A few months back, I did a post on a film I recorded when TCM did a double feature of films starring character actor Joseph Calleia. That movie, Man of the People, had Calleia playing a good guy; the other movie has him as the villain of the piece: Sworn Enemy.
The main good guy here is played by Robert Young relatively early in his career. He plays Hank Sherman, and is trying to work his way through law school. His current attempt to get a job is at Decker's produce, but when he shows up to move boxes of produce also showing up are representatives of the "protective association", which if you've seen enough 1930s movies you'll know is controlled by the racketeers. Hank says no, and for that the mob thugs are about to beat him up, when he's saved by Mr. Decker himself (Samuel S. Hinds) showing up. Decker doesn't want to pay the racket so takes kindly to Hank. Also in the car is his private secretary, Peg Gattle (Florence Rice).
It doesn't take too much to see that Hank and Peg are going to fall in love, although that's not the main story, which is of course the protection racket, ultimately run by Joe Emerald, the character played by Calleia. Peg has a good reason of her own for opposing the rackets, which is that they set up her father, Dr. Simon Gattle (Lewis Stone) to take the fall, and Simon is just finishing up a 12-year stretch in Sing Sing.
The racket gets so violent that it kills both Decker, as well as Hank's brother Steve, who was working as a promoter for the boxer Steamer Krupp (Nat Pendleton). Hank goes undercover with the DA to try to get the evidence on Emerald, whom they all know has to be behind the rackets but because of his cash dealings leave no evidence of his wrongdoing. If only they can find the safe with the evidence.
Getting a job in the rackets himself to try to get the evidence doesn't work, so Hank tries another idea, which is to start promoting Steamer himself, since Joe has an interest in boxing as well. Steamer gets good enough to come to the attention of Joe, although Steamer is so loyal that he can only fight with Hank around, which is how Hank is able to get into Joe's inner circle as well as physically closer to the place where the incriminating records are kept. Hank also brings Peg into his scheme as a sort of cat's paw to lure Joe away, leading to a surprisingly exciting climax.
Sworn Enemy is a decidedly B movie from MGM, which means it has a bit more of a moralizing tone than a movie from Warner Bros. might have, but it's still well done for an MGM B. That's down in part to the cast, which includes a pretty good level of talent. Then again, MGM had all these people under contract, so it shouldn't be such a surprise. Sworn Enemy is definitely worth looking out for as an example of the good B movies the studios could churn out in those days.
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