Inherit the Wind

"He who troubles his own house will inherit wind, and the foolish will be servant to the wisehearted."

-Proverbs 11:29

A dramatization of the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial as a backwoods school teacher finds himself under arrest after deliberately teaching evolution and knowing the consequences. He finds himself defended by the most reputed and aggressive defense attorney in the country (Spencer Tracy) as the local religious majority rallies behind a long-winded three-time Presidential candidate (Frederic March). Made with Stanley Kramer's typically overlong progressive moralizing, Inherit the Wind is nonetheless intelligently written and just as salient today as it was when released or set, and even retains much of its edge. A smarmy Gene Kelly is badly miscast in the H.L. Mencken role and exists solely for comic relief and to push the story along but Tracy and March both have their moments of humor and power.

*** out of ****

Judgment at Nuremberg

Judgement at Nuremberg dramatizes the series of American tribunals following World War II which tried several Nazi officials for war atrocities, and condenses them into a single trial. Socially conscious filmmaker Stanley Kramer's film was one I'd seen awhile back and one which held a firm place in my memory as a biting and powerful work. Watching it again, I found the material overly hypothetical and pretentious with Kramer's constantly zooming courtroom scene cameras creating a distraction. Still, there is much to appreciate on the acting front and from a highly regarded cast standouts include Burt Lancaster as a defendant, Montgomery Clift and Judy Garland as key witnesses, Richard Widmark and Maximilian Schell (excellent, also an Oscar winner for the part) as opposing attorneys, and Spencer Tracy as the presiding judge.