We are informed at the outset that "The following story unfolds the private life of the greatest scoundrel of our time". One would have thought that would have more aptly described Hitler himself, rather than Goebbels; but the Doctor would have been as flattered to be considered important enough to get an entire film to himself depicting him (as 'Inglorious Basterds' later put it) as "The number two man in Hitler's Third Reich", as he would have been disdainful of the result. At a time when far less was then known about him than has been documented since his death, as the most visible and vocal member of the Nazi hierarchy after Hitler it was widely assumed during their lifetime that Goebbels was the real brains behind the Führer. This was certainly how he was portrayed (superbly played by Henry Daniell) in Chaplin's 'The Great Dictator' (1940). Only after the war did it emerge that Goebbels had far less influence over Hitler than had generally been supposed. But that is the least of this film's many inaccuracies; and it shares with Stuart Heisler's 'Hitler' (1962) a similarly tedious fixation with it's subject's love life rather than his political activities.Originally titled 'The Private Life of Paul Joseph Goebbels', but at some point saddled with the absurd 'Enemy of Women', the film's writer-director Alfred Zeisler was one of Hollywood's many exiles from Nazi Germany and was thus in some instances drawing upon his own memories of the period when Goebbels was consolidating Nazi control over the German film industry; while at other times embellishing with the benefit of hindsight. The result is a bizarre but lamentably dull mishmash of surprisingly recherché historical information and total fabrication. On the one hand the film surprisingly includes the Austrian clairvoyant Erik Jan Hanussen (later portrayed by Klaus Maria Brandauer in István Szabó's 'Hanussen' in 1988) accurately predicting the Reichstag fire and the rise of Rommel; and Goebbels' secretary was indeed named Hanke, as he is called here. But the character of Maria Brandt, an Austrian actress with whom the Doctor becomes chronically obsessed - not to mention the time frame involved - bears no relation at all to the affair Goebbels actually had with the Czech actress Lída Baarová during the thirties. Stranger still, in 1931 Goebbels married Magda Quandt, by whom he had six children; but in this version of events Joseph seemingly remains a bachelor, and Magda, as played by Sigrid Gurie, appears simply as the mother of a boy young Joseph is teaching history, and has just one word of dialogue: "Harald!" The Führer himself is seen only fleetingly in longshot, Himmler is shown briefly from behind sounding like a Hollywood gangster; and that's all you see of the other Nazi leaders. Goebbels himself disappears from the film for long stretches, including much of the final third (Claudia Drake, who plays Maria Brandt, is ominously billed above supposed lead Paul Andor); and we are instead forced to watch Maria's extremely uninteresting romance with handsome and equally fictitious Dr. Hans Traeger. None of this is made any more involving by Zeisler's sluggish direction; and the end result is, alas, much duller than it sounds.

