Judgment At Nuremberg: Original MGM Motion Picture Soundtrack [Enhanced, Soundtrack]

Ernest Gold | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 9, 1998)
• Original Release Date: December 19, 1961
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced, Soundtrack
• Label: Rykodisc
• ASIN: B000007O79
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #163,260 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Overture

2. Ghostly Ruins

3. The Sights And Sounds Of Nuremberg

4. Schwalbenwinkel

5. Madame Bertholt's Story

6. Liebeslied

7. Du Du

8. Colonel Lawson's Mission

9. Tea Time In Berlin

10. Entr'acte

11. Burt Lancaster, Narration

12. Guilty Or Not Guilty

13. Spencer Tracy, Narration

14. Closing

Editorial Reviews

From the Label

Set during the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials of 1948, Stanley Kramer's compelling drama, which was nominated for 12 Academy Awards®, boasts an esteemed cast and a powerful score by musical collaborator Ernest Gold (It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Exodus). First time on CD!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A powerful and historical soundtrack, August 31, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Judgment At Nuremberg: Original MGM Motion Picture Soundtrack (Audio CD)

My brother, who has a genetic affection for all good things German, shall probably abscond with "Judgment at Nuremberg" - a truly fascinating listen. The use of traditional German songs is effective and symbiotic with the underscore, although used a bit too often. The underscore itself makes nice use of period sensibilities and works flawlessly. The narration is chilling, and I cannot think of hearing the score without its presence. It belongs alongside the score as a powerful recollection of film and international history as well as a wonder for the ears.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, but unable to stand alone from the film, December 21, 2009

By 

Gary F. Taylor "GFT" (Biloxi, MS USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Judgment At Nuremberg: Original MGM Motion Picture Soundtrack (Audio CD)

Film music exists to support the overall impact of the film, and only if the composer is very fortunate does the music make a major statement independently of the film. Ernest Gold (1921-1999) spent much of the 1940s and 1950s as the competent composer for such dismissable films as MAN CRAZY and THE SCREAMING SKULL; in the late 1950s, however, he proved himself a competent composer on such major projects as THE DEFIANT ONES and ON THE BEACH. Then in 1960 he received the project of a lifetime: EXODUS. The film itself received mixed reviews, but Gold's music was stunning, and he received an Academy Award for his work. He would go on to compose music for such notable films as A CHILD IS WAITING, IT'S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD, and SHIP OF FOOLS--all of them well respected, but none of the creating the same public stir.

The 1961 JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG is perhaps indicative of Gold's work: it is expert, often elegant, but it does not survive well when abstracted from the film itself. Much of the music is based on German songs, melodies, and marches popular both before and during World War II, with the five minute film Overture perhaps most memorable in its stirring mix of drum, echoing brass, and male chorus; much the same can be said for the film's musical Intermission. But while the rest of the music involved is both appropriate to the film and expertly executed and performed, it does not stand on its own to any great merit. Curiously, the soundtrack includes two speeches from the film: one by Burt Lancaster in the role of Nazi judge Ernst Janning, as he confesses to complicity in Nazi atrocities; and one by Spenser Tracy in the role of Judge Heywood, as he finds Jannings and his cohorts guilty. Both are remarkably performed, but like Gold's score, they must be considered within the context of the film. They do not stand alone to any great merit.

The soundtrack is well mastered and the sound quality is quite good. Nonetheless, this is really a selection that is best left to fans of the film, for whom the music--and most particularly the Lancaster and Tracy speeches--will summon memories of the film. Recommended to that extent.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jubilent marches and nostagic folk tunes., April 24, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Judgment At Nuremberg: Original MGM Motion Picture Soundtrack (Audio CD)

If you like German military marches and folk music, this will be an excellent collection for you.