For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Crappy film

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Paul Henreid plays a Dutch freedom fighter who finds himself in Lisbon with an underground resistance group, one of whom is a traitor. He also meets and, in typical movie fashion, falls in love with Hedy Lamarr after knowing her for two seconds. Forgettable melodramatic wartime thriller with some story elements reminiscent of Casablanca. The story is nowhere near as good though. Paul Henreid is dull as dishwater. Hedy Lamarr, while beautiful, has no chemistry with Henreid and brings little to the table beyond looking great in close-ups. Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet are given uninteresting roles. The supporting cast deserves better. This one's a dud.

I really enjoyed this movie and it is one of my favorites for WWII intrigue. I consider this a sequel to Casablanca, taking off from where The Flying Dutchman left Casablanca and lands in Portugal. I liked enough that I bought the original book (searched and found it online). Definitely worth watching as it is also a good play on romanticism of the era.During World War 2 underground movements all through Europe helped thwart the Nazi movement. In this movie a portrayal of the underground in 'neutral' Portugal is similar to what went on in Europe. Only one cheesy scene in the move, where a secret security camera is used. But that is a brief scene and does not detract from the film.Because of this movie Paul Henreid is one of my favorite actors along side Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre. My first viewing was on a Sunday morning when a local TV station aired the movie. Finally I was able to see it again and record from TCM.

***SPOILERS*** Somewhat boring and overdone Casablanca-like war drama with the stunningly beautiful, considered to be the most beautiful woman in all the world at the time, Hedy Lamarr as anti-Nazi freedom fighter and former Dachau concentration camp survivor Irene Von Mohr. Don't let Irene's last name fool you she's actually French who's married to German Diplomat Hugo Von Mohr, Victor Franken, who got her out of Dachau at the risk of his own neck.Getting involved, almost by accident, with fellow anti-Nazi freedom fighter Vincent Van Der Lyn, Paul Henreid, who's known in anti-Nazi freedom fighting circles as the a**-kicking "Flying Dutchman" Irene, in at first not knowing who he is, thinks that he's some kind of Nazi spy working for chief Nazi honcho in natural Lisbon Portugal Dr. Schmitt, Steven Geray. Vincent is on the run from his home in Nazi occupied Holland after almost single-handedly, as we see in the start of the film, wiping out the entire German Army garrison stationed there! Slipping into Portugal Vincent wants to go legit in fighting the Nazis as a member of the free Dutch Air Force instead of being a guerrilla fighter, who's not protected by the Geneva Convention, by getting to England where the Free Dutch Air Force originates from.The film "The Conspirator's" moves at a snails pace with Vincent getting in and out trouble, and jail, until the last ten minutes or so when the action really starts to pick up. It's then at a swanky Lisbon Casino that it's revealed who's the fink, or traitor, who set poor Vincent up in the murder of fellow anti-Nazi freedom fighter Jennings, Monte Blue, that he was arrested and put behind bars for. Even though the identity of the traitor was not that hard to figure out it was about the most exciting scene in the somewhat very uninteresting, with the exception of Miss. Lamarr, film.P.S Besides Paul Henreid there's also Casablanca cast members Sidney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre as anti-Nazi freedom fighters Ricardo Quintanilla and Jan Bernazsky to round out the the films Casablanca-like cast. There's also Eduardo Ciannelli as Portuguese Army Colonel Almeida who's out to get Vincent, for violating Portuguese immigration laws, before he slips out of the country on his way to the UK. It was Ciannelli who was to play some 15 years later the lovable Greenwich Village jazz bar and nightclub owner Waldo in the TV series "Johnny Staccato".

The Conspirators is often compared to Casablanca. I agree that the latter movie was superior, in many ways. However, I don't think the similarities between these two movies were intentional. It was WWII, look at all the movies made about the war, and you will see numerous and consistent themes.I think this movie stands on its own merits. The cast is good and delivers consistently. Paul Henreid does not have the charisma of Humphrey Bogart, and Ingrid Bergman was always given credit for great performances, that she never quite deserved. She had a clean, fresh faced, innocent appeal, that seem to make people feel she had depth. She was also lucky enough to work with superior directors, and films with better scripts. She was good, but not great; however I loved Anastasia. Hedy Lamarr on the other hand, was so beautiful, that critics would not even consider that she could act. I think she was capable, but was too beautiful to be taken seriously; and I don't think she chose her films wisely.The Conspirators is a good film, with some flaws; but deserves to be considered on its own merits.