The Martha Mitchell Effect

PG

2022

40m

Documentary

List

100%

Tomatometer

7 Reviews

69%

Audience Score

50+ Ratings

This documentary profiles the Cabinet wife who spoke out during Watergate -- and the Nixon administration's campaign to gaslight her into silence.

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James Wegg

JWR

As Ruth Ben Ghiat recently said, “Making sure you have immunity, while those who have done your dirty work go to jail, is an essential strongman skill”.

Rated: 4/5

Mar 21, 2023

Full Review

Abhishek Srivastava

The Times of India

Essential viewing not just for those interested in politics, but for everyone interested in human behaviour.

Rated: 4/5

Feb 4, 2023

Full Review

Lynden Barber

Limelight

For follow-up viewing, turn to the hour-long documentary The Martha Mitchell Effect, which shows the real Martha to have been an even more colourful personality than the one portrayed by [Julia] Roberts. Which is really saying something...

Jul 25, 2022

Full Review

Jennifer Merin

AWFJ.org

Utterly compelling! Crammed with enlightening information about Martha Mitchell's life, her role in the Watergate scandal, how she was maligned and mistreated by Nixon and his cronies.

Jul 2, 2022

Full Review

Johnny Loftus

Decider

Though brief, The Martha Mitchell Effect is a powerful, at times illusory document of a woman who refused to abide by the status quo of her era.

Jul 1, 2022

Full Review

Sabrina McFarland

Common Sense Media

Calling all history buffs to watch this stirring documentary about a woman's life during a notable bygone era.

Rated: 4/5

Jun 29, 2022

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Brenda K

Fabulous subject matter and the clips of Martha were 5-star. Unfortunately the various audio tapes were impossible for me to understand. Why weren't subtitles put on the screen when the Nixon tapes were being played? I gave up watching as the garbled parts were too frustrating.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

07/22/23

Full Review

Catherine O

This film is Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" all over again—only carried to the highest levels of government during the 1972 re-election campaign of Richard Nixon. It's only forty minutes long, but this documentary vindicates a woman who was sidelined and maligned for telling the truth about the Watergate break-in. Martha Mitchell scooped Deep Throat and Woodward and Bernstein, but Nixon and her own husband (Attorney General John Mitchell) worked to defame her as a loud-mouthed hysterical female for doing so. This film shows that Nixon was even more of a criminal than we already knew. Watch it.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Kevin L

Martha Mitchell was a for real bada##. What a lotta backbone that woman had. Made her dirtbag husband who 'stood for law and order and what's right in this world' look like the dopey criminal he was, but also about half the standup defender of the good she was. And called Nixon out for who and what he really was. Seriously, did they think they might lose that election!?!? 3.7 stars

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/01/23

Full Review

Pub. A

It is a great reminder of how often those in power gaslight those who try to tell the truth. We have seen this phenomenon more often recently.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/18/23

Full Review

Jona I

While it accomplishes its main intention of exploiting Nixon's team's silencing of Martha Mitchell, it mostly accomplishes calling into question the character of Mitchell, her ego, her incredible lack of healthy boundaries, and her lack of actual ability, which almost invokes sympathy for the Nixon administration for having to put up with her -- which I don't think was at all the filmmaker's intention.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/04/23

Full Review

s r

Interesting subject, but it raised a lot more issues than solved. It's almost like the director came across the issue and decided to turn it into a 40 min documentary just because of how crazy a topic it was. It was on Netflix.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

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Anne Alvergue

Director

Debra McClutchy

Director

Martha Mitchell

Self

Beth Levison

Producer

Judith Mizrachy

Producer

Anne Alvergue

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Synopsis

This documentary profiles the Cabinet wife who spoke out during Watergate -- and the Nixon administration's campaign to gaslight her into silence.

Director: Anne Alvergue, Debra McClutchy
Production Co: Foothill Productions
Rating: PG (Language|Some Thematic Elements|Smoking)
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Jun 17, 2022
Runtime: 40m
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital

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