Conflict (1945) [VHS] | Humphrey Bogart, Alexis Smith

Conflict (1945) [VHS] | Humphrey Bogart, Alexis Smith | Many call this an unusual Bogart film...

vhs video:

Rebecca De Mornay Bathing Beauty (1944) June Foray English Grammar fo... Conflict (1945) [VHS]

	Conflict (1945) [VHS] Humphrey Bogart, Alexis Smith MGM (Warner), 1998 average customer review:based on 10 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

My Favorite Bogart Movie

I simply can't believe that all previous reviewers only give 3 or 4 stars for "Conflict". It's such a thrilling and brilliant movie, at least as good as "Dark Passage", my other favorite Bogart film. And after having watched more than 95% of all Bogart movies, I seriously think that "Conflict" and "Dark Passage" are a lot better than "The Big Sleep" or "The Maltese Falcon" even though those are considered his best, but I still prefer Conflict & Dark Passage by far! I just find their plots so much more fascinating.
10 stars.

For years and years I was wondering why "Conflict" (and another film noir with Brian Donlevy called "Nightmare" (1942)) are not available on DVD and also are never on TCM. So I finally bought both of them at ioffer.com and I'm happy to have them now at home. It's such a shame that only one third (and not necessarily the best third!) from all old movies ever produced is available on DVD's.

for more information click here

Many call this an unusual Bogart film...

...but it isn't really that unusual if you consider the films Bogart made after "High Sierra" and he began to get meatier film roles instead of the one-note gangster roles Warner Brothers often put him into from 1936 until 1941. Bogart was quite a versatile actor to put it mildly, and this film showcases yet another side of his talents.

Bogart plays Richard Mason, an engineer who is celebrating his fifth wedding anniversary with his wife Kathryn (Rose Hobart). However, Richard and Kathryn have been snapping at each other for the last few weeks. In a bit of a showdown before attending their anniversary party, Richard admits that he is in love with Kathryn's sister Evelyn, and Kathryn admits her short temper has been because she realizes this. Kathryn also states that she would never agree to a divorce. Realize that Evelyn (Alexis Smith) is innocent in all of this as Richard has been worshiping her from afar.

That night, on the way back from their anniversary party, Richard is gazing at Evelyn through the rear view mirror and has an automobile accident as a result of not paying attention to the road. Evelyn and Kathryn are unharmed, but Richard has broken his leg. Richard uses this injury, and the fact that no doctor can be sure at what point he'll regain the use of his leg, to come up with a rather clever scheme for killing his wife. After recovering his mobility, he continues to behave as though incapacitated. With everyone believing him immobilized by his injury, he intercepts his wife's car on a remote mountain road, blocking the road with his own car. He kills his wife and then sends the car off a cliff with Kathryn inside. A large group of logs go off the cliff with the car making a kind of eery formation on top of it and obscuring the wreck. The car does not catch fire.

Now all Richard has to do is go back to town undetected, still playing the cripple, and now playing the worried husband as well when his wife does not reach her destination. With Evelyn at his side to provide moral support, his plan is to wait for the alerted state police to find his wife's car and thus her body. Then he'll be free to court Evelyn. However, there is one snag - the police never find Kathryn's body or her car. On top of that, Kathryn's things that were with her when she died are showing up one by one - in Richard's desk, in his bedroom, in his luggage when he goes on a trip. The scent of Kathryn's perfume fills their room one night. He even sees someone who is dressed just like his wife on the street one day and follows her - she disappears into thin air. Whatever is going on here? Was Kathryn unharmed in this second accident as well? Is she playing with him? Unlike most mysteries, this one is not something that needs to be explained to the audience at the end, although it is. If you watch the film closely enough you'll figure out exactly what happened before it starts happening - but you have to pay attention. Highly recommended.

for more information click here

A little known Bogart film

I am a collector of Humphrey Bogart films and was pleased to find this one on Amazon, as I had not known of its existence before. I enjoyed seeing the film, especially because it is not exactly the type of role he was used to in the forties. I was pleased to add this to my collection and look forward to preserving it to CD.

Ron

good movie

I am watching this movie right now on AMC. It is just like it is described in the write up's. It is a good movie & Bogie is great as always.

Minor noir enlivened by terrific cast

*Spoilers after the first paragraph, beware*

Bogie is the star here, as Richard Mason, an architect in an outwardly-seeming fine marriage to Kathryn (Rose Hobart), but really in love with her younger sister Evelyn (Alexis Smith). The couple have a close friend, a psychology professor (Sydney Greenstreet) who gushes about how happy they are at an anniversary party, and this only makes things worse, especially as Evelyn is present. On the way home from the party, Richard crashes the car. The two women are safe but he injures his leg. While recuperating, he hatches a plot to do away with Kathryn so that he can have Evelyn - despite no evidence that she loves him. He manages to get her killed in another auto accident, but soon finds evidence that she may still be around.

Mason's deteriorating state, and the odd occurrences -- in particular a great sequence in which he follows the apparent ghost or still-living Kathryn from a distance into an empty house -- are the best part of the film, and so I was disappointed that the ending was so abrupt and the spookiness brushed off as deliberate ploys on the part of Greenstreet and the cops, who know that he's guilty but just can't prove it. Ultimately, this is neither hard-boiled enough to be really exciting and compelling, nor dreamlike enough to be unsettling and unnerving - it just doesn't quite hit the key noir qualities for me. Still, Bogart and Greenstreet are solid, and I liked the rather artificial sets which gave it an "anytown" feel -- something that was lost with the location shooting that tends to dominate later noir from about 1947-48 on.

Overall then fairly minor, but as with every film Bogart was in after 1938 or so, it ought to be on DVD. The VHS looks decent enough if, like me, you can't wait for a better medium.

for more information click here

reviews: page 1, 2

products you might be interested in