Judgment at Nuremberg: A Play [Paperback]

Abby Mann (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2002

The Nuremberg trials brought to public attention the worst of the Nazi atrocities. Judgment at Nuremberg brings those trials to life.

Abby Mann's riveting drama Judgment at Nuremberg not only brought some of the worst Nazi atrocities to public attention, but has become, along with Elie Wiesel's Night and Anne Frank's Diary of a Young Girl, one of the twentieth century's most important records of the Holocaust. Originally written as a 1957 television play, later made into an Academy Award winning 1961 film, and available now for the first time in print (using the text of Mann's recent Broadway adaptation), Judgment at Nuremberg is as potent and relevant as ever. To this day the Nuremberg trials stand as a model for international criminal tribunals, due in large measure to the spotlight thrown on them by Mann's dramatic interpretation of the historic events. Mann's overwhelming compassion strikes at the heart of human suffering—his achievement has been to reaffirm humanity and justice.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Judgment at Nuremberg retains its power to move and provoke us. -- Time

A play that gives oratory the muscle, sweat and high stakes of a last man standing prize fight. -- The New York Times

It's devastating and the culmination of a magnificent re-enactment of the seminal trials of the modern era. -- Newsweek

Magnificent. It's powerful, potent, a gripping edge-of-the-seat drama. -- Walter Cronkite

About the Author

Abby Mann's credits include the films Judgment at Nuremberg, Ship of Fools and A Child is Waiting, the television mini-series based on the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, King, as well as the television films Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story, The Atlanta Child Murders, and Indictment: The McMartin Trial. Mann is the winner of several major film and television writing awards including an Academy Award, the New York Film Critics Award, a Golden Globe and three Emmy Awards.

Product Details

• Paperback: 196 pages
• Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation; 1ST edition (November 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0573627894
• ISBN-13: 978-0573627897
• ASIN: 0811215261
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,303,404 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting But Problematic Stage Adaptation of the Famous Film, November 11, 2008

By 

Gary F. Taylor "GFT" (Biloxi, MS USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Judgment at Nuremberg: A Play (Paperback)

First a 1959 drama for television's celebrated "Playhouse 90" and then 1961 star-studded and Academy Award-winning motion picture, JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG was the first widely-seen American drama to make a serious examination of the Holocaust--a horror that until then had been somewhat swept under the rug of American conciousness. And it was all the more disturbing for its use of Army Signal Corps film of Nazi atrocities, film that had not been widely seen up to that point. In its time, it was both shocking and to a certain extent politically controversial.

It was also the script for which writer Abby Mann (1927-2008), who won an Oscar for it, is best recalled. In 2001 Mann re-worked the material for the stage, and JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG opened on Broadway in March of that year. Although it was generally praised, it was also criticized as too talky and too slow moving; the public was not greatly enthusiastic; and the play closed after fifty-six performance. Although it has been widely produced since, it has since had better reception on the regional stage.

In a sense, JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG is a courtroom drama plain and simple. In the aftermath of World War II, numerous Nazi officials were placed on trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity, and the play depicts one of the last such trials--a trial of four judges who are accused of working with the Nazis to pervert justice and accomplish political aims. At this particular point in time, however, such trials have become a political thorn for the United States: The Soviet Union is moving deeper into Europe, and America suddenly feels the need of Germany as ally. Ultimately, the play creates a situation in which both prosecutor Col. Parker and Judge Haywood must not only grapple with degrees of guilt and responsibility but with the dangers of political expediency as well.

I am a great fan of the 1961 film and I wanted very much to like this stage adaptation--and so I do, but with several major reservations. It seems to me that the play is very slow to start and somewhat awkward in its construction; it also seems to me that a number of Mann's changes between the screenplay and the stage script are extremely ill-advised. But in fairness I must note that plays are written to be performed, not read, and it is often extremely difficult to grasp how a play performs from a reading of the script. This may be the case here.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

4.0 out of 5 stars A fun drama to read., April 14, 2011

By 

HuoXingC (California, USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Judgment at Nuremberg: A Play (Paperback)

I'm not a fan of literature (especially drama), but I really did like reading the dialogues in this drama. I won't spoil the plot, but it was entertaining to read the dialogue between a very skilled lawyer who practically burned everyone and a whimpy lawyer that objected everything because he had nothing much to say.