Movie Night at the Virtual Cinema: Judgment at Nuremberg

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During the COVID-19 pandemic, I’ve been using SKYBOX VR on Oculus Quest to watch movies in a virtual cinema that I didn’t get to see when they were theatrically released. The illusion of sitting in a movie theater is a convincing one, minus any reaction from the (non-existent) audience. It doesn’t change my perception of the films I’ve been watching — I’m just doing this for fun: to whet my appetite for going to the movies, and for a little VR escapism.

Warning: Spoilers ahead. 

This movie was from before my time and marks the first time I watched a film using SKYBOX VR that I'd never seen before. The film is a fictionalized account of the Judges' Trial, which was a trial which took place in Germany post-World War II in which German judges were tried for their part in the atrocities of the Nazi party. Released in 1961, it stars several big-name Hollywood stars of the era, and is part of the United States National Film Registry.

I have to admit that I have only a passing familiarity with some of these actors. I'd certainly heard of Spencer Tracy, but was surprised to find he was as old as he was when he starred in this film. The only other film of his that I've seen is It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, and even that I've only seen once, on TV when I was a little kid, and not old enough to comprehend the humor. That being said, the cast is terrific, and the film has a timeless message, though I felt some of the filmmaking to be a bit dated.

Two performances impressed me the most. The first was from a young William Shatner, who is in a supporting role here as Captain Harrison Byers, a US Army soldier who is assigned to assist Spencer Tracy's character of Judge Dan Haywood. This was relatively early in Shatner's career, but I found he really shone in this role, despite it not being a lead. The other performance I was taken with was that of Maximilian Schell, who played the role of Hans Rolfe, a German attorney who defends the four former German judges -- of which Burt Lancaster and Werner Klemperer are among the actors portraying. I only knew Schell from his role in 1979s The Black Hole, but was floored by his performance here. Simply amazing, and it makes me want to seek out his other work.

The film runs for just shy of 3 hours, and is gripping, even at times a little difficult to watch. At about the midway point, the American prosecutor, played by Richard Widmark (aka "Hey, it's that guy!" -- as in You Probably Don't Know His Name But Have Probably Seen Him Before) shows actual footage from the concentration camps, including bodies being bulldozed into a pit for burial. That was especially difficult to watch.

As usual, SKYBOX VR provided a convincing illusion to being there in a real theater and watching the film in a big screen. This was a powerful film but not one I'd be keen to re-watch too frequently due to the weight of the subject matter. But I'm glad to have seen it and would recommend it.

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