Conscientious Director: Stanley Kramer
11 Films on Screen
“[Stanley Kramer was] one of our great filmmakers, not just for the art and passion he put on-screen, but for the impact he has made on the conscience of the world.” – Steven Spielberg
Producer/director Stanley Kramer made his name as a director of “message films,” works that examined and challenged notions of society and the problems it faced. From the beginning of his career, Kramer worked outside of the studio system, forming his own production company. This allowed him to work cheaply by renting space instead of owning it, and without studio control. As a producer, he tackled prejudice (Cyrano de Bergerac), social responsibility (High Noon), disaffected youth (The Wild One), and authoritarianism (The Caine Mutiny). Moving into the director’s chair allowed him to have a more direct hand on the narrative as he examined racism (The Defiant Ones and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner), evolution vs. creationism (Inherit the Wind), and the threat of nuclear war (On the Beach).
These critiques of American society earned Kramer some enemies in the studio system and often prompted demonstrations. He was misunderstood the world over, as he received a three-minute ovation in the Soviet Union in 1970, presumably for being anti-American. To this he responded, “When a film of mine criticizes some aspect of American life, it is not an anti-American gesture. On the contrary, it is an affirmation of the American ideal because it reminds us that only in a democratic country like America would I have the right to do so.” In the introduction to his autobiography A Mad Mad Mad Mad World: A Life in Hollywood, Kramer set out his filmmaking vision: “I learned early to make the movies that I wanted, the way I wanted. I tried to produce challenging pictures, dramatic pictures, treating subjects that seemed important: socially, psychologically, historically… I tried to make pictures that would last about issues that would not go away. The degree to which I succeeded, I will let the audiences decide.” The Academy Awards seemed to side with Kramer as his films garnered 80 nominations throughout his career, and won 16 awards. This spring at the Dryden, you can see eleven of his films and decide for yourself.
March 5: Cyrano de Bergerac (Michael Gordon, 1950)
March 12: High Noon (Fred Zinneman, 1952)
March 19: The Wild One (Laslo Benedek, 1953)
March 26: The Caine Mutiny (Edward Dmytryk, 1954)
April 2: The Pride and the Passion (Stanley Kramer, 1957)
April 9: The Defiant Ones (Stanley Kramer, 1958)
April 16: On the Beach (Stanley Kramer, 1959)
April 23: Inherit the Wind (Stanley Kramer, 1960)
May 14: It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (Stanley Kramer, 1963)
May 21: Judgment at Nuremberg (Stanley Kramer, 1961)
Events in this Series
Judgment at Nuremberg
Conscientious Director: Stanley Kramer | Judy @ 100 Stanley Kramer’s cinema of social consciousness turns its focus to the causes and effects of fascism. Kramer fictionalizes the Judges’ Trial of 1947, in which German judges and prosecutors were brought in front of a military tribunal for war crimes against their own country.
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Conscientious Director: Stanley Kramer When dying millionaire Smiler Grogan (Jimmy Durante) whispers the secret hiding place of his fortune to a group of star-studded passing motorists, it sets off a race to find the loot.
Inherit the Wind
Conscientious Director: Stanley Kramer Closely based on the Scopes “Monkey” Trial of 1925, Inherit the Wind relates the sensational trial of a young teacher, Bertram Cates (Dick York), who is prosecuted for teaching Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution in a high school science class—a violation of state law.
On the Beach
Conscientious Director: Stanley Kramer Adapted from Nevil Shute’s novel, Stanley Kramer’s gripping film presents an early entry in the post-apocalypse genre, where the consequences of World War III leave Earth a nuclear wasteland. Gregory Peck leads a stellar cast of survivors (including Ava Gardner, Anthony Perkins, and Fred Astaire) attempting to make the most of their final days on Earth.
The Defiant Ones
Conscientious Director: Stanley Kramer Tony Curtis is stunning in his Oscar-nominated role as racist convict Joker Jackson, forced to face his prejudices when he manages to escape from a chain gang still bound to black fellow convict Noah Cullen (Sidney Poitier).