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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.
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Coming to theatres and OnDemand from director Michael Polish, Vertical and Redbox is the story of a woman who stands trial for being an AMERICAN TRAITOR: The Trial of Axis Sally.
It is World War II and American Mildred Gillars (Meadow Williams) is living in Germany with the love of her life Max Koischwitz (Carsten Norgaard). It is not long before she is brought to Joseph Goebbels (Thomas Kretschmann) who makes it clear that if she wants things to stay safe for her, she will do radio broadcasts exactly as the script says. The program consists of Mildred singing swing songs and propaganda written by Goebbels.
“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.)
Directed by Michael Polish.
Starring Meadow Williams, Al Pacino, Thomas Kretschmann, Mitch Pileggi, Lala Kent, Swen Temmel, Jasper Polish, John D. Hickman, Sewell Whitney, Drew Taylor, Jesy McKinney, and Carsten Norgaard.
SYNOPSIS:
An American woman named Mildred Gillars broadcast Nazi propaganda during World War II. She was dubbed Axis Sally by the American GIs who simultaneously loved and hated her. The story plunges the viewer into the dark underbelly of the Third Reich’s hate-filled propaganda machine, Sally’s eventual capture, and subsequent trial for treason in Washington D.C. after the war.
Maybe it’s not fair to expect every plot synopsis to be forthright, but