The Age from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 14

14 THE AGE, Tuesday 15 October 1985 EDITED BY ANTHONY CLARKE the-whole When truth is not enough The splendors of Holdsworth given a splendid start THE making of the film 'The Leonski Incident in Melbourne earlier this year was marked by massive publicity and controversy as a cast headed by American actor James Cobum set out to re-create the story of the Brown-Out murderer, Edward Leonski: JACK MA THEWS reports from Hollywood on initial reaction to the finished film, which is now being shown to potential US distributors under the title 'War DRA ROTHGERBER was a short, 29-year-old second lieutenant in the US Army when he was ordered to defend an American soldier accused of strangling three Australian women in Melbourne during World War IL So. naturally, the producers dra matising the event on film promoted his character to major and cast tall, 57-year-old James Coburn in the part. "I don't know how they could have found a more appropriate jokes Rothgerber, now a retired civil lawyer living in Boulder, Colorado. "He seems just right to me." Hollywood has always played it fast and loose when chronicling "true stories," but what makes 'War Story' different is that it was made by Australians. They have a reputation, through such films as 'Breaker Morant', 'Gal-lipoli and "The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith' for being sticklers for documentary detail.

At least, that was the public relations preceding them. Who in Hollywood knows Australian history? You cannot always blame film makers for the "little lies" that help mould, shape and The fact and the fiction: Eddie Leonski and (right) James Coburn, and a report from 'The Argus', Melbourne, of Leonski's conviction in July 1942. illuminate stories that would otherwise be pretty dry. But 'War Story', now being shopped' among American distributors, stretches the truth far enough to qualify it as a mainstream Hollywood movie. That is perhaps the point Producer Oscar Scherl, who runs a film and TV commercial production facility in Sydney, says recent changes in Australian tax laws are forcing film makers there to "become international, to broaden story content and bring in more international stars.

We only have 16 million people," he says. "We can't support our own played quite as active a role in the case as implied by the movie. Scherl does not acknowledge taking any poetic licence with the story. In fact, he says, "there are no fictitious elements to the story whatsoever," and points to the expense of ing in the actual rooms where the court martial and hanging occurred. Rothgerber, now 72, spent a lot of time with the film's director, Phillipe Mora, and says the film gets the general facts of the murders and the court martial right It is the portrayal of him as both the head of the Army's murder investigation and of Leonski's defence that is wildly inaccurate.

"To be both an investigator and a defence attorney on the same case would have been impossible under both Australian and American law," he says. "I got involved after Leonski was arrested, and I was ordered to defend him." i The major also has a torrid love affair with a beautiful Melbourne socialite, which serves the film's sub-text that Australian men hated the Americans because the Australian women loved them. Alas, says Rothgerber, the affair never occurred, and the reason Australian women seemed interested in Americans was because the Americans were so interested in them. "They used to say: 'What do we have that American women don't Rothgerber recalls. "We said: 'Nothing, but you have it Scherl sees 'War Story', which features a lot of American actors living in Australia, as the start of Australia's inevitable inter-nationalisation.

"In the long run, I think this will be good for us," he says. "It will draw us closer to the international market to which we should belong." Los Angeles Times For Publication': appalling and appealing. Cheerfully cynical jibe at r51VEN though 'Not For Publi-I cation' (Valhalla, Rich-I mond) is less of a hoot than its predecessor, 'Eating Raoul', it is much funnier than most of the so-called comedies do FILMS NEIL 'i between Australian authorities and General Douglas MacArthur's South Pacific command, while being kept from Americans back home. The series of murders, committed by a 22-year-old private named Eddie Leonski, elevated tensions that were already high among Australian and American soldiers, who were competing for Australian women, and it helped touch off a railway station shoot-out between the two armies that left 35 men 19 Americans and 16 Australians dead. The movie says MacArthur.

anxious to appease the Australians and "get on with the' war," ordered a speeded-up court martial, then blocked Rothgerber's attempts to appeal the case before Leonski was hanged. Rothgerber says MacArthur could have stopped the hanging and did not, despite evidence that Leonski was insane. But he doubts that MacArthur Barry Dennen as the pimp. Woparico in 'Not simply have the Htiiiji I JILLETT ing the cinematic rounds these, days. characters are strongly flavored with the bad taste of the '80s.

