Friendly Enemies (1942 film)

A New York City brewer by the name of Karl Pfeiffer takes a stand against President Wilson's decision to send troops to Europe to support the Allies in World War I. Karl is a native German who doesn't want his birthplace destroyed in the war.

Trying to find another way to help stop the war, Karl is an easy target for the cunning saboteur Anton Miller. Miller meets Karl posing as propaganda expert named George Stewart, and can persuades Karl to donate $50,000 to the cause of stopping the war. The check will be ready for picking up the day after at Karl's home on Manhattan.

That same evening Karl attends a dinner in honor of Henry Block, who is the father of June, who is about to marry Karl's son. When it comes to politics, Henry's views are opposite of Karl's and they often start to argue when they meet.

Because of Karl's views and bad temper the rest of the family have kept it a secret that his son William has joined the Army. At the dinner Karl is told about this and reacts as expected with an outburst. He leaves the apartment in anger, but tries to persuade his son to change his mind the following day. Miller is interested when he hears that the famously wealthy Henry is soon to be related to Karl, and wants to meet up with him.

William stands by his decision to fight in the war, and soon he embarks with a military transport ship out of the New York City harbor. On the way to Europe the ship is sunk by saboteurs and Karl gets a message from Miller that the money he donated was well spent.

Realizing his mistake in trusting Miller, the devastated Karl decides to avenge his son by killing Miller. Henry comes to his aid, and together they come up with a plan to disclose Miller as a saboteur instead.

They arrange a meeting between Miller and Henry, at which Miller is forced to reveal his identity and is arrested by the police.

Later, it turns out that William wasn't killed when the ship sunk, and he comes home to reunite with his family and wife. Having learnt his lesson, Karl decides to give up his political beliefs and care for his family instead. The fact that he has become a true American patriot is displayed in full when he sings "My country 'tis of thee" together with his family.{{Cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/75697/friendly-enemies|title=Friendly Enemies}}

• Charles Winninger as Karl Pfeiffer
• Charlie Ruggles as Heinrich Block
• James Craig as Bill Pfeiffer
• Nancy Kelly as June Block
• Otto Kruger as Anton Miller
• Ilka Grüning as Mrs. Pfeiffer
• Greta Meyer as Gretchen
• Addison Richards as Inspector McCarthy
• Charles Lane as Braun
• John Piffle as Schnitzler
• Ruth Holley as Nora
• Murray Alper as Delivery man

The movie was based on a play which had been very popular during World War I and filmed in 1925 under the same title. Edward Small bought the rights in 1942.{{Cite news|title=Internecine Warfare!|author=Parsons, Louella.|date=Jan 22, 1942|newspaper=The Washington Post|page=9}}

According to Allan Dwan, Small approached Dwan to make a version of Up in Mabel's Room but there were difficulties with the rights. Small suggested Dwan make Friendly Enemies instead and the director was enthusiastic. Dwan claims the film only took a week to prepare because the cast and sets were already prepared for Up in Mabel's Room and repurposed and the script was very close to the play. Dwan later said

That’s what interested me about the whole project. The challenge. Not because I would ever have said, ‘Let’s go out of our way and make Friendly Enemies - or get writers and try to make it better.’ It was just ‘bang’, and it was effective. In several cases, I’ve had to do that with pictures - and not waste time or money on them, because they aren’t worth it. You don’t know what you’re going to get back out of it. In this case, he [Small] got a good profit because it turned out to be an acceptable picture.{{cite book|first=Peter|last=Bogdanovich|year=1971|title=Allan Dwan; the last pioneer|page=126|url=https://archive.org/details/allandwanlastpio0000bogd/page/126/mode/1up?}}

Filming started in early February 1942.{{Cite news|title=Of Local Origin|date=Feb 3, 1942|work=New York Times|page=23}}

Reviews were average.{{Cite news|title=' Friendly Enemies,' With Ruggles and Winninger, Opens at the Rivoli --- 'Submarine Raider' Is Seen at the Central|author=T.S..|date=June 22, 1942|work=New York Times|page=19}}

Small said he wanted to reunite the two stars in Batter Up, but the film was never made.{{Cite news|title=DRAMA: Episodic Films May Solve Actor Shortage|author=Schallert, Edwin|date=July 16, 1942|work=Los Angeles Times|page=13}}

Friendly Enemies was presented on Philip Morris Playhouse June 26, 1942. Ruggles and Winninger reprised their roles.{{cite news|title=Playhouse Presents Stars in Radio Adaptation of "Friendly Enemies"|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2957505/harrisburg_telegraph/|agency=Harrisburg Telegraph|date=June 20, 1942|page=22|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = August 4, 2015}} {{Open access}}

{{reflist}}

• {{IMDb title|0034757|Friendly Enemies}}

{{Allan Dwan}}

{{Edward Small}}

Category:1942 films

Category:1940s English-language films

Category:American black-and-white films

Category:American films based on plays

Category:Western Front (World War I) films

Category:Films directed by Allan Dwan

Category:1942 drama films

Category:Films produced by Edward Small

Category:American drama films

Category:Films based on works by American writers

Category:1940s American films