L'ennemie bien-aimée

I haven't seen this film myself but I've just come across a comment on it by my father, after seeing it in 1938:

I did not enjoy it as much as I might have had I not been studying the actual facts and happenings of that particular year (1921). After what I had read and pondered so much to retain in my memory I could hardly even endure to look at the picture at all, it was so different from what was in my mind. The human touch in it was the only thing that appealed to me, otherwise the picture was empty. Probably I would have thought it a great picture had I not read so much about that particular period, recently.

Film loosely based on Irish revolutionary Michael Collins. They added romance to this 1936 picture, and even though it has been fictionalized, it's still a very good picture.

The chemistry between revolutionary Brian Aherne and Merle Oberon, the daughter of a British diplomat is just fine here. They meet by chance when Oberon accompanies her diplomatic father to Ireland for him to see what is going on.

There are some fine supporting performances here, especially by Henry Stephenson, as the diplomat, David Niven as an attaché and another gem role for Donald Crisp, as a militant revolutionary.

This love story brings out the futility of war and the famous line in Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities," in that every revolution breeds fanatics. How true.

This is a fine film depicting the fictitious love affair between an English Lady and an Irish rebel leader in the 1920s. Merle Oberon gives an endearing performance as Lady Helen, who coincidentally meets Dennis Riordan (played by Brian Aherne) under false pretenses. They should have been enemies. She represented everything their respective sides were fighting against. But her charms beguiled him and when they each realize they are falling in love with the enemy, it is too late.

This is a story of star-crossed lovers, each having to decide between their moral convictions and a true love that may never come again. Brian Aherne is charismatic as the clever rebel leader. Henry Stephenson is perfect as Lord Athleigh, Helen's tough but wise father, sent to Dublin to settle the Irish uprising one way or another. David Niven is splendid in a supporting role as Gerald Preston, assistant to Lord Athleigh, only a year before he is to wow audiences as Captain von Tarlenheim in "The Prisoner of Zenda".

Although this is a love story, there is plenty of action and intrigue involving the hunt for Riordan and the rebels by the English.

If you like Merle Oberon, don't miss her in "The Divorce of Lady X" or "Wuthering Heights", both with Sir Laurence Olivier.

If only the problems of Irish independence and how much of it would be granted could have been solved by Michael Collins falling in love with say David Lloyd George's daughter. It might have made for some interesting tales of romance.

Which is what we have here in Beloved Enemy. The Collins character is renamed Dennis Riordan and it seems that the sight of the beautiful Merle Oberon, daughter of British envoy Henry Stephenson is enough to almost make him forget about the cause of Irish independence. Riordan is played by Brian Aherne and he's a dashing sort of rebel. No wonder Merle decides he's for her.

Although Beloved Enemy is a nice romantic story, I feel it cheapens what Michael Collins was all about. He and Arthur Griffiths in signing the treaty with the British and getting Dominion status and six Protestant counties opting for inclusion in the United Kingdom, settled for 5/6 of a loaf so to speak. Collins paid with his life for thinking of the widows and orphans and a chance for Ireland to heal. He died and many more died in the Civil War that followed before Ireland just had a peace of sheer exhaustion.

There's a good character in the film played by Karen Morley who is the widow of an IRA man now trying to support her son Ronald Sinclair. The real Michael Collins was thinking about the thousands like her when he signed the treaty.

Jerome Cowan made his film debut in Beloved Enemy and David Niven has one of his earliest roles as Henry Stephenson's secretary. Beloved Enemy is historical romance, but hardly history. See both John Ford films, The Informer and The Plough and the Stars for a better idea about Ireland during the Rebellion.

I admit it. I gave this film a 10 for purely subjective reasons. I love the sound, the look and the emotional content of the two stars. Brian Aherne was so very beautiful that he is quite literally stunning. Merle Oberon was never lovelier. The sound, the dialog, the vocabulary. Wow. They had faces and voices then and they had grace. If one compares the sheer heart of these performances, these scripts with the current crop, one could weep. A profound thank you for this film, even with the fictionalized ending. Lovely. Truly memorable in every meaning of that word even if the 10 is a bit of an exaggeration, it is only a very slight one. Lovely.