''6,000 Enemies'' is a 1939 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

George B. Seitz George Brackett Seitz (January 3, 1888 – July 8, 1944) was an American playwright, screenwriter, film actor and director. He was known for his screenplays for action serials, such as '' The Perils of Pauline'' (1914) and ''The Exploits o ...

and starring

Walter Pidgeon Walter Davis Pidgeon (September 23, 1897 – September 25, 1984) was a Canadian-American actor. He earned two Academy Award for Best Actor nominations for his roles in ''Mrs. Miniver'' (1942) and ''Madame Curie'' (1943). Pidgeon also starred in ...

as a successful

District Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...

who is framed on charge of bribery. Although innocent, he is sent to prison where he fights to clear his name. The film also stars

Rita Johnson Rita may refer to: People * Rita (given name) * Rita (Indian singer) (born 1984) * Rita (Israeli singer) (born 1962) * Rita (Japanese singer) * Eliza Humphreys (1850–1938), wrote under the pseudonym Rita Places * Djarrit, also known as Rita, a ...

Plot summary

Steve Donegan is an elected district attorney and launches an anti-organized crime campaign. Joe Silenus, a crime boss, plots to frame Donegan for accepting a bribe. Donegan is sentenced to prison, where he re-encounters all the men he convicted during his anti-crime crusade. Martin receives orders to eliminate Donegan. Anne Barry, the embezzlement convict, saves his life by alerting the guards to her screams. Steve’s brother pursues Silenus, disguised as a chauffeur in order to prove his innocence. ‘Socks’ Martin knocks Steve Donegan down six times, but he keeps getting up and fighting. Two revolvers are smuggled into the prison inside a fruit basket meant for the warden. ‘Socks suggests that Steve join him in the prison break. When Phil arrives at the prison to see Steve, he is shot in the drive by just outside the gates. The prisoners riot as a result of the shots, and the rumored prison break begins.

Cast

as Steve Donegan *

as Anne Barry * Paul Kelly as Dr. Malcolm Scott *

Nat Pendleton Nathaniel Greene Pendleton (August 9, 1895 – October 12, 1967) was an American Olympic wrestler, film actor, and stage performer. His younger brother, Edmund J. Pendleton (1899-1987), was a well-known music composer and choir maste ...

as 'Socks' Martin *

Harold Huber Harold Huber (born Harold Joseph Huberman, December 5, 1909September 29, 1959) was an American actor who appeared on film, radio and television. Early life Huber was born in the Bronx to Jewish immigrants from Imperial Russia, who had arrived in ...

as Joe Silenus * Grant Mitchell as Warden Alvin Parkhurst *

John Arledge Johnson Lundy Arledge (March 12, 1907 – May 15, 1947) was an American film and stage actor. Biography He played dozens of supporting roles in the Hollywood movies of the 1930s–1940s, including the tractor driver who destroys a house in ''Th ...

as Phil Donegan *

J.M. Kerrigan Joseph Michael Kerrigan (16 December 1884 – 29 April 1964) was an Irish actor. Early life Joseph Michael Kerrigan was born on 16 December 1884 in Dublin, which was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland at that time. H ...

as Dan Barrett *

Adrian Morris Adrian Grant Morris (18 May 1929 – 6 December 2004) was an England, English painter. Early life Morris was born in London, England. He spent his childhood in rural Somerset before the family moved to the United States, where he attended the ...

as 'Bull' Snyder *

Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams Guinn is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include: Surname: *Bill Guinn or Lew Meehan (1890–1951), American film actor *Colin Guinn, contestant in ''The Amazing Race'', a U.S. TV series *Dominick Guinn, (born 1975), A ...

as Maxie (as Guinn Williams) *

Arthur Aylesworth Arthur Preston Aylesworth (August 12, 1883 – June 26, 1946) was an American stage and film actor. Early years Aylesworth was born in Apponaug, Rhode Island, to a military family; his father and his grandfather graduated from the United ...

as 'Bluebeard' Dawson *

Raymond Hatton Raymond William Hatton (July 7, 1887 – October 21, 1971) was an American film actor who appeared in almost 500 motion pictures. Biography Hatton was born in Red Oak, Iowa. His physician father steered him toward a career in medicine. Howev ...

as Prisoner 'Wibbie' Yern *

Lionel Royce Lionel Royce (born Leon Moriz Reiss; March 30, 1891 – April 1, 1946) was an Austrian-American actor of stage and screen, also known during his European career as Leo Reuss. He began his career in theater in Vienna, Austria, in 1919, before ...

as Prisoner 'Dutch' Myers *

Tom Neal Thomas Carroll Neal Jr. (January 28, 1914 – August 7, 1972) was an American actor and successful amateur boxer best known for his costarring role in the critically lauded film ''Detour'', for having a widely publicized affair with actress Ba ...

as Prisoner Ransom *

Willie Fung Willie Fung (3 March 1896 – 16 April 1945) was a Chinese-American film actor who played supporting roles in 125 American films between 1922 and 1944. Like many Chinese actors working in Hollywood during the era, he often played Japanese charac ...

as Wang

Box office

According to MGM records, the film earned $233,000 in the US and Canada and $125,000 elsewhere, resulting in a profit of $22,000. It also featured the short "

The Bear That Couldn't Sleep ''The Bear That Couldn't Sleep'' is a 1939 animated short film, directed by Rudolf Ising for MGM as part of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's ''Barney Bear'' series. Released with the feature film '' 6,000 Enemies'' by MGM on June 10, 1939, the short is nota ...

", which was the first

Barney Bear ''Barney Bear'' is an American series of animated cartoon short subjects produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio. The title character is an anthropomorphic cartoon character, a sluggish, sleepy bear who often is in pursuit of nothing b ...

short.

References

External links

* * * * 1939 films American black-and-white films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Films directed by George B. Seitz 1939 crime drama films 1930s prison films American crime drama films American prison drama films Films scored by Edward Ward (composer) 1930s English-language films 1930s American films English-language crime drama films {{1930s-crime-drama-film-stub