Yesterday's Enemy

Yesterday's Enemy
Original American release film poster
Directed byVal Guest
Written byPeter R. Newman
Produced byMichael Carreras
StarringStanley Baker
Gordon Jackson
CinematographyArthur Grant
Edited byAlfred Cox
James Needs
Music byNone
Production
company
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Hammer Films
Release dates
  • 11 July 1959 (1959-07-11) (Japan)
  • 3 March 1960 (1960-03-03) (U.S.)
Running time
95 min
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Yesterday's Enemy is a 1959 Hammer Films British war film in MegaScope directed by Val Guest and starring Stanley Baker, Guy Rolfe, Leo McKern and Gordon Jackson set in the Burma Campaign during World War II.[1] It is based on a 1958 BBC teleplay by Peter R. Newman, who turned it into a three-act play in 1960. The TV play was reportedly based on a war crime perpetrated by a British army captain in Burma in 1942.[2] Gordon Jackson repeated his role from the BBC teleplay as Sgt. Ian McKenzie.[3]

Columbia Pictures co-produced the film with Hammer Films in an agreement for five co-productions a year with Columbia providing half the finance.[4] The film, including extensive jungle and swamp scenes, was shot entirely on indoor sets in black and white and Megascope. The film has no musical score.[5]

Director Val Guest later said that Yesterday's Enemy was one of his films of which he was the most proud.[6] In 2013, film magazine Total Film included Yesterday's Enemy in their list of 50 Amazing Films You've Probably Never Seen.[7]

  1. ^ "BFI | Film & TV Database | YESTERDAY'S ENEMY (1959)". Ftvdb.bfi.org.uk. 16 April 2009. Archived from the original on 14 January 2009. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
  2. ^ Marcus Hearn, The Hammer Vault, Titan Books, 2011 p. 28
  3. ^ "BFI | Film & TV Database | YESTERDAY'S ENEMY (1958)". Ftvdb.bfi.org.uk. 16 April 2009. Archived from the original on 4 February 2009. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
  4. ^ "Yesterday's Enemy (1959) - Overview". TCM.com. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
  5. ^ Fowler, Roy (1988). "Interview with Val Guest". British Entertainment History Project.
  6. ^ McFarlane, Brian. The Cinema of Britain & Ireland. Wallflower Press, UK. 2005. p-135
  7. ^ "50 amazing films you've probably never seen".

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