WATCH NOW
In the film ”Enemy Gold” released in 1993, there is a rather captivating initial sequence of scenes that are set during the Civil War. These include men in grey uniforms wandering through the woods searching for suitable places to hide their gold.
However, it’s worth noting that I described it as a promising beginning, not necessarily a good one. I will be honest, the first time I saw the soldiers, the first thought that came to my mind was that they were Civil War reenactors. The haircuts, facial hair, the uniforms; nothing and I mean nothing that we see hints that we are set in the 1860s.
Modern America as we know for better or worse, was forged in the fires of the Civil War. That is the reason why I personally find the Civil War era to be so intriguing. In fact, even if it is a soules, yet sickeningly cool concept, I prefer to watch films from that time period. Learning that the film’s Confederates were supposed to be part of Quantrill’s Raiders made me even more eager. People like William Quantrill during wars proves to be very interesting due to the history that is attached to their psyche. Many Western bandits were with him, and some wanted to advertise as Heroes of Texas. Below the ancient history sculptures lies a hidden gold mine that many want to get their hands on. This is where ‘Enemy Gold’ gets much of its plot from.
Sure, getting around the gold takes some time. After the Civil War-set prologue, Enemy Gold jumps to the 90’s. A group of undercover agents get ready to assault a bunch of drug-running criminals. One of the agents is an actor called Bruce Penhall, an ex-special agent Christian Bruce in the last few Andy Sidaris-directed films. Even with the fact that Kevin Penhall’s Enemy Gold was directed by Sidaris’s son, it’s quickly established that Bruce Penhall is not portraying Bruce Christian in this film. He is retaking a role wherein he is the same actor as Bruce Christian but with even worse Cannon’s sarcastic jokes. His two companions are Mark Austin (Mark Barriere) and Suzi Midnite (Suzi Simpson).
(Sometimes I wish I could undergo pick a name change to Lisa Marie Midnite, lol. If I decide to relocate abroad, that name will suffice for my new identity. Go change my name on all documents guys.)
Nevertheless, Chris, Mark, and Suzi find a way to overcome Gonzalez and his crew. Pretty cool, don’t you think? Nope. It turns out that their boss, Dickson (Alan Abew), doesn’t admire them or their rather extreme style of work. Dickson answers with Suspended!!!
The three agents weren’t all that sorrowful about the suspension, though. After all, it offered great possibilities for hanging out and who knows, even going to the woods to look for Quantrillo’s gold!
However, they are not the sole ones after gold. There is this sinister drug lord guy, Santiago (Rodrigo Obregon), who wants the gold too and has hired a vicious murderer, Jewel Panther (Julie Strain) to secure it for him. As for why Dickson could be perceived as rude, such could be reasoned that he is employing Santiago’s orders behind the scenes.
Before long, all the people are in the woods without clothes and using explosives. Everything that a Sidaris film entails is encapsulated here, up to the dismal jokes and repeating cast. I take that back.
The jokes in Enemy Gold are far worse than some of the awful Sidaris jokes.
A Shriek in the Night is mediocre at best, but moderately good as a screwball or light rom-com mixed with a murder mystery. The drop from a hotel window that starts the movie, & a subsequent scene where the heroine is nearly incinerated in a furnace, are quite disturbing, but for the most part this is a gentle-natured film.
A Shriek in the NightGinger Rogers plays a rather cold reporter on the verge of losing her job because of an “apparent” suicide that has actually been set up as a murder case. Lyle Talbot is a journalist in a competing paper who plays a nasty prank on her that costs her the job, so now has to try quite hard to make it up while still pursuing the same story.
Ginger is inescapably appealing & instinctively fine for comedy, & the mystery element is slightly more intricate than the average of dinky rubric films.
Crime novelist Harvey Clark may be considered the villain of the film but as it looks to me, the elderly police inspector, Pernell Pratt, seems to make a much better foil for Ginger than Lyle was. Overall, the film is an excuse for a quality noir but it works in a pinch.
The characters of the two maids made me ponder. Some of them are particularly interesting for their reflection of ‘ordinary’ older movies of lesser-known directors, the sociological perspectives of racism or sexism or jingoism contained within that decade of the film, and A Shriek in the Night affords us the possibility to look at black stereotyping in American cinema.
Old thrillers like these tend to have stereotypical black characters like the cowardly servant. In this particular movie however, it is the black maid role who is played by Louise Beavers, who happens to be quite overweight. Despite the limited roles black women had access to, she is a true comic genius.
I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone on the script or on the set thought the traditional bug-eyed terrified Stepin Fetchit type of character might be distasteful when they made this stock character a woman, as the plot had an additional white maid in it, who was portrayed by Lillian Harmer, a specialist of matrons and charwomen.
However, Harmer’s character is rather fascinating since the character of Augusta, the housekeeper, is even more nervous and scared and is driven to a frenzy by divorcing herself in each and every issue of popular cheap literature, crime novels while an actual murder mystery is being created around her. The two housekeepers are, in essence, the same character, except that Augusta the housekeeper has been fortunate enough to be given a name, while the black maid does not; and Augusta gets to be literate, but only for the sake of cheap magazines.
In everything that she does, from playing a maid to any other role, Louise Beavers exudes pure humanity and kindness. In A Shriek in the Night, there is a defining scene where everyone is at the mortuary, and none of the police officers are able to convince an unwilling character to step out of the vehicle, because she is too petrified of being stuck in a room filled with dead bodies. It is unfortunate that the vacationing negro woman is so stereotypical, but even with this in mind, try to observe how Beavers portrays the character in a light that has elements of both realism and comedic relief, but not in the way which is straightforward. One is able to feel compassion towards a woman who does not want to be surrounded by dead bodies and joins her in laughter, instead of deriding her.
And while I wish to say that I was not too much surprised when I saw shared in the script the long accepted image of a superstitious negro and one cowardly servant of each color, it would have been much more sad had the woman servant associated with the black community not been the bookworm, had she assisted in the mystery, or instead of the ending with her dashing away from the corpse of the dead woman, I would like her to desperately run away from the monster.
It is a harsh reality imagining how much more depriving and off puting the African-Americans had it in the modern day Hollywood film industry.
Enemy Gold would have been an absolute treat to watch if a 19th century setting would have been used throughout the entire movie. Because, despite lacking credibility , the civil war scenes do put at least some interesting features on the screen. But as usual, the action shifted forward to the early 90s and the movie was dragged down with boring drug smuggler and more ‘exiting’ themes.
Not to mention, Enemy Gold is one of those movies that tries to appeal to the audience but fails miserably. It completely lacks any self-reflective insight making it cringe-inducing in comparison to films like Hard Ticket To Hawaii or Malibu Express. Obregon and Julie Strain made the best of the film while portraying the villains which were absolutely absurd. And while at certain points Obregon gave me vivid memories of Tommy Wiseau, the rest of the heroes were just boring.
Fans of military and history might just find interest in the movie from time to time. However, this is a movie you can easily pass up.
To watch more movies like A Shriek in the Night (1933) visit 123Movies.
Also Watch for more movies like:
