreted wrongly, others believe it has been interpreted correctly, and others believe that we should just leave it in the past.

Some don't believe that "The Final Solution" is what we think it is. When I was in college, we learned all about that. There are literally three different sectors of people, and three different threads of thought to this topic. So, I can totally see how this might seem preachy to some.

Please excuse typos/funny wording; I use speech-recognition that doesn't always recognize!

[–] bradford-1 11 years ago

Don't leave us hanging: what was the alternative Final Solution?
"May I bone your kipper, Mademoiselle?"