Great Film overall

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

"I never could understand why anyone would want to be a soldier," David Niven's character muses in The Best of Enemies. It's a very ironic line for him to say, since he acted in over twenty wartime movies, and he fought in WW2 himself! Sufficed to say, unless you absolutely love war movies-or David Niven in uniform, as I do-you're not going to want to watch this one. It's pretty boring.The entire movie, David Niven and his Italian counterpart, Alberto Sordi, exchange verbal blows in the middle of the Abyssinian desert during 1941. Do they hate each other as much as they pretend to in front of their troops, or do they rely on each other during times of trouble? Are they friends or enemies? Hence the title. Both Niven and Sordi give very good performances, and some moments are quite touching, but Jack Pulman's and Age-Scapelli's script is a little slow. It was trying to be amusing and full of satire, but it's really only because of the acting that I was able to get through it at all. For me, the best part of the film was David Niven's sparkling blue eyes and smile embedded in his handsome tan in Technicolor. Maybe you can watch it and find another good facet, but I probably won't watch it again to find out.

Saw this film while stationed at a remote site in the military. As I remember, it was one of the few movies, at the time, that really made me laugh. It so resembled the nuttiness of everyday military life. It displays attitudes of peoples from different cultures required to depend upon each other for survival. It shows that war, itself, is a national problem while the average soldier is really not so different from his enemy. If this were on DVD, I would purchase it, in a heartbeat. The truths brought forward in this story are as meaningful today as when I saw it in 1962. Best yet, every member of the military audience viewing it, laughed until they rolled. It didn't matter what their political orientation, the humor was there for all to see. If a fan of "King of Hearts", I recommend it.

I saw this movie on TV years ago. Sadly I haven't seen it for at least five years, not even on cable. The story deals with the interplay between Italian and British units, mostly focusing on the commanding officers on each side. Sordi and Niven couldn't have been better in their roles. Against the backdrop of the African WW2 campaign the two sides seem to be more of a nuisance to each other than effective participants in the war, but towards the end of the movie we are given a reminder of the tendency to become egotistic as being a major world power involved in a campaign which totally ignores the native population in the country being fought over.This is a very appropriate touch to the movie. The two sides(Brits & Italians) were not the only game in town. I would love to see this movie out on video or DVD and would purchase it immediately.

Heart-warming, funny, totally enjoyable. One of the best movie going experiences I have ever had. Niven never gave a better performance. I saw the movie once and have never seen it come on TV or found a video tape. I would buy it if I could find it.