Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Yesterday's Enemy Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 1, 2020

Note: This film is available as part of Hammer Volume Three: Blood & Terror.

Ask even the most casual film fan what comes to mind when they hear the name Hammer Studios (and/or Hammer Film Productions, Ltd., as it is officially known), and my hunch is very few if any of them would answer “war movies”, since (as is probably obvious) Hammer has long been known for its Gothic horror output. But Hammer did make some war movies, albeit not necessarily always with the same focus that some of the major Hollywood studios did through the years. Powerhouse Films’ Indicator series has been bringing out rather interesting aggregations of Hammer properties, including Hammer Volume One: Fear Warning!, Hammer Volume Two: Criminal Intent and the recently reviewed Hammer Volume Four: Faces of Fear (Hammer Volume Five: Death & Deceit is coming out just as this review is going live). This third volume is an unusual assortment of Hammer films that all feature some kind of war as at least a tangential element, with two of the films offering plots that are putatively connected to World War II, and two others reaching further back into the mists of history to detail other kinds of battles and/or skirmishes.

Yesterday’s Enemy could arguably be seen as a “counterweight” of sorts to The Camp on Blood Island (also included in this set). If The Camp on Blood Island went out of its way to sensationalize supposed war crimes by Japanese perpetrated on British prisoners of war, Yesterday’s Enemy makes the perhaps surprising case (for a British film, anyway) that even the Brits could engage in a little nefarious behavior during wartime themselves. Both The Camp on Blood Island and Yesterday's Enemy were directed by Val Guest, and both deal with hostilities between British forces and the Japanese, but Yesterday's Enemy takes place in the fetid jungles of Burma, where a ragtag group of British soldiers are in fact attempting to retreat from advancing Japanese forces.

And in fact this disc’s excellent slate of supplemental features gets into the explicit fact that on one level Yesterday’s Enemy was seen by some Hammer executives as the “antidote” to poison pen letters the studio had received from critics vis a vis the previous year’s The Camp on Blood Island. While the Japanese are largely a monolithic mass, and typically seen only in passing in some early skirmishes, until the last third or so of the film, when a major Japanese character does appear in the form of a commander named Yamazuki (Philip Ahn), it’s significant that he is shown to be highly educated, extremely articulate and even sympathetic in his own way.

Even the main British character, an increasingly cornered Captain named Langford (Stanley Baker, BAFTA nominated for this performance), has obviously noble traits, though one of the film’s most shocking moments comes when Langford orders two Burmese civilians to be shot by firing squad in order to convince a Burmese informer (Wolfe Morris) to fess up about what he knows about a dead Japanese colonel found in the village and an obviously coded message the colonel had on his body. That sets up a central conflict between Langford and several of his coterie, though a sergeant named Mackenzie (Gordon Jackson, also BAFTA nominated for this performance) is at least initially willing to carry out Langford’s orders. Others in the group include an embedded journalist named Max (Leo McKern) and the battalion’s chaplain, known only as Padre (Guy Rolfe).

Yesterday's Enemy is a grim, gritty and even nihilistic drama, one that doesn't just make the trite point that "war is hell", but which actually goes some distance in showing the hellish decisions men in battle are forced to make, at least at times against their better instincts. Guest's quasi-documentary leanings work very well for the film, though this is definitely dramatic in the best sense, with some very sharp writing by Peter R. Newman, who adapted both his previous teleplay (the film was sparked when Michael Carreras evidently caught a BBC broadcast of the television version) and stage play.

Yesterday's Enemy Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Yesterday's Enemy is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Powerhouse Films' Indicator imprint with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.36:1. Powerhouse's insert booklet contains only the following pretty generic verbiage about the transfer:

Sony's HD remaster was the source of this Indicator edition. The film's original mono audio was remastered at the same time.

Hammer spent quite a bit of money on this film creating the jungle sets at both Shepperton (unusual for this studio) and Bray (its normal stomping grounds), and while at times obviously set bound, the film's backgrounds and teeming jungle scenes look sharp and nicely detailed throughout this presentation. Fine detail on elements like the thatched huts is also typically very good throughout. There are some minor variances in brightness, with a few interior scenes looking darker than the bulk of the material, but on the whole contrast is solid and gray scale very nicely modulated. Because the film does offer so many midrange shots where huge amounts of foliage are part of the frame, detail levels on things like actual humans can understandably tend to ebb and flow at times.

Yesterday's Enemy Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Rather interestingly, Yesterday's Enemy does not feature a score of any kind, with the film's DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track being dotted instead with the sounds of the jungle and of course occasional outbursts of gunfire. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout, and while the track has a slightly boxy sound without an abundance of highs, things are reasonably full bodied and there are certainly no major signs of any age related wear or tear.

Yesterday's Enemy Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• UK Theatrical Version (1080p; 1:34:41)


• US Theatrical Version (1080p; 1:34:33)


• The Guardian Interview with Val Guest (1080p; 1:34:41) is an audio piece presented here as an alternate track to the film. It was conducted by Jonathan Rigby in 2005. This comes with a warning about audio quality.


• Total War: Inside Yesterday's Enemy (1080p; 24:43) is another great background piece by Marcus Hearn, with analysis by Jonathan Rigby and Alan Barnes.


• Hammer's Women: Edwina Carroll (1080p; 7:56) features Becky Booth discussing the actress.


• Introduction by Stephen Laws (1080p; 8:06)


• Frontline Dispatches (1080p; 8:08) features second assistant director Hugh Harlow and props chargehand Peter Allchorne.


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:44)


• Image Gallery (1080p)

Additionally, a really nicely done insert booklet is included, which offers cast and crew information, essays on the film, an interview with Val Guest, a rather interesting array of promotional material featuring quotes from actual Burma campaign veterans, and excerpts from the novelization, along with exploitation material and contemporary reviews. Brief technical information is also offered.

Yesterday's Enemy Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Yesterday's Enemy is probably the quality touchstone picture in this third volume of Hammer offerings, and in that regard it's ironic if perhaps predictable to note that while the film was critically esteemed in its day, it failed pretty spectacularly to connect with audiences at the time. It's rather thought provoking on any number of levels, and it features absolutely visceral performances from every member of its extremely colorful and nuanced ensemble. The film may have ultimately not gotten Michael Carreras the "respect" he evidently sought with productions like this one, but the film certainly remains a testament to how good a Hammer film could be, especially considering how provocative the material was. Technical merits are solid, and the supplementary package excellent. Highly recommended.