Sworn Enemy: A B-Movie Fever Dream of Boxing and Mobsters

Is it worth your time?

Look, if you’re into black-and-white crime stuff from the thirties, you’ll probably have a decent time with Sworn Enemy. It’s got that specific, snappy rhythm where everyone talks like they’re in a hurry to get to the next punchline or the next hit. If you need your movies to have perfect logic or high-stakes polish, you’re gonna be annoyed. This is the kind of movie that makes you wonder if the writers just stopped caring about the law student angle halfway through the second act.

Hank starts off as this mild-mannered law student, right? Then he’s suddenly a mob-adjacent boxing manager. It’s a bit of a stretch, but you just kinda go with it because Robert Young has that look like he’s trying his hardest to keep up with the chaos.

The Boxing Stuff

Steamer Krupp is exactly the kind of name you’d expect for a movie boxer. Nat Pendleton plays him with just the right amount of thick-headed charm. There’s a moment during one of the training sessions where he’s just hitting a bag, and you can tell the sound effects are about three frames off. It’s charming, honestly. It’s not exactly The White Hell of Pitz Palu when it comes to tension, but it’s got its own weird heart.

• The mob boss Joe Emerald is just dripping with that classic, grumpy menace.
• The transitions are basically non-existent. One scene ends, and we are suddenly in a dark office.
• I really wanted more of Florence Rice. She’s doing a lot with very little screen time.

There’s this odd feeling that the movie is trying to do too much. It’s a legal drama, a revenge thriller, and a sports movie all smashed together. Sometimes it works! Other times, it feels like the characters are just teleporting to where they need to be for the plot to move forward. The police work here is... well, it’s not really police work, is it? It’s more like a series of convenient coincidences.

I found myself staring at the background extras in one of the fight scenes. One guy in the second row is just eating a sandwich while a guy gets knocked out in the foreground. Nobody told him to stop, so he just keeps going. I love that.

It’s not a masterpiece. It’s a bit messy. It’s a little loud. But there’s something about the way these old crime films just bulldoze through the plot that I find strangely relaxing. You aren't going to learn anything about the human condition here, but you might enjoy watching a guy try to outsmart a mobster while wearing a fedora. Sometimes, that’s plenty.