 "Thought-Provoking, Apparently Fair Look at the German Occupation of a Channel Island" | 2008-10-25 |
| - Reviewed By greenfretlessbass |
This series features the unwelcome German occupation of a Channel Island called Guernsey in World War II. The series ran for only two seasons, so it highlights conditions before the worst conditions asserted themselves later during the occupation.
The film has an intellectual, managerial flair to it, and explores the politics, managerial decision-making, and injustices that happened during the occupation. It shows both the brutality and racism of some members of the German occupation forces, as well as some very decent, principled German commanders who tried to be as fair as their mandate allowed. It's quite talky in spots, but well-written with very realistic dialogue, exploring real issues you would expect to happen when a foreign power occupies another.
The series is filmed in color, but it's a kind of "washed out" color. The coloring preserves the black and white flavor of the era that we see in pictures, while providing enough color to give it a modern look and feel.
There are no subtitles, unfortunately -- something us North American viewers appreciate when the British speak quickly and with an accent that makes certain words unintelligible. But unlike many other British Television series, this was only a minor inconvenience.
The actors all do a great job of their roles, the only criticism is the use of British actors for German soldiers -- at times I laughed when the German General on the island said "Good Heavens!" in upper-crust British accent -- sometimes it made it hard to determine who was German, and who was British.
However, I was so engaged in this series, that I bought the second boxed set, and I've watched several of the episodes twice, the dialogue is so rich, and the way problems were resolved, so intelligent.
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| "DVD Enemy at the Door" | 2008-04-03 |
| - Reviewed By User: A38AY9TQHF2JJZ |
| I have enjoyed this series so much. A very human portrayal of every day life under occupation during WWII. |
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 "A Great British Series!" | 2007-10-23 |
| - Reviewed By daithi@vcn.com |
"Enemy At The Door" is an excellent British series about a mostly unknown aspect of World War II, at least from the perspective of us on this side of the pond. Excellently acted, well directed, this is a period piece you should see and much better than its ripoff version, "Island At War".
I am going to get the DVD as I understand it is subtitled. Also, let me recommend the season 2 of "Enemy At The Door".
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| "I want more!" | 2007-06-22 |
| - Reviewed By webkruzer1 |
This is a very good story.
The problem is that it does not really ends.
Are there more then these two volume sets, or collections?
Much as I love the British films I can't understand some of the characters when they speak soooo fast. Oh well, am sure other people as the same problem with such accents.
Bottom line: I want more of these stories and interested to buy all of it.
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 "Masterful execution of an objectionably flawed concept" | 2006-11-06 |
| - Reviewed By paul_howard |
| The acting, character development, period settings and costumes and so on are fully up to English television standards. But the Nazi occupation scenarios have been terribly toned down to make them commercially marketable. Numerous scholastic works and even the better theater all point to Nazi behavior as brutal, bestial and sociopathic, hardly reflective of the diplomacy and even gallantry seen from those in this series. The distortion may be objectionable to those of us who have studied the period, and may be enormously offensive to those who had to live through it or know others who did. There is a long list of more authentic and appropriate representations of that era -- choose any of them over this. |
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| "Outstanding British WW2 Period Drama!" | 2006-09-04 |
| - Reviewed By tiggah |
Set during WW2 on the German-occupied British Channel Island of Guernsey, just a few miles off the coast of France, Enemy at the Door is a compelling, gripping, riveting period drama. I am not a huge fan myself of military drama in general; however, this series captivated our entire family to the point where we eagerly awaited each successive episode. The series was produced between 1977 and 1980, and it is of the same ilk as Upstairs Downstairs, The Duchess of Duke Street (both of which took place in part during the first world war), and Danger UXB. In short, if you've enjoyed any of those series, you will certainly enjoy this one--whether or not you have a particular interest in military drama.
Like the aforementioned shows, Enemy at the Door deals with the subject of war (and in this case the occupation) from a very human and personal perspective; in short, it is not a show about tactics, manoeuvres, and the war from a military perspective. The series centres around the lives of two families: The Martels and the Porteouses. Firstly, there is Dr. Martel, the local physician who is involved in committee work and bridges the gap between the islanders and the governing Germans. Martel is joined by his wife and his strong-willed, fiercely anti-German daughter, Clare. The Martels also have a son, Clive, a British soldier off fighting in the war. The Porteous household consists of Peter, a young farmer and close friend of the Martels who's eager to do his bit as a loyal Brit despite living in occupied territory, and Peter's wheelchair-bound mother. Each episode is a complete, independent story, though there is, as one would expect, carry through of the underlying stories as the war progresses. Other characters come and go, some to be seen only for one episode.
Though the series revolves around the islanders and their plights and predicaments, there are a few high-ranking German officers who are also regulars. Most notably, the man in charge of governing the island, and Dr. Martel's liaison, is Major Richter, a stern but relatively fair man. He's in an unenviable position, forced to make decisions requiring the wisdom of Solomon at times. Then there is the chief of police, Oberleutnant Kluge. A shrewd and very capable bloodhound, he's a hard man who will stand for no nonsense, neither from the islanders nor from the German soldiers. Things get particularly tense, however, whenever the elite German SS get involved, and their presence on the island is represented by the cruel, devious, and hard-as-nails Reinicke. Reinicke is Hitler's man, and whilst Richter, as head of the military unit on the island, is technically Reinicke's superior, Reinicke is dangerous and not a man to be crossed. Ironically, though the enemy of the Germans is technically the native island population, one cannot help feeling that the real enemy of the German military is the SS.
Both this boxed set and the second one consist of thirteen 50-minute episodes each, for a total of 26 episodes. The series bears some similarity to the recently produced Island at War, and certainly if you've enjoyed Island at War you will enjoy Enemy at the Door. Further, you needn't worry (as I did) that this series may be somewhat repetitious. There are some similarities, but only initially (ie. in the first two or three episodes). More to the point, although I saw Island at War prior to Enemy at the Door and although I enjoyed the former series (brief though it was), I have no hesitation in saying that I greatly preferred Enemy at the Door. Like Upstairs Downstairs or Danger UXB, what this series may lack in slick production values it more than makes up for in quality. In short, this is an impeccably-acted, compelling, riveting series with tightly-written, well-crafted storylines that keep a person glued to the show from start to finish, and with 26 episodes the series has been given the necessary time to really develop. I only wish there'd been even more episodes made! I recommend Enemy at the Door extremely highly to all fans of the very best in period drama, British or otherwise.
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