The Best of Enemies

The Best of Enemies (I due nemici) is a 1961 Italian film directed by Guy Hamilton and Alessandro Blasetti set during the World War II East African Campaign, but filmed in Israel. It stars David Niven, Alberto Sordi and Michael Wilding. It was nominated for three Golden Globe awards in 1963. Plot In 1941 Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in Italian East Africa during the Second World War, British Army Major Richardson (Niven) is taken prisoner by an Italian detachment on the march in the desert when the pilot (Wilding) of his reconnaissance airplane manages to crash. He is questioned by Captain Blasi (Sordi), but gives only his name, rank and serial number. A British night attack is repulsed, but Italian Major Fornari is killed, leaving Blasi in charge. As time goes on, Blasi and Richardson come to irritate each other. Blasi decides to let the two escape to tell their superiors how ineffectual his force actually is in the hope that the British will not think them worth bothering about. However, Richardson is ordered to take his motorized squadron and round up Blasi's unit. Blasi and his men reach a fort, where supposedly the rest of their forces are rallying, but they find only abandoned equipment. Minutes later, Richardson's armored cars show up. Blasi, under the prodding of his friend Bernasconi, reluctantly agrees to surrender, though he is angry at what he considers his betrayal at Richardson's hands. He balks at Richardson's terms and has his Italian infantrymen sneak out the back, ordering most of his African soldiers to remain behind and surrender in an hour given as a deadline. Furious at being made a fool of, Richardson chases them into hilly terrain, against Captain Rootes' advice. After Blasi dismisses four African tribal warriors for misbehaving, they sneak behind the British and set a fire in the forest which destroys their armored cars and supplies. Both sides flee to an island in a nearby lake.