Yesterday's enemies
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Yesterday's enemies |
| Original title | Yesterday's Enemy |
| Country of production | Great Britain |
| original language |
English Japanese |
| Publishing year | 1959 |
| length | 96 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Val Guest |
| script | Peter R. Newman |
| production | Michael Carreras |
| camera | Arthur Grant |
| cut | Alfred Cox |
| occupation | |
| |
Yesterday's Enemies is a British war film from 1959 that Val Guest directed for Hammer Films .
action
During the Second World War, a group of British soldiers patrol the Burmese jungle. Commanded by the ruthless Captain Langford, the men make their way through the wilderness. The radio has been destroyed by water and has thus broken contact with headquarters. Brigadier, one of the officers, is also seriously injured. After crossing a river, the troop approaches a small village. Salvos from machine guns fired by Japanese hiding in the village hit the British. Langford's men can kill eight Japanese soldiers and their colonel. To do this, they arrest a Burmese who worked for the Japanese. Langford questions the man about the Colonel and a card with unknown characters that was found. The man refuses to speak. Langford threatens to have two villagers killed as long as the man refuses.
Langford's severity met with rejection, especially from the war correspondent Max and the field chaplain, who is only called Padre. Sergeant McKenzie supports Langford's threats and kills two of the residents. The prisoner is now in a panic and tells Langford that the card is encoded. It is the plot for an ambush that will cut off the British from their supply lines. Langford realizes that the lives of thousands of British soldiers are threatened. He orders McKenzie to kill the prisoner so that the Japanese won't find out that the card has been deciphered and that the plan is known. In order to inform Headquarters as soon as possible, Langford decides to leave the wounded behind. This decision also outraged Max and Padre, but the wounded brigadier informed them that the wounded themselves had decided to stay behind.
A Japanese division is found in the area. Langford realizes that his troops have to stay in the village so that the Japanese don't become suspicious. He orders McKenzie, Max, and Padre to make their way to headquarters. At the same time an attempt should be made to repair the radio. Max and Padre realize that they are only going to stop McKenzie on the march. They want to stay in the village. Langford sends McKenzie out with two other soldiers, but they are soon killed by the Japanese. In the village, Langford's deputy, 2nd Lieutenant Hastings, is struggling with fear of death. The Japanese advance to the village. Langford tries to ambush the river, but one of the soldiers fires too early. As a result, the Japanese are alarmed and can take the British prisoner.
The Japanese commander, Major Yamazaki, wonders why the British stayed in the village even though they could easily have escaped. To get Langford to talk, he threatens to have his men executed until he speaks. Langford protests that Yamazaki is acting dishonorably, but Yamazaki declares that there are no morals in war. Yamazaki puts the British in front of a firing squad. Langford watches through a window in his cabin. Yamazaki gives him two minutes to think about it, then his men will shoot. Langford jumps to the radio and is shot. The other soldiers look forward to being shot while Padre prays for them. In the background you can hear the radio address of the British troop commander, who praises the courage of his men.
criticism
The lexicon of the international film about the film: "The parallel case of two officers, a British and a Japanese, who illegally order shootings for tactical necessities, raises the question of the possibility of moral action in total war. The serious and haunted film abstains a final answer of my own. "
The criticism of the Catholic Bishops' Conference USCCB also emphasizes that the uncompromising war drama effectively raises moral questions of military expediency and elementary human rights. High tension in the midst of war brutality.
The portal "Britmovie" describes the film as a cynical war drama that breaks with a cinema tradition by not portraying the British as honorable in battle.
Awards
The film was nominated for four BAFTA Film Awards in 1960 , but failed to win any. Val Guest was nominated in the categories of Best Picture and Best British Film and Stanley Baker and Gordon Jackson in the category of Best British Actor .
background
The production is one of the few films that premiered abroad earlier than in the country of production itself. The film was released in Japan on July 11, 1959 and in Germany on September 11, 1959, while in Great Britain it was not released until September 14, 1959.
Web links
- Enemies of yesterday in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Yesterday's enemies. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ criticism of the USCCB (engl.) ( Page no longer available , searching web archives ) Info: The link is automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ (Engl.) Criticism of Brit Movie ( Memento of the original on 22 September 2012 at the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link is automatically inserted and not yet tested. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
