''The Best of Enemies'' (''I due nemici'') is a 1961 Italian film directed by

Guy Hamilton Mervyn Ian Guy Hamilton, DSC (16 September 1922 – 20 April 2016) was an English film director. He directed 22 films from the 1950s to the 1980s, including four James Bond films. Early life Hamilton was born in Paris on 16 September 1922, wh ...

and

Alessandro Blasetti Alessandro Blasetti (3 July 1900 – 1 February 1987) was an Italian film director and screenwriter who influenced Italian neorealism with the film ''Quattro passi fra le nuvole''. Blasetti was one of the leading figures in Italian cinema during ...

set during the World War II East African Campaign, but filmed in Israel. It stars David Niven, Alberto Sordi and Michael Wilding. It was nominated for three

Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...

awards in 1963.

Plot

In 1941 "Abissinia" (Ethiopia) in

Italian East Africa Italian East Africa ( it, Africa Orientale Italiana, AOI) was an Italian colony in the Horn of Africa. It was formed in 1936 through the merger of Italian Somalia, Italian Eritrea, and the newly occupied Ethiopian Empire, conquered in the Seco ...

during the Second World War, British Army Major Richardson (Niven) is taken prisoner by an Italian detachment on the march in the desert when the pilot (Wilding) of his reconnaissance airplane manages to crash. He is questioned by Captain Blasi (Sordi), but gives only his name, rank and serial number. A British night attack is repulsed, but Italian Major Fornari is killed, leaving Blasi in charge. As time goes on, Blasi and Richardson come to irritate each other. Blasi decides to let the two escape to tell their superiors how ineffectual his force actually is in the hope that the British will not think them worth bothering about. However, Richardson is ordered to take his motorized squadron and round up Blasi's unit. Blasi and his men reach a fort, where supposedly the rest of their forces are rallying, but they find only abandoned equipment. Minutes later, Richardson's armored cars show up. Blasi, under the prodding of his friend Bernasconi, reluctantly agrees to surrender, though he is angry at what he considers his betrayal at Richardson's hands. He balks at Richardson's terms and has his Italian infantrymen sneak out the back, ordering most of his African soldiers to remain behind and surrender in an hour given as a deadline. Furious at being made a fool of, Richardson chases them into hilly terrain, against Captain Rootes' advice. After Blasi dismisses four African tribal warriors for misbehaving, they sneak behind the British and set a fire in the forest which destroys their armored cars and supplies. Both sides flee to an island in a nearby lake. After the fire dies down, they start marching across the desert, the outnumbered Italians as prisoners of war. When they reach a native village, the headman states he supports the Allied side and asks for the Italians' weapons and the Italians themselves, but Richardson refuses to part with either. They stop in an abandoned village because a British officer is too sick to be moved, only to find themselves surrounded by many hostile natives, led by the headman Richardson dealt with before. While they wait, Richardson and Blasi become acquainted. Richardson makes the decision to arm the Italians, but then discovers they left the Italian ammunition behind. He decides to have everyone sneak away, six at a time, down a gully, but that just makes it easier for the natives to capture them. After their weapons and boots are stolen, they are allowed to leave and take their war away with them. They reach a road. Blasi is delighted to find a road sign that indicates they are 150 miles behind Italian lines. He and his men march away. Shortly afterward, however, Richardson encounters a British convoy on its way to a victory celebration; the Italians have been defeated. Blasi and his men are recaptured. The two units meet again at a railway station. Richardson has his men present arms to show his new-found respect.

Cast

* David Niven as Major Richardson * Alberto Sordi as Captain Blasi *

Amedeo Nazzari Amedeo Nazzari (10 December 1907 in Cagliari – 5 November 1979 in Rome) was an Italian actor. Nazzari was one of the leading figures of Italian classic cinema, often considered a local variant of the Australian–American star Errol Flynn. Al ...

as Major Fornari * Michael Wilding as Burke * Harry Andrews as Captain Rootes *

David Opatoshu David Opatoshu (born David Opatovsky; January 30, 1918 – April 30, 1996) was an American actor. He is best known for his role in the film ''Exodus'' (1960). Opatoshu began his acting career in the Yiddish theater. Following his tenure in th ...

as Bernasconi *

Aldo Giuffrè Aldo Giuffrè (10 April 1924 – 26 June 2010) was an Italian film actor and comedian who appeared in over 90 films between 1948 and 2001. He was born in Naples and was the brother of actor Carlo Giuffrè. He is known for his roles in '' The F ...

as Sergeant Todini * Tiberio Mitri as Private Moccia *Alessandro Ninchi as Second Lieutenant Del Pra *Pietro Marascalchi as Corporal Bortolini *Bruno Cattaneo as Private Mattone *Giuseppe Fazio as Sergeant Spadoni * Ignazio Dolce as Sentinel * Ronald Fraser as Perfect * Noel Harrison as Lt. Hilary * Duncan Macrae as Sergeant Trevethan * Bernard Cribbins as a soldier *

Michael Trubshawe Michael Trubshawe (7 December 1905 – 21 March 1985) was a British actor and former officer in the Highland Light Infantry Regiment of the British Army. Trubshawe was very close friends with fellow British actor David Niven, serving with hi ...

as Colonel Brownhow *

Robert Desmond Robert Desmond (16 December 1922 – 2002) was a British film and television actor of the 1950s and 1960s. He started out in juvenile roles, making his film debut in 1948's '' The Guinea Pig'' opposite Richard Attenborough. He appeared in a num ...

as Private Singer * Noel Harrison as Lieutenant Hilary *Kenneth Fortescue as Lieutenant Dicky Thomlinson

Release

''The Best of Enemies'' was distributed theatrically in Italy by De Laurentiis on 26 October 1961. It grossed a total of 1,088,040,000 lire domestically. It was released in the United States on 6 August 1962.

References

Footnotes

Sources

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Best of Enemies, The 1961 films 1961 comedy films 1960s war comedy films Italian war comedy films Columbia Pictures films East African campaign (World War II) films Films scored by Nino Rota Films directed by Guy Hamilton Films produced by Dino De Laurentiis Films set in Ethiopia Films shot in Israel Films set in 1941 Films with screenplays by Age & Scarpelli Films with screenplays by Suso Cecchi d'Amico Films with screenplays by Luciano Vincenzoni Italian World War II films English-language Italian films Macaroni Combat films 1960s Italian films