Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

While I do think this especially a well made film noir with a solid Humphrey Bogart performance, agonizing over the murder of his wife (he is in love with his wife's sister, and his desire for her trumps any rational/realistic expectation of how any of what he commits, murderous- wise, could result in a happy ending where the wife is out of the way so he can be with her), and how his conscience is unraveling him ("signs" of his wife start to appear; a handkerchief, scent of perfume, a possible sighting, a locket and name on a ledger at a pawn shop with ticket left in the mail at his firm, all items of her "re-emergence" which belts him on the kisser), "Conflict" does seem to be a bit hard to swallow. He knows he killed her; her body was in that car as he pushed it over the cliff. The woodpile of logs that pounded into a cover over it assured the vehicle's concealment. She was dead. So the supposed signs of her being alive should have instead told Bogie's architect that something was amiss. Sydney Greenstreet playing against type in a film such as this was a bonus thrill, though. His psychologist is a breath of fresh air in that what he says--referring to his extensive use of science in his profession--might be considered "cynical" but it has an alarming accuracy. In fact, the rich dialogue is quite mature and intellectually relevant even (if not especially) in the time we live. Like the view of marriage in a world where there are plenty of beauties that capture the lusts of older men, "trapped" in marriages with a wife their age, and the lingering urge to be free from it causing a reaction most unkind and unwarranted. I was afraid that Rose Hobart would be portrayed until her untimely demise at Bogie's hands as a shrew, demanding and irascible; this would encourage us to sympathize with why he might be so inclined to do her in. But she just understands him all too well, is completely aware of his designs on her sister, and quite confrontational with him on how she isn't just going to allow him to throw her to the wayside to go gallivanting elsewhere. The thing is, she loves him, and that is why his wife just doesn't let their marriage split apart. The telling anniversary party, where they must brush aside these volatile feelings and pretend that everything is okay if not grand--lays out the situation perfectly. Why must this marriage continue? Is it all a fraud, a facade? Well, it wasn't until Bogie decided he wanted her sister instead (played by Alexis Smith) that the marriage appear to be on the skids. Said to have irritated Bogie due to his similar situation (absent the killing on a mountain road), "Conflict" wasn't a favorite of his. But I think it holds up well; I especially like the final dialogue between Bogie and Greenstreet in his office as the theory of a tortured soul trusting another with what haunts him not coming to fruition undermines a freeing of the horrors of the conscience that wants to be rid of the corruption of the murder that happened. The sophisticated Warner Bros. presentation with its lighting/shadows, sets, photography, and art direction, "Conflict" is quite a studio melodrama, as music embodies what tensions exist inside the characters. Bogart is a treat to watch: he offers a lot even when he doesn't speak. But the rush of emotions when he admits to how much he loves Smith and her inability to comprehend this is what pure melodrama is all about. This is the kind of role that puts Bogart through the gamut, and because of the juice in it, he posits a dandy. His relaxing as the gig is up, and the use of a rose in how he is doomed ultimately just explains all too well how the perfect murder is rarely successful and the one committing it endures a weight almost too tough to carry. I think the weakness of the film is in the idea that Smith would be so close to her sister (and involved with a doctor of the mind like Greenstreet) and ever accept Bogart's love. Maybe he was consumed, but to throw it all away on something that might not be legit seems a bit far-fetched. However, true crime tells us not altogether impossible. How many successful men have had their wives bumped off so they could be with the secretary? The difference is that Smith and Bogart never were involved romantically...it was all one sided.

Conflict is directed by Curtis Bernhardt and collectively written by Arthur T. Horman, Dwight Taylor, Robert Siodmak and Alfred Neumann. It stars Humphrey Bogart, Alexis Smith, Sydney Greenstreet, Rose Hobart, Charles Drake and Grant Mitchell. Music is by Frederick Hollander and cinematography by Merritt B. Gerstad.Still under exposed after all these years, Conflict is deserving of reappraisals by the film noir crowd. Plot has Richard Mason (Bogart) stuck in a loveless marriage to Kathryn (Hobart), with his misery further compounded by the fact he's in love with his sister-in-law, Evelyn (Smith). Finally having enough, Richard murders his wife and intends to woo the younger Evelyn into his life. However, when Richard starts glimpsing his wife out in the city and little items of hers start turning up, Richard starts to doubt his own mind.In essence it's a psychological thriller spiced with German Expressionism, perhaps unsurprising given that Bernhardt and Siodmak are key components of the production. The psychoanalysis angle played out would of course become a big feature in the film noir cycle, and here it makes for a most interesting story as Bernhardt and Gerstad dress it up in looming shadows, rain sodden streets and treacherous mountain roads. The pungent air of fatalism is evident throughout, the pace of the piece purposely sedate to marry up with the sombre tones as Richard Mason, a disturbed menace, him self becomes menaced.OK, you don't have to be an ace detective to figure out just exactly what is going on, so the reveal at film's closure lacks a bit of a punch, but the atmospherically tinged journey is well worth undertaking regardless. Bernhardt's camera is often like some peeping tom spying on the warped machinations of Mason, and all the while Hollander adds thematically compliant music to proceedings. Bogart was pretty much press ganged into making the picture, but come the final product it's evident that even though he may have been unhappy initially, he ended up delivering one the most intriguing turns in his wonderful career.Greenstreet is his usual presence, here playing the psychiatrist family friend who delivers the telling lines whilst being ahead of the game. Unfortunately the two principal lady characters aren't done any favours by the otherwise taut screenplay, especially Evelyn, who as the catalyst for the sinister shadings never gets chance to build a strong emotional bridge to Richard Mason's psychological make-up. Still, when you got Bogart as an unhinged killer attired in trench-coat and fedora, and a director who knows how to place him in the right visual scenarios, the flaws can't kill the film's strengths. 7/10

This is an excellent film noir, featuring a very pert and pretty Alexis Smith as the object of a nasty Humphrey Bogart's lustful obsessions. Good old Sydney Greenstreet is as jolly and quietly scheming as ever. Regarding Smith, who is his sister-in-law, Bogart has 'gotta have her' but has not bothered to ask her first how she feels about that. Not waiting for such trivial information as what anyone else thinks, he hastens to commit 'the almost-perfect murder' of his wife so that he can be free to pursue his fantasy relationship with her sister. Greenstreet notices the giveaway-clue but with his poker face says nothing. This is all good vintage Hollywood stuff. The film was directed by German refugee Curtis Bernhardt, who fled the Gestapo and became one of Hollywood's many Germans, along with Fritz Lang and all the others. The next year, he directed the famous Bette Davis film A STOLEN LIFE. Robert Siodmak, another well-known émigré German director of noirs, wrote the original story for this one. Good expressionist angst.

Have you noticed the similarities between, not only «Conflict» and «Vertigo» (1958), but also with «The Two Mrs. Carroll» (1947)? Indeed, in these movies, there is at least one of the following occurrences : 1) A husband planning to get rid of his wife. 2) A woman who «mysteriously» disappears after entering a building while being followed by a man. 3) A clue that gives away the guilty person (a rose, a necklace). I'll stop here : if you're familiar with the three movies mentioned -- or just curious about the «mechanics» of good suspense/noir films plotting -- then I'll leave it to you to find more connections. You may argue that, since «Vertigo» came after the others, if any «imitation» is to be pointed out, then Hitchcock's film would be the one to «blame». Perhaps.... Yet, none of the other two come close to the first part of «V.», in the atmospheric and hypnotic suggestion of a «romantic ghost».