Actor Paul Andor (real name Wolfgang Zilzer) bears a striking resemblance to the real Dr. Paul Goebbels, the evil Nazi head of Propaganda who spent one day as Chancellor of Germany after Hitler's suicide before killing himself. This semi-fictional account of his life takes the basic known facts and changes the names and details, but it still has a major impact on the emotional structure of this Monogram film that is two notches above most of their "B" films, giving it almost an "A" look. Claudia Drake is top billed as Maria Brandt, an actress loosely based upon the real life actress Lída Baarová who was Goebbel's real life mistress. This film does not mention the fact that he had a wife and six children (murdered by him and his wife right before they killed themselves) and does not go into great detail about most of his evils which were probably discovered after the war ended. But being made while Goebbels was still alive, this was definitely a curiosity piece in the Hollywood propaganda machine, just as effective as "The Hitler Gang" (the story of Hitler's rise to power with a warning of how he would ultimately fall) and "None Shall Escape" which cast Alexander Knox as a Nazi officer on trial AFTER the war even though it was made the same year. One of the most chilling sequences comes when a medium forecasts the futures of Goebbel and several other Nazi's in the room (including General Rommel) but only includes their triumphs, not the ultimate fall from power and retribution. Andor is off screen for much of the film as the story of actress Drake and her romance with a good German doctor (Donald Woods) takes over. It then moves to his blackmail over Drake in threatening Woods' safety after they return to Germany, having settled in Vienna. Told in flashback, the storyline has Goebbels remembering his first encounter with Hitler and how he first met Brandt as a struggling playwright working as a tutor. Even then, he was teaching values which were adopted by the Nazi's. When he makes a violent pass at Brandt, her World War I veteran father (an excellent H.B. Warner) throws him out which leads to later revenge on him and reveals his obsession with her. While he is definitely presented as monstrous, Goebbels is also given shadows of sympathetic characteristics, being quite in tuned to the arts which makes his being chosen head of propaganda (which would include movies, theater and radio) a smart move on Hitler's part even though it is obvious through history that their choice of subject matter for the U.F.O. (the major German film company) was one sided. Supporting performances by Sigrid Gurie, Ralph Morgan, Gloria Stuart and Robert Barrat add great period detail. There's a funny sequence in a Vienna café where impersonators of Hitler, Goebbels and Mussolini do a musical number. The tension of the film rises to its high point in the finale where the defeated Drake makes a drastic decision and must distract her husband in order to save his life. The final shot of Andor searching amongst the rubble of an air raid and his radio narration of the events which have recently taken place give forbearance to the creed that fascist leaders manipulate their followers through lies whether it be done blatantly or with total charm, but indeed, they are lies, and liars are always exposed.

I rented this film from Netflix because I was hoping to see yet another over the top propaganda film from WWII--the type that are almost funny because the acting and characters are so over the top. However, I was very surprised to see that "Enemy of Women" was actually rather restrained. Heck, I could even see some viewers actually feeling a bit of sympathy for the focus of the film--Dr. Josef Goebbels! The film begins as Berlin is in ruins--and a radio broadcast by Dr. Goebbels is telling the people that everything is peachy. Then, the film goes back in time to 1925 and eventually works its way back to where the film began. You see Goebbels as a rather insecure man--a guy who has a difficult time with women. He is secretly in love with his landlord's daughter, Maria. When he makes a very awkward advance on her, her father throws him out of the home. And, inexplicably, Goebbels spends the entire rest of the film trying to win her love. However, along the way, Goebbels shows that he's a lover not to be trifled with and uses the power he achieves from the Nazi party to get his revenge.This entire film is weird--very weird. That's because it seems like a real biography of the man--though most of it is fiction. Yes, there was a Goebbels and he was a sick and twisted jerk--but oddly, the Goebbels in this film is a bit vulnerable. Sure, he's evil...but somehow not altogether hateful. Because of this somewhat human aspect, the film is a standout for the genre, as propaganda films usually try very hard to de-humanize the enemy. Mind you, this did not make Goebbels look exactly good---but he was indeed human and vulnerable. Overall, it's well made and actually ages pretty well. Just remember that this is NOT a real biography, as the real Goebbels was much more complex and sick.

The life of Joseph Goebbels and his rise as propaganda minister for the Nazis. Odd mix of Hollywood hokum and propaganda makes for a decidedly silly film. I'm not sure how the film played originally but seeing it some 70 years on I find the film creates some unintentional giggles. An early scene that had Goebbels wandering into a meeting where Hitler was speaking and becoming mesmerized by the third rate actor playing der fuhrer had me laughing out loud. How could anyone take this seriously? I think that was part of the point of the film, but at the same time it undercut the menace that the real life counter parts created (I mean the idea of Goebbels as a skirt chaser seems so quaint). I kind of liked it but I didn't love it. I completely understand why its relegated to an almost forgotten status (never mind the title "Enemy of Women" doesn't tell you what its about or what type of film it is). Worth a shot if you run a cross it but not something to search out