Death of a Soldier

Watching this film, you could be forgiven for thinking that the battles the Australians and Americans fought against the Japanese were merely practice for the battles they fought against each other on the streets of Melbourne.

"Death of a Soldier" looks at life in Melbourne in 1942 when General MacArthur and the Americans hit town. There were tensions, but the film takes the urban myths of the time and gives them a large dose of anabolic steroids.

The film's strength is in the story of Eddie Leonski the American soldier who strangled three Australian women (The Brownout Murders). After reading "Murder at Dusk" by Ian W. Shaw I was surprised at how close the film stayed to the facts of the case.

James Coburn as Major Patrick Dannenberg has a lot of work to do in the film. Not only does he manage relations between the Americans and the Australians, but also becomes deeply involved in the investigation of the murders. Bill Hunter and Maurie Fields play Australian detectives investigating Leonski's crimes. They do this with a series of poses - standing with their hands in their pockets at the crime scenes or leaning against the bar of the local boozer.

Reb Brown played Eddie Leonski. He's a powerful-looking dude and although his performance seems over-the-top, apparently Eddie Leonski was that crazy. Another impressive performance was delivered by formidable, 6'4" Australian Max Fairchild as MP Major Fricks, a man you would instinctively address as "Sir".

Other reviewers have pointed out that there was always the perception that something like the shootout between American and Australian soldiers had happened. But the origin of the incident would seem to be the one given in the "The Battle of Brisbane" by Peter Thompson, when a U.S. soldier was pursued and shot by Australian police and soldiers after he killed an Australian on a train. Hardly the shootout depicted in the film with casualties rivalling the assault on Buna.

My main criticism of the film is that it's all sensation with very little balance. In reality much of the aggression between the two allies involved brawls between scrappy young men who probably went in for that sort of thing back in civilian life anyway. Similar things happened in New Zealand (The Battle of Manners Street).

Not all Australians felt put upon. 15,000 Australians married Americans (possibly that left some Aussies fuming), but most Australians appreciated that despite gutsy efforts by the Diggers in New Guinea, the situation would have been dire if the U.S. had not arrived in force in 1942.

But perceptions are important and the negative vibe in "Death of a Soldier" probably carries more weight than it should. Maybe Dr. Brendan Nelson, the director of the Australian War Memorial, put things into broader perspective during a speech to the National Press Club in 2013:

"... I've said to the Americans in particular in various roles I've had that not a day goes by in this country where we don't give thanks and gratitude for American sacrifice in this part of the world".

I agree with all the points made in the positive reviews of this film. I recently saw it for the first time on Briz31, a community TV channel which can only pay peanuts (if that) for its movies. I missed it at the cinema when it got reasonably good publicity but it quickly dropped out of sight. It deserved far better. I can only say that there is in Australia a tendency by organizations of any size to self-censor a lot of things that show the USA and particularly Australia's relationship with the USA in a bad light.

I would add something to Graf Spee's comment that the shootout between Australian troops and American troops was fictional. This incident was very widely believed to have really happened, by Australians in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Books and features have been written investigating it but no concrete evidence exists that it happened. Nevertheless, people believed it had, and I recall quite a few wartime generation people of both sexes telling me in all earnestness that it had, and that it was just typical that "The Government" would cover it up. So whether true or not, the existence of the legend is an indicator of the underlying tension between Americans and Australians at the time. The Battle of Brisbane was factual, but it was a riot during which some shots were fired and people were killed. The Train Battle, legend has it, occurred when a unit of Australians, on their way to the war zone, were insulted by Americans and a full scale fire fight broke out.

One Australian attitude to Americans has been summed up as "Over-paid, Over-sexed, and Over Here", and a book about the problem has been published with that title. I just wonder if a french author has ever written a similar work about Aussie soldiers, the "Diggers" of World War One, who were paid about 7 times as much as British soldiers and much, much more than French soldiers! The wheel turns.

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.

"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.