AMERICAN TRAITOR: The Trial of Axis Sally Vertical Entertainment, Redbox Entertainment Reviewed for Shockya.com & BigAppleReviews.net linked from Rotten
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Mildred Gillars was an American woman who propagandized for the Nazis on German state radio for much of World War II. While not as well known as her Pacific counterpart “Tokyo Rose,” she acquired enough of a cachet to be nicknamed “Axis Sally” by contemporary troops who weren’t buying what she was selling.
Directed by Michael Polish from a script by Polish, Vance Owen and Daryl Hicks, “American Traitor: The Trial of Axis Sally,” a fictionalized version of her story, was executive produced by Meadow Williams, who plays Gillars. The movie begins with her arrest in Germany after the war. Gillars is extradited to Washington and indicted on many counts of treason and conspiracy. Her case is dumped in the lap of the gruff lawyer James Laughlin, played, well, gruffly by Al Pacino.
“American Traitor: The Trial of Axis Sally” is the fact-based story of Mildred Gillars, an aspiring American actress who was tried in 1949 on eight counts of treason for her role as a radio propagandist for Nazi Germany during World War II.
It’s a potentially fascinating story, but this ambitious film, directed by Michael Polish (“Twin Falls Idaho,” “The Astronaut Farmer”), is hindered by a middling script by Vance Owen, Darryl Hicks and Polish (based on a book by Owen and his late father, William) and an underwhelming title turn by Meadow Williams. The star’s limited range and overreliance on glamorous, femme-fatale-like stylings distance us from the dubious, seemingly complex Gillars, an inherently hard character to embrace at best. (Real-life photos also show her to be less the bombshell than in Williams’ breathy portrayal.)