As a form of homage by crass imitation, 'Eating Raoul worked better than 'Not For Publication'. It was tightly plotted and unfalter- ing in its po-faced outrageousness. With 'Not For Publication'. Bartel is less in control of his crazy logic, less sure of his aim. His satirical shots against journalism and politics turn out to be no more than cheerfully cynical jibes.

Yet while it often lacks a clear sense of purpose, the film has plenty of energy and torty silliness. A new twist is given to an old song-and-dance routine when Lois and Barry, costumed in feathers and she can turn it into a respectable example of investigative journalism. To help her in both jobs, she recruits Barry, a naive photographer. Fearlessly, and inadvertently, they uncover the truth about the mayor. Barters aim is to make screwball comedies, plotted more or less along the lines of those of the '30s.

and '40s. There are differences, though. The visual style is deliberately tacky, and the jokes and Middle-class materialism, with a cannibalistic twist was the subject of 'Eating Raoul'. This time direc- torco-writer Paul Bartel has gut ter journalism and political corruption in his sights. Lois is a woman of two worlds.

By day she campaigns for New York's ostensibly liberal mayor. By night she works on a scandal sheet the 'Informer', hoping that LEONSKI GUILTY OF 3 MURDERS Sentenced to Death After a 5-day trial by General Court Martial, Pte Ea ward Joseph Leonski, 24, US soldier, was found guilty yesterday of 3 charges of having murdered Mrs Ivy McLeod, Mrs Pauline Buchan Thompson, and Miss Gladys llosklng, and was sentenced to he hanged. Leonski displayed no emotion when sentence was announced. He walked from the courtroom in the middle ot strong escort. industry.

We have to become part of the world market" -----r With -'War Stoiy'Tschert picked a subject that ought to have plenty of international appeal. It is based on an event that shook Australia in 1942 and threatened to destroy relations journalists claws, excite participants in an orgy at a nightclub called the Bestiary, and Barry Dennen is irresistibly appalling and appealing as a pimp, Signor Woparico. Among other excellent cameo performers are Richard Paul (an editor whose personal habits reflect his journalism) and Alice Ghostley (Barry's mother, who is simultaneously a spiritualist and a ham-radio Jreak). 'The wide-eyed straightness of the three lead actors Nancy Allen (Lois), David Naughton (Barry) and Laurence Luckinbifl (the mayor) provides a nicely con- "i trasting backdrop for the weird-ness of the supporting cast auditor to be them. may need REPC.1T ARTHUR MclNTYRE i YDNEY.

The official opening of the new Holdsworth Contemporary Galleries was a splendidly orchestrated affair. The Australian National Gallery's director, James Mollison, declared the extraordinary venue open at a grand dinner for more than 300 guests, who managed to occupy only a section of the huge gallery. Mollison spoke of the dedication of Gisella Scheinberg and the significance of her contribution to local art It is almost impossible to convey the vastness of the new gallery and the lavisbness of its appointments. This project is quite dazzling! in its scale and in the way it reflects confidence in the future of Oz art Several other Sydney dealers must be feeling nervous about the indomitable Scheinberg's latest achievement The large Oxley gallery spaces can no Longer compete with the unique opportunity that the Holdsworth Contemporary's museum-like halls present to ambitious guest curators and organisers of exhibitions outside of the state and regional gallery circuit Already plans are well in hand for a contribution to the 1986 Biennale of Sydney. A comprehensive guest-curatied survey of Australian Drawing will occupy two-thirds of the venue.

Artists to be invited will range from the Oz "old masters" like Arthur Boyd and John Brack through mid-generation artists such as Jan Senbergs. Lesley Dumbrell and Mike Parr to a crop of outstanding juniors. Contemporary American art will also be shown over the coming years and exchanges between American and Australian artists are envisaged. Such ambitious plans are financially but Mrs Scheinberg will probably make it work. Shej is absolutely determined to make the new gallery function in a valid and viable way, fulfilling a community role, while her original gallery in Woollahra pays the bills.

When Mrs Scheinberg broke down and cried during! her speech at the opening she was bolstered by thunderous applause and cheers from all present This has really! been her year, from her award of the Order of Australia for services to local art, through her staging of the unforgettable Arthur Boyd exhibition in May, to the launching of her monumental new gallery. I The Sydney art scene has never known anyone like that' year round. ilobs, 5 come next your business A rthur Young consider an figures. You'll have solutions. much like a doctor.

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