The Enemy

The Enemy

1963 - United Kingdom

A young Englishman makes many friends in Vienna, but all of them turn against him with the outbreak of the first world war. After the Armistice, he returns to find nothing but bitterness and despair. War is abominable and useless-a trite truism today. Not so when The Enemy was written shortly after the First World War. The message then was new, and so it makes a fitting end to this symposium of World War One stories. 

The Enemy takes place in Vienna and, briefly, at the front. Carl Behrend (Christopher Guinee), a budding author, has just married Pauli Arndt (Kika Markham) when war breaks out. Pauli and her father, Professor Arndt (George Pravda), realise the futility of war; Carl and his father, August (Derek Francis), are patriots, although Carl goes only reluctantly into the Austrian Army as a lieutenant. Bruce Gordon (Danvers Walker), an Englishman staying with the Andts, is welcome until war fever grips Austria. Then personal friendships fall victim to the impersonal enmities of countries. 

Author Channing Pollock then shows how patriotism is not enough to save life and limb nor to feed under-nourished babies. He exposes all the futility of the war which was to end wars and the terrible peacetime reckoning it brought to the defeated. The Enemy was first produced in London in 1925, and was filmed in America starring Lillian Gish as Pauli. This version, for Play of the Week was adapted by Derek Hill. Other plays in the "For King and Country short series: Part One-Out There Part Two-The Barricade Part Three-Tunnel Trench.

Published on March 16th, 2019. Written by Based on original TV Times article and adapted for Television Heaven.

Read Next...

I've Got a System

In the final play of Allan Prior's Blackpool trilogy, the writer decided to go for a story with a bit more of an edge to it, the theme being betting and gambling

Also starring Kika Markham

Wild, Wild Women tv series

In the post Victorian era a group of working-class women are discovering a feisty new spirit as their thoughts turn to the suffrage movement

Also starring Derek Francis

My Favourite Martian

En route to his office, LA journalist Tim O'Hara witnesses the crash landing of a space ship. On further investigation he discovers that the UFO's pilot has survived the crash and is in fact an anthropologist from the planet Mars.

Also released in 1963

The Baron

An antiques dealer works in an informal capacity as an agent for British Diplomatic Intelligence.

Also tagged 1960S Drama

Second Verdict

Two fictional policemen scrutinise six real life historical murder cases and present evidence for and against the verdicts

Also starring George Pravda

A Builder by Trade

Pamela Gems' first play for ITV is about two sisters, May Vine (Vanda Godsell), Louie Robbins and the man who becomes their lodger.

Also released in 1963

The Monsters

Four-part science fiction series that failed to make an impact with either viewers or critics, and was never repeated before being 'junked' less than a year after transmission

Also starring George Pravda

Bridge of Sighs

A young refugee couple stand on the bridge between East and West. The girl is about to have a baby. The frontier guards will not let them pass to the other side. What can they do?

Also tagged 1960S Drama