MovieChat Forums > Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) Discussion > Montgomery Clift

Montgomery Clift

posted 7 years ago by gashousemartin
3 replies | jump to latest

Clift on the stand as Mr. Peterson was heartbreaking. Just about 15 minutes of perfect acting.

I'm a big fan of Montgomery Clift but I have to admit that I found his performance in this to be alarmingly poor. He was a wonderfully sensitive, natural actor but there was something horribly mechanical about his extended cameo here. Clift had such overwhelming personal demons by this stage in his life and his scene was certainly painful to watch, but not for the correct reasons. Which was a huge disappointment, as I had looked forward to finally seeing his work in this for a long time.

[–] Tabbycat (750) 3 months ago

It’s heartfelt but goes a little over the top at the end.

Right when he first walked on, I could see he was gay.
In fact, I thought his character was going to testify to Nazi persecution for being homosexual

[–] Destinata (2619) 3 months ago

And it took him three days to do it. He kept forgetting his lines because of his alcoholism. But everyone was patient, and I thought his performance and Judy Garland's were amazing. His far more so.