Rebel leader Dennis Riordan (played by English actor Brian Aherne) meets Helen Drummond (Merle Oberon) when he saves the life of her father (Henry Stephenson), a British diplomat who's gone to Ireland to try to negotiate a peaceful solution to the rebel uprising. Riordan and Helen fall in love, but circumstances are against them, and when Riordan is nearly captured, the lovers agree to part. They meet again when Riordan goes to London for negotiations, and Helen convinces him to agree to a compromise for the sake of peace. After he returns to Ireland, Riordan becomes a target for Irish separatists unhappy with the agreement.
Beloved Enemy was the second film Merle Oberon made with Samuel Goldwyn. Oberon had been discovered in England by producer Alexander Korda, who put her under contract in the early 1930s. To promote her career in America, Korda sold part of her contract to Goldwyn, who starred her in The Dark Angel (1935). The performance earned Oberon her only Oscar® nomination. Her peak was probably 1939, when she appeared in Goldwyn's Wuthering Heights. She married Korda that same year.
Still recovering from gall bladder surgery and an appendectomy, Goldwyn turned over the supervision of Beloved Enemy to George Haight, although Haight was only given an Associate Producer credit. To direct, Goldwyn agreed to Haight's suggestion of hiring his former Broadway producing partner and Yale classmate H.C. "Hank" Potter. Goldwyn had employed Potter the previous year at Haight's suggestion, and Potter had been on the lot for a year with nothing to do. Beloved Enemy marked Potter's film directing debut. Potter went on to direct gentle comedies such as The Farmer's Daughter (1947) and Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948).
The two neophytes were helped enormously by the work of cinematographer Gregg Toland, whose best work (Citizen Kane, 1941) lay ahead, but who was already known for his innovative lighting and camerawork. Praising Beloved Enemy, Frank Nugent wrote in the New York Times, that "...giving it its final luster is Gregg Toland's photography which has an almost golden patina."
Two endings were shot for Beloved Enemy, a tragic one and a happy one. The film was released and reviewed with a tragic ending - Frank Nugent's New York Times review mentions the "tragically foredoomed romance," and describes the ending; so does Variety, which notes that an alternative ending was shot, but adds that "the tragic note seems consistent with the plot." Apparently, audiences did not agree. Box office was disappointing, and the ending was changed to the happy one. Reviews were mixed; Nugent's was among the most enthusiastic, calling the film "A fine and mature and dignified drama of the Irish Rebellion of 1921, it has the stamp of quality on each of its departments."
It took 60 more years for a biographical film, Michael Collins (1996), to make it to the screen, starring (real) Irish actor Liam Neeson, with Julia Roberts playing Collins' (real) fiancee Kitty Kiernan, and not an English sweetheart in sight. The film stuck more closely to the facts than Beloved Enemy did, but some critics and historians still deplored Michael Collins's historical inaccuracies.
Producer: Samuel Goldwyn, George Haight (uncredited)
Director: H.C. Potter
Screenplay: Rose Franken, William Brown Meloney; David Hertz (additional dialogue); John L. Balderston (uncredited)
Cinematography: Gregg Toland
Art Direction: Richard Day
Film Editing: Sherman Todd
Cast: Merle Oberon (Helen Drummond), Brian Aherne (Dennis Riordan), Karen Morley (Cathleen O'Brien), Henry Stephenson (Lord Athleigh), David Niven (Capt. Gerald Preston), Jerome Cowan (Tim O'Rourke), Donald Crisp (Liam Burke), Ra Hould (Jerry O'Brien), Granville Bates (Ryan), P.J. Kelly (Rooney), Leo McCabe (Connor), Pat O'Malley (Callahan), Jack Mulhall (Casey).
BW-90m.
by Margarita Landazuri
