War Time Melbourne May 1942

Despite a previous poster's wildly inaccurate and hysterical right-wing rantings (among other things, the fact that he kept calling it a "Hollywood" film when it was in fact made by an Australian company with an Australian director and was shot in Australia, and his claim that the "Hollywood" filmmakers wanted to let Reb Brown's character go free when no such thing was even remotely suggested leads one to suspect that this guy never actually saw the film and is just repeating what he read on some shrill far-right-wing website) this is a very good movie, and is based on an actual event. Eddie Leonski (played to near perfection by Reb Brown) was a brain-damaged (caused by a combination of years of heavy drinking and severe beatings by his parents when he was a child), acutely alcoholic American soldier with obviously severe mental problems who was stationed in Australia during WW II. He murdered several young women during a string of off-duty binges of heavy drinking. When he is finally caught (turned in by a fellow soldier to whom he had inadvertently admitted the murders), provost marshal James Coburn is assigned to his defense. Although not happy about it, once Coburn meets his client it's obvious to even his untrained eye that Leonski has serious mental defects and little if any grip on reality (at one point Coburn wonders how someone like Leonski with such glaringly obvious mental problems managed to even get into the army). When he tries to get Leonski placed in a hospital for the criminally insane, however, he discovers that the authorities--American and Australian--are determined to hang him, their decision based more on political considerations than Leonski's shockingly obvious mental deficiencies. The performances by the two leads and the mostly Australian cast are excellent, with Coburn standing out as usual. A subplot concerning his budding romance with a local girl is unnecessary and doesn't go anywhere anyway, but otherwise this is a crackerjack little picture, a fascinating and little known story told well with first-rate performances by Coburn and Brown. Well worth watching.

"Death of a Soldier" is a first-rate little thriller, based on an actual incident that took place in Australia during WW II. Eddie Leonski, an American soldier stationed in Australia, goes partying in the local bars at night. Women are attracted to his boyish charm, rugged good looks and spectacular physique. What they don't know is that underneath that exterior is a brain-damaged serial killer. Years of heavy alcohol consumption, and horrible physical abuse at home, have driven Eddie to the point that when he gets drunk he turns into an uncontrollable killer. He first asks his victims to sing for him, and when they do, he strangles them ("I just want your voice, that's all . . ."). He is eventually turned in by one of his fellow soldiers who is aghast when he hears Eddie offhandedly remark, "I think I killed a couple of those women."

The movie doesn't end there, though. It shows how Eddie is used by all sides--the U.S. Army, the Australian government--to further their own agendas. The Army wants to hang him, the Australians don't want to offend the Army just at the time it needs help to fend off a possible Japanese invasion, and nobody particularly cares that Eddie is obviously insane and has no idea what he has done or what is going on around him. Reb Brown, best known as a star of low-grade action movies, is outstanding as the pathetic Eddie, never turning him into the caricature of the hulking, subhuman serial killer. He really makes you feel for Eddie. James Coburn is fine as always as the lawyer appointed to defend him, but it's Reb Brown's show, and he is up to it. It's a shame Brown never got a chance to do anything else as good as this, and it's also a shame that this film is as unknown as it is. It deserves a much wider audience than it's gotten.

I recently managed to obtain a videotape of this film from a local sound store although I had seen it many years earlier on TV and have a copy of the soundtrack on vinyl record. Reb Brown gives a splendid and convincing performance as American GI Private Eddie Leonski who strangles three local women in Melbourne over a three week period in May 1942 after a drinking binge. His motives are complex and disturbed, and when finally apprehended, confesses that he just "only wanted their voices". The focus of the film centers on the tensions between American and Australian service personnel and Leonski is portrayed as a necessary sacrificial scapegoat needed by the U.S.Army to restore their credibility with the local population. The film does have it's fictional moments such as the violent shootout between American and Australian servicemen at an unknown railway station which may be a substitution of the true confrontation between these forces in the Battle of Brisbane in November 1942 in which there were actual casualties. There is also the bizarre role of Jon Sidney as General Douglas Macarthur who utters nothing throughout the film excepting a one line sentence near the end. His mouthpiece is Michael Pate playing 2IC Major General Richard Sutherland. Great performances by James Coburn who plays U.S. Major Patrick Dannenburg assigned to defend Leonski, whom he considers insane, at an American Court Martial which has an already pre-conceived judgment on the case and Maurie Fields (as Detective Sergeant Ray Martin)and Bill Hunter (as Detective Fred Adams) who play the tough hard nosed Melbourne cops confronting obstinate American military authority over their rights to exercise civil jurisdiction in the case. Extra great performance by Max Fairchild, better known to many Australians as "Beau" of the television tyre commercials, who plays the swaggering, intimidating and outspoken American Provost Marshal Major Bill Fricks. Belinda Davey who plays civilian PR officer Margot Saunders, well attired in the fashion of the era contributes a good sensual feminine performance to an otherwise male dominated film. The superb musical score by Allan Zavod well threaded into the film captures perfectly the mood and style of the wartime 1940's. This is an absolute gem of a movie well worth watching even if for only it's relatively true historical significance.

It's War Time, circa 1942. The Place is Melbourne in Australia. A serious of murders have occurred in the dimly lit back alley streets. A number of eye witnesses claim that they have seen an American G.I running away from the scene of the crimes that have been committed.

If truth be told, film director Philippe Mora, was never what you would call a fashionable movie maker. Taking a look a his filmography, what can we see, "The Return Of Captain Invincible" and "Howling 2" both of which although not classics have since garnered cult camp status, the latter of which, if memory serves, Mora as a director was not happy with so he took the option and made the third in the franchise in his adopted homeland of Australia.

Anyway, with "Death Of A Soldier" Mora gets it first time, coupled with a gritty script by the late William Nagle and a star turn by Reb Brown, as the American G.I. at the centre of the controversial true story, namely one Edward Leonski, If you consider the majority of Brown's film output, i really don't think the man ever really had a chance to shine on screen, that was until this one came along. Superb period detail, and a truly devastating approach, especially more so as the movie itself is based on fact.

This is one movie that needs to be rediscovered, if you can, find it, buy it and cherish it. I know i have.

10 out of 10 This is a movie to be remembered

It's obvious from the remarks in the previous commentaries by others, that none of them were ever in the military. Coburn was portraying a Military Police major (Maj. Dannenberg) serving as the Assistant Provost Marshal - he was not playing an Army attorney. At that time (and still optional today) an officer from any branch in the military can serve as legal council to an accused soldier - you don't have to be a lawyer (JAG Corps). This particular story was true, and is the event in military history that is directly responsible for the creation and implementation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) applicable to all the Armed Forces. The film is accurate and does not portray any Hollywood political bias. It's a great film and a good piece of history. A little known fact: Gen. MacArthur came close to being court martialed for preventing Maj. Dannenberg from appealing Pvt. Leonski's death sentence and conviction, but political allies in Washington intervened.