Main Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Alexis Smith, Sydney Greenstreet, Rose Hobart, Charles Drake
Release Year: 1945
Country: US
Run Time: 86 minutes
Plot
Filmed some 18 months before its release, Conflict is one of two melodramas in which Humphrey Bogart self-consciously portrayed a wife murderer (the other was The Two Mrs. Carrolls). Bogie plays unhappily married Richard Mason, who concocts a meticulous scheme to kill his shrewish wife, Kathryn (Rose Hobart), so that he'll be free to marry her sister, Evelyn (Alexis Smith). Alas, Mason inadvertently tips his hand to family friend Dr. Mark Hamilton (Sydney Greenstreet). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Conflict should have been a classic noir-ish thriller, rather than the rather routine one it ended up. It certainly has the right cast and director, and the basic premise is one that could have made for an exceptional film. Unfortunately, the elements just didn't come together in the manner necessary to lift Conflict above the average. The blame rests mostly with director Curtis Bernhardt and his trio of writers. All of them seem to have had a vision of where the film should go and what it should be like, but they couldn't find the right path to achieving that vision; as a result, we're left with a film that is all bones, but lacking in flesh. Bernhardt, often a very good director, also seems to have checked his imagination at the door here; his work is solid and gets the job done, but for the most part lacks the flair that this kind of project needs. (Even the title is perfunctory and colorless.) Fortunately, Conflict has Humphrey Bogart and Sydney Greenstreet, who turn in typically dependable performances. In a nice switch, the actors' usual roles are reversed, with Bogart the villain and Greenstreet the metaphoric detective. This makes both portrayals a bit more complex than they would otherwise be, with Bogart garnering audience sympathy and Greenstreet's cunning having a slightly wicked edge to it. Both are good in Conflict, but Greenstreet is especially enjoyable. The rest of the cast is fine, although Alexis Smith doesn't make the impression she should, perhaps because her character is ill-defined. Because it could have been so much better, Conflict is a bit frustrating, but still worth seeing. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Ted Smith - Art Director, Milo Anderson - Costume Designer, Orry-Kelly - Costume Designer, Curtis Bernhardt - Director, David Weisbart - Editor, Frederick Hollander - Composer (Music Score), Leo F. Forbstein - Musical Direction/Supervision, Perc Westmore - Makeup, Merritt B. Gerstad - Cinematographer, William Jacobs - Producer, Clarence I. Steensen - Set Designer, Roy Davidson - Special Effects, H.F. Koenekamp - Special Effects, Robert Siodmak - Screen Story, Alfred Neumann - Screen Story, Arthur Horman - Screenwriter, Dwight Taylor - Screenwriter, Alfred Neumann - Short Story Author
Richard (Humphrey Bogart) and Kathryn Mason (Rose Hobart) appear to be a happily married couple. But in truth, Kathryn is heartless, and Richard secretly loves his wife's younger sister, Evelyn Turner (Alexis Smith). When his wife confronts him about it and says divorce is out of the question, Richard takes desperate action.
Richard, a wealthy architect pretending to be wheelchair bound, coldly plans to murder his wife on a car trip to a mountain resort, where he is to receive therapy. At the last minute, Richard stays home to finish a work project and has Evelyn go on alone. He surprisingly appears out of the shadows and blocks the deserted road with his car. After strangling her and pushing her car off the road, Richard returns home to use his employees as an alibi. But when Katherine is reported missing, family friend and psychologist Dr. Mark Hamilton (Sydney Greenstreet) suspects Richard is responsible when he slips by telling detectives that Kathryn was wearing a rose. Hamilton gave Kathryn the rose after she had left her husband, something he should have no way of knowing. The doctor then works with the police to plant clues for Richard to find that are designed to make him think that his wife might actually still be alive.
The film is rather unique in that it is the only one which Bogart and Greenstreet co-starred in where Greenstreet was not a villain or a corrupt character, but rather Bogart was the villain or anti-hero.
Film historians Alain Silver and Elizabeth Ward comment, "The film is particularly memorable for the use of the song "Tango of Love" as leitmotif to indicate the putative reappearance of Katherine, with the background strings translating the scent of perfume; the opening trucking shot through the rain-soaked night up to the window of the Mason house, which allows the audience to eavesdrop on the dinner party; and the sinister appearance of Bogart as he steps out of the shadows to murder his wife."[1]
References
^Alain Silver and Elizabeth Ward (1992). Film Noir An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style. The Overlook Press. ISBN0-87951-479-5.
