Revisiting television censorship: Judgement at Nuremberg
Judgement at Nuremberg is a play written by Abby Mann in 1957. Many of you are familiar with the 1961 Stanley Kramer film of the same name, starring Spencer Tracy and many other well known actors.
But before the film, there was the Playhouse 90 anthology television presentation. Venerable character actor Claude Rains starred as Judge Dan Haywood, Paul Lukas as Ernst Janning, and Maximilian Schell as Otto Rolfe. Other notable cast members were Martin Milner as Captain Byers and Melvyn Douglas as General Parker, Ludwig Donath as Dr. Wickert, Peter Capell as Geuter,
Werner Klemperer as Emil Hahn,
Torben Meyer as Werner Lammpe, and
Gregory Gay as Friederich Hoffstetter
Schnell, Klemperer, and Meyer reprised their roles in the '61 film.
The Holocaust has always been a hot topic, arousing emotions in every discussion, and now a fictional account of the later trials was about to be presented to audiences across the country via a popular anthology show Playhouse 90, on the CBS Network.
From the UCLA Film Archives Department:
The tendency of mid century programs like Playhouse 90 to address matters of historical, social, and cultural importance meant that grave concepts like tragedy and injustice became frequent subjects. The Holocaust, still so raw in so many people’s minds, became a repeated topic. Playhouse 90 would present Holocaust dramas on two especially notable occasions, both causing controversy and vigorous moral battles.
“Judgment at Nuremberg” (1959), written by Abby Mann and directed by George Roy Hill, dramatizes the eponymous tribunals held after World War II to prosecute Nazi war crimes. Like many anthology dramas that were later adapted for the big screen, “Judgment at Nuremberg” is often better known for its later feature film iteration. Maximilian Schell, who appeared in both the television and film versions, would win an Oscar for his big screen portrayal of the German attorney assigned to defend the accused war criminals. However, although the 1961 film starring Spencer Tracy is indeed an acclaimed and intensely affecting piece of cinema, the original television play starring Claude Rains maintains a noticeably different energy. If the movie uses its nearly three-hour duration to convey the exhausting process of the trial proceedings, the teleplay utilizes the liveness of its broadcast to provide a sense of profound co-presence and close connection to the tragedies onscreen, a feeling of witnessing the trial as it unfolds in the courtroom.
“Judgment at Nuremberg” is also one of the most notoriously censored television broadcasts of the mid-century period. Because one of the sponsors of Playhouse 90 was the American Gas Association, it was feared that references to the gas chambers used to exterminate prisoners in the concentration camps would create negative associations with the natural gas used to heat American homes and fuel cooking appliances. As a result, all mentions of the gas chambers were unceremoniously stripped from the live audio feed, leaving abrupt silences in the broadcast. These interruptions occurred several times, but in the most discussed instance, the voice of Claude Rains is briefly muted as he visibly says the words “gas chambers.” In another instance, the voiceover cuts out mid-sentence several times as archival footage clearly depicts gas chambers and gas canisters onscreen.
Reports differ about who demanded the censorship – the American Gas Association itself or an overzealous CBS executive – but it was swiftly cited in the press and by industry professionals as an example of the ways overwhelming commercial concerns could stifle quality television. Serling would repeatedly reference the incident in his crusade for artistic freedom and integrity. Jack Gould declared, “The futility of silly censorship seldom has been more vividly demonstrated.” He would later refer to “Judgment at Nuremberg” as “the production that clumsily rewrote history so that the American Gas Association would not have to worry about reference to the gas ovens in which millions had perished.”
Even despite these hamfisted efforts at propriety, however, “Judgment at Nuremberg” was an explosive and hard-hitting production. Its use of historical footage of the concentration camps is both moving and agonizing, and the fact that these harrowingly graphic images were permitted to be shown on primetime network television is truly remarkable. The skill involved in coordinating such a complex live production is likewise impressive.
But before the film, there was the Playhouse 90 anthology television presentation. Venerable character actor Claude Rains starred as Judge Dan Haywood, Paul Lukas as Ernst Janning, and Maximilian Schell as Otto Rolfe. Other notable cast members were Martin Milner as Captain Byers and Melvyn Douglas as General Parker, Ludwig Donath as Dr. Wickert, Peter Capell as Geuter,
Werner Klemperer as Emil Hahn,
Torben Meyer as Werner Lammpe, and
Gregory Gay as Friederich Hoffstetter
Schnell, Klemperer, and Meyer reprised their roles in the '61 film.
The Holocaust has always been a hot topic, arousing emotions in every discussion, and now a fictional account of the later trials was about to be presented to audiences across the country via a popular anthology show Playhouse 90, on the CBS Network.
From the UCLA Film Archives Department:
The tendency of mid century programs like Playhouse 90 to address matters of historical, social, and cultural importance meant that grave concepts like tragedy and injustice became frequent subjects. The Holocaust, still so raw in so many people’s minds, became a repeated topic. Playhouse 90 would present Holocaust dramas on two especially notable occasions, both causing controversy and vigorous moral battles.
“Judgment at Nuremberg” (1959), written by Abby Mann and directed by George Roy Hill, dramatizes the eponymous tribunals held after World War II to prosecute Nazi war crimes. Like many anthology dramas that were later adapted for the big screen, “Judgment at Nuremberg” is often better known for its later feature film iteration. Maximilian Schell, who appeared in both the television and film versions, would win an Oscar for his big screen portrayal of the German attorney assigned to defend the accused war criminals. However, although the 1961 film starring Spencer Tracy is indeed an acclaimed and intensely affecting piece of cinema, the original television play starring Claude Rains maintains a noticeably different energy. If the movie uses its nearly three-hour duration to convey the exhausting process of the trial proceedings, the teleplay utilizes the liveness of its broadcast to provide a sense of profound co-presence and close connection to the tragedies onscreen, a feeling of witnessing the trial as it unfolds in the courtroom.
“Judgment at Nuremberg” is also one of the most notoriously censored television broadcasts of the mid-century period. Because one of the sponsors of Playhouse 90 was the American Gas Association, it was feared that references to the gas chambers used to exterminate prisoners in the concentration camps would create negative associations with the natural gas used to heat American homes and fuel cooking appliances. As a result, all mentions of the gas chambers were unceremoniously stripped from the live audio feed, leaving abrupt silences in the broadcast. These interruptions occurred several times, but in the most discussed instance, the voice of Claude Rains is briefly muted as he visibly says the words “gas chambers.” In another instance, the voiceover cuts out mid-sentence several times as archival footage clearly depicts gas chambers and gas canisters onscreen.
Reports differ about who demanded the censorship – the American Gas Association itself or an overzealous CBS executive – but it was swiftly cited in the press and by industry professionals as an example of the ways overwhelming commercial concerns could stifle quality television. Serling would repeatedly reference the incident in his crusade for artistic freedom and integrity. Jack Gould declared, “The futility of silly censorship seldom has been more vividly demonstrated.” He would later refer to “Judgment at Nuremberg” as “the production that clumsily rewrote history so that the American Gas Association would not have to worry about reference to the gas ovens in which millions had perished.”
Even despite these hamfisted efforts at propriety, however, “Judgment at Nuremberg” was an explosive and hard-hitting production. Its use of historical footage of the concentration camps is both moving and agonizing, and the fact that these harrowingly graphic images were permitted to be shown on primetime network television is truly remarkable. The skill involved in coordinating such a complex live production is likewise impressive.
