Conflict (1945)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Curtis Bernhardt

Writers:

Arthur T. Horman (writer)
Alfred Neumann (story)

Release Date:

15 June 1945 (USA)

Genre:

Film-Noir | Thriller

Tagline:

SUSPENSE...SUSPICION...MAN-WOMAN DESIRES! (original print ad - all caps)

Plot:

Richard Mason is slightly injured in a car accident but pretends greater hurt so that he cannot accompany his wife Kathryn on a trip to the mountains...

Plot Keywords:

Police | Guilt | Psychological Thriller | Mind Game | Psycho Thriller

Cast

Humphrey Bogart	...	Richard Mason
Alexis Smith	...	Evelyn Turner
Sydney Greenstreet	...	Dr. Mark Hamilton
Rose Hobart	...	Kathryn Mason
Charles Drake	...	Prof. Norman Holsworth
Grant Mitchell	...	Dr. Grant
Patrick O'Moore	...	Det. Lt. Egan (as Pat O'Moore)
Ann Shoemaker	...	Nora Grant
Edwin Stanley	...	Phillips (as Ed Stanley)

Also Known As:

The Pentacle (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Goofs:

Continuity: When Richard sees his wife disappear into an empty apartment, the owner tells him that the place has "redone floors and all new wallpaper", yet every wall is plain paint.

Quotes:

Richard Mason: Doctor, I don't believe in ghosts and I don't believe in the supernatural. I don't believe that people live on in life after they left it. But I saw Kathyrn today or someone who looked like her.
Dr. Mark Hamilton: Where?
Richard Mason: Downtown. She passed me on the street, I followed her but couldn't catch her on account of this leg. She disappeared into an empty house.
Dr. Mark Hamilton: How do you know it wasn't Kathryn?
Richard Mason: Oh but it couldn't be.
Dr. Mark Hamilton: Why couldn't it be?
Richard Mason: Well if it was, why didn't she stop when I called her? Why didn't she speak to me?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Cosby Show: Elvin Pays for Dinner (#6.13)" (1990)

Dull but not noir

Though today, based on such films as Casablanca and the The Maltese Falcon, Humphrey Bogart tends to be regarded as the ultimate 40s hero figure - albeit a hard-bitten hero - in the actual movies of that period he quite often turned up on the wrong side of the law. In this weak murder drama, directed by German emigré Curtis (Kurt) Bernhardt, Bogie plays a middle class man, Richard Mason, who because of a yen for his sister-in-law Evelyn (Alexis Smith), slays his wife (Rose Hobart), but then keeps finding evidence that she is still alive.

The movie contains several of the stock noir themes - mistaken identity, obsession, guilt, (pseudo) psychological analysis and of course the killing itself - but there is insufficient darkness, cynicism and implied sex for it to count as a genuine film noir. (The tango, Jealousy, is used as the main theme music; but it is not clear of its precise relevance in the plot.) A particular flaw is that the writers and director seem unable to make up their mind whether Evelyn should or should not reciprocate Mason's interest in her; and in the end decide to keep her virtue intact. There are also signs that the producers were apprehensive about the movie damaging Bogart's reputation if he played an out-and-out villain, and towards the end of the film Mason seems to be shown in a better light - both metaphorically and literally, as the film closes with sunbeams shining down on him as he is led away by the police!

One of the best reasons for seeing the movie is Sydney Greenstreet's portrayal of a psychologist; not as bravura as his Casablanca and Falcon roles, but still subtle and commanding.