Movie History 101 will soon be in the Summer Session at the local multiplex (or for those still “in-home learning” streaming online). And just where does the course, begin? What better backdrop than the last World War, number II if you’re taking notes. However, this week’s lesson plan, feature film actually, doesn’t concern any major battles, or big military milestones. This is a story about the use of propaganda, though its use goes back far before the printed word. But in WWII, this weapon of persuasion hit the airwaves, the radio airwaves to be precise. Last year, DA 5 BLOODS included flashbacks to the broadcasts of Hanoi Hannah, a sultry voice that was usually laughed off by the GIs. Twenty or so years before her, there was Tokyo Rose, going out through WWII’s war in the Pacific. Less well known was the siren of the war in Europe, who was arrested and brought back to the states to face charges. “Cinema class” begins with AMERICAN TRAITOR: THE TRIAL OF AXIS SALLY.
Sally is actually Mildred Gillars (Meadow Williams), who we first see walking briskly through a building in bombed-out Berlin in 1945. But she’s not moving swiftly enough to avoid arrest by Allied soldiers. Through a series of flashbacks, her rise from struggling cafe singer to radio star is chronicled. In the late 1930s, her manager boyfriend Paul tells her of a possible steady job with the Nazi-party controlled radio outlet, German State Radio. Soon she caught the attention of the minister of propaganda Joseph Goebbels (Thomas Kretschmann), who began personally providing her with scripts that boasted of Germany’s military might. As the war escalated, Mildred found herself a virtual prisoner of the abusive Goebbels, who would not return her passport. After the Allied victory, she is sent to the states to stand trial. The only lawyer choosing (though he was somewhat “recruited” ) is the irascible defense attorney James Laughlin (Al Pacino). With his main aide, an untried lawyer named Billy Owen (Swen Temmel), Laughlin does legal battle with prosecutor John Kelly (Mitch Pileggi) while the vain, uncooperative Gillars seems not to care that a guilty verdict could mean her death.
No doubt, the biggest “get” for the producers is the casting “coupe” of Oscar-winner Pacino in the somewhat supporting role of Laughlin. Unfortunately, his often “over the top” line delivery and eccentric mannerisms put him at odds with the script, the time period, and his other (to put it kindly) less experienced co-stars. Though his “far-from period’ parted jet-black pompadour may have been a nod to the glory days of …AND JUSTICE FOR ALL (can it be 42 years), his shambling low-rent Perry Mason seems disinterested in the actual court proceeding, preferring to blast weird bits of humor at anyone sharing the frame. Adding to the distraction is the odd choice of a droopy black mustache that seems to have been a relic from 70s softcore porn. The other screen vets fare no better with even less to do. Kretschmann plays Goebbels as the sneering deviant goose-stepping deviant from countless grindhouse potboilers, chainsmoking as he leers on Mildred. The always watchable Pileggi shows little of his screen gravitas as the USA “bulldog” dragging “Sally” to her doom. Temmel makes for a convincing young student of the law who lets his emotions guide him rather than the facts. And then there’s the title lead. Williams as Gillars, who struggles to carry the heavy dramatics events that lead her character in court. Her rather limited range goes from the breathy microphone delivery in the broadcast studio, recreated in her scenes visiting wounded Allied soldiers while dressed in a Halloween “naughty nurse” outfit to the tepid crooning at various clubs and parties to a haughty aloof vanity “vogueing”. It doesn’t help that her platinum hairstyle is a couple of decades ahead of the late 1940s. Much of her screentime is spend pushing those long tresses out of her face as she switches from a wide-eyed “caught-in-headlights” stare to a petulant pout for the newsreel cameras. This “take’ sheds little light on the controversial figure of history.
Director Michael Polish makes a valiant attempt to bring a sense of urgency to the script he co-wrote with 3 (!) others. Unfortunately, he appears to have been thwarted by the ultra-low-budget and the use of many novice performers. A lot of familiar archive footage is relied on to try and establish a timeline and push the plot forward, though it doesn’t help when Williams’ face is slapped over the real Gillars via some very clunky CGI trickery. It appears that the locations were limited as Laughlin’s office looks to be a college library and the big legal scenes occur either in the courtroom or on the steps just outside (thinking those may have all been shot on a Sunday). Yes, there are a couple of vintage cars, but the period costumes seem ill-fitting and cheap (two Nazi goons look like they just came in from a community college production of “The Sound of Music”). I’m sure there’s a riveting drama to made of the story of this radio “turncoat’, but the budget constraints and uneven casting decisions make AMERICAN TRAITOR: THE TRIAL OF AXIS SALLY barely basic cable TV fodder, somehow escaping from the bargain basement. Or as one of its stars might say, “Hoooaaah!!”. Class dismissed, enjoy your Summer!
One Half Out of 4
AMERICAN TRAITOR: THE TRIAL OF AXIS SALLY opens in select theatres and is available via most streaming platforms and apps beginning on Friday, May 28, 2021.
