Deserves to be Remembered

This very good film, based on the case of the "Brownout Strangler" in Melbourne in 1942, deserves not to be forgotten. The killer murdered three Australian women by strangulation in a very brief period.
The acting is first-rate, especially from James Coburn, whom I normally did not like. Reb Brown, as US Army Private Edward J. Leonski, also turns in a credible performance, as do the veteran Australian actors Maurie Fields, Bill Hunter, and Max Fairchild.
A good deal of the film's conflict comes from the interplay between the Austalian criminal justice system and the US Army, both of which wanted to try Leonski for the murders.
Many of the named characters in the film were also involved in the case in real-life, and the script did a good job of re-creating the tension of wartime Melbourne, which was worried not only about the Japanese, but also the stranglings. Evidence pointed to an American GI as the culprit, and as a result, the GI's were looked upon with a great deal of suspicion. Before Leonski was caught, tensions between Americans and the Australians flared up in a number of pitched battles, the worst of which was the so-called "Battle of Brisbane" in which a number of soldiers of both countries were killed.
All-in-all, Death of a Soldier was an excellent film, and one that is well worth watching.
I wish that it would be released on DVD soon.