Enemy of Women
Enemy of Women
| 10 November 1944 (USA)
Enemy of Women Trailers

Playwright Joseph Goebbels (Paul Andor) turns Nazi propagandist and loses his girlfriend (Claudia Drake) to another man (Donald Woods).

Reviews
Spoonatects Am i the only one who thinks........Average?
Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.
Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.
Allissa .Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.
bkoganbing Of all the gang around Adolf Hitler probably the sickest and most degenerate was Joseph Paul Goebbels. Minister for propaganda and public enlightenment, he was one of the few who was not trying to cut a deal for himself when the Third Reich was in its last days. He stayed loyal to the master to the bitter end.If Dr. Freud could have gotten Dr. Goebbels on the couch I'm sure his notes would have been fascinating. Like Somerset Maugham's protagonist Philip Carey in Of Human Bondage, Goebbels was born with a club foot and that together with a raging libido was the story of his life. When he was a nobody he couldn't get a date, when he became minister his job included supervision of the German film industry. He had a casting couch that put L.B. Mayer's and Darryl Zanuck's to shame.This film concerns his obsession with one he couldn't get. Claudia Drake who laughingly rejects him while he was trying to earn a living as a tutor pays for it the rest of the movie. She and father H.B. Warner and husband Donald Woods. Goebbels never forgot a slight in real life.Wolfgang Zilzer plays Goebbels and it's a change from Martin Kosleck who usually played Goebbels when he was a character in film. If you want to see a good portrayal of Goebbels in a good film I highly recommend The Bunker where Cliff Gorman and Piper Laurie played Joe and Magda Goebbels. She's a cipher here and that's wrong in and of itself. She was as sick as he was, maybe worse. But she completely put up with his womanizing because she didn't believe in letting the grass grow under her feet. There's a fine account of that in Albert Speer's memoirs.Making Magda a peripheral character in the story is a big mistake. And the general shoddiness of production doesn't help either. In fact at the end of the film the narrator says this story isn't finished and how could it be in 1944. Still this World War II propaganda has some good moments in it and should be seen as a curiosity.
MartinHafer I rented this film from Netflix because I was hoping to see yet another over the top propaganda film from WWII--the type that are almost funny because the acting and characters are so over the top. However, I was very surprised to see that "Enemy of Women" was actually rather restrained. Heck, I could even see some viewers actually feeling a bit of sympathy for the focus of the film--Dr. Josef Goebbels! The film begins as Berlin is in ruins--and a radio broadcast by Dr. Goebbels is telling the people that everything is peachy. Then, the film goes back in time to 1925 and eventually works its way back to where the film began. You see Goebbels as a rather insecure man--a guy who has a difficult time with women. He is secretly in love with his landlord's daughter, Maria. When he makes a very awkward advance on her, her father throws him out of the home. And, inexplicably, Goebbels spends the entire rest of the film trying to win her love. However, along the way, Goebbels shows that he's a lover not to be trifled with and uses the power he achieves from the Nazi party to get his revenge.This entire film is weird--very weird. That's because it seems like a real biography of the man--though most of it is fiction. Yes, there was a Goebbels and he was a sick and twisted jerk--but oddly, the Goebbels in this film is a bit vulnerable. Sure, he's evil...but somehow not altogether hateful. Because of this somewhat human aspect, the film is a standout for the genre, as propaganda films usually try very hard to de-humanize the enemy. Mind you, this did not make Goebbels look exactly good---but he was indeed human and vulnerable. Overall, it's well made and actually ages pretty well. Just remember that this is NOT a real biography, as the real Goebbels was much more complex and sick.
dbborroughs The life of Joseph Goebbels and his rise as propaganda minister for the Nazis. Odd mix of Hollywood hokum and propaganda makes for a decidedly silly film. I'm not sure how the film played originally but seeing it some 70 years on I find the film creates some unintentional giggles. An early scene that had Goebbels wandering into a meeting where Hitler was speaking and becoming mesmerized by the third rate actor playing der fuhrer had me laughing out loud. How could anyone take this seriously? I think that was part of the point of the film, but at the same time it undercut the menace that the real life counter parts created (I mean the idea of Goebbels as a skirt chaser seems so quaint). I kind of liked it but I didn't love it. I completely understand why its relegated to an almost forgotten status (never mind the title "Enemy of Women" doesn't tell you what its about or what type of film it is). Worth a shot if you run a cross it but not something to search out
whpratt1 Have read various books which dealt with Joseph Goebbels one of Hitler's right hand men who carried out the murder of Millions of Jewish people and many more people from various countries. Goebbels had some very dark secrets as a young man growing up who carried out all his sick mental problems on other people. Joseph Goebbels is played by Wolfgang Zilzer who did a great job of acting and also looked very much like the real person. Goebbels in real life loved all kinds of women and he really loved Maria Brandt, (Claudia Drake) who was a very pretty German actress who gave Joseph a hard time. However, Hollywood twisted the story which made Goebbels into a person who was not as evil as he really was. In real life, Goebbels really went to bed with this famous German actress and was really married to a very beautiful woman who had to turn her back on all his affairs. Nice 1944 film.