Almas de fuego

In order to counter the unbelievably negative previous review I shall first disagree with ALL of the "I spy" review.

Jean Negulesco (Humoresque) directs an all-star cast in "The Conspirators", a truly remarkable film, and a MUST SEE!! This film resembles "Casablanca" in that it has much of its feel--the cast, setting (WWII Portugal), romantic music, this film has it all! Strangely enough, this film bears some similarity to Hedy Lamarr's life in Germany before her escape. She worked extensively against the Nazi's. The fact that she was to be cast in Casablanca instead of Ingrid Bergman goes to show that the chemistry between Paul Henreid was definitely strong. Unfortunately, Lamarr was not able to take the role so it was given to Bergman.

Lamarr's enigma-like qualities is trademark of her style and adds to the film's appeal.

Henreid is in his own element here and the man he was hinted at being in Casablanca comes to life.

Sentimentality evidently fails to appeal to everyone. However, I will conclude with stating how much the messages this film carries appeal to me--the love story filled with strife, as well as fighting against all odds whatever the cost.

This is not a sequel to "Casablanca" but quite a different story with totally different circumstances. The main thing here is perhaps the music, since the Portuguese "Fado" culture plays an important part here. The "Fado" songs of Portugal are always overbearingly melancholy, and they are usually about love and death - one of them is a kind of figurehead to this intrinsic plot of extremely complicated machinations, since so many nations are involved in it - there are, besides the Portuguese, mainly policemen, also Germans, Poles, French, a flying Dutchman, and the main target is England, where some number are trying to get away to, one getting murdered for it. Hedy Lamarr is as shiningly beautiful as ever and steals the whole film, while Paul Henreid acts the more although in her shadow, which he is honest enough to confess himself. Peter Lorre has too small a part like Sidney Greenstreet, who always fills the screen but here not enough although well enough after his very late arrival. Max Steiner fills the background with splendid music as usual, so there is actually nothing mssiing in this muddled up espionage thriller with too many actors crowding on each other, leaving piteously small space for a romance like that in "Casablanca". Hedy Lamarr is no Ingrid Bergman, but instead she is Hedy Lamarr. This hotch-potch of late war entertainment in a duck soup of intrigue never really gets serious, but exciting enough in total suspense most of the way, although the script has some flaws, but the dialogue, cinematography and direction are magnificent. Paul Henreid's prison companion deserves some special attention and credit of sympathy, having been there for 18 years with his broom and staying there.

You know that Warner Brothers - once they have their hands on a hot property, they slice it, dice it, and put it in the Mixmaster. Just look at the three versions of "The Maltese Falcon." Now it's wartime, and that hot property is, of course "Casablanca." In "The Conspirators," part of that magnificent cast is reunited - Paul Henried, Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre - in this story of a Dutch freedom fighter, Vincent Van der Lyn, in neutral Lisbon and having trouble figuring out who wants to help him and who wants to hurt him. The suspects are Greenstreet, the head of a resistance group, Lorre, one of its members, and the exquisite Hedy Lamarr, married to a Nazi official.

The story is harder to follow and ultimately, the film is not as good as "Joan of Paris," another World War II film starring Henried, but it still has great atmosphere and is fairly intriguing. There just isn't enough of Greenstreet or Lorre, one of the great screen teams. Paul Henried, a very useful actor during World War II while the stars were away, does a good job as Van der Lyn. Lamarr is positively outrageously beautiful - no, she's not much of an actress - it's a face made for the closeup, and one can just look at her forever. What she brings is a certain enigmatic quality, probably by default, but who cares.

If this pops up on TCM, you won't be sorry you saw it, but you won't be swept away either.

Others have commented on the (same) awesome cast, many from Casablanca, so I won't spend much time on that. Begins in the netherlands, where Van der Lyn (Henreid) must get from netherlands to portugal quickly to escape. When he arrives, the germans (and others) take notice of him. He meets up with Irene (Hedy Lamarr), who seems friendly enough, but in wartime, one is never sure who they can trust. Van der Lyn hooks up with a rebel group of the underground, and gets caught up in one of their adventures (recover the eagle!) on the way to his own mission. He spends the rest of the film trying to figure out who to trust... and i guess that's the reality for a spy during wartime. It's entertaining enough. Henreid made this right after Casablanca. Directed by Jean Negulesco.

All the ingredients that made CASABLANCA such a mega-hit are present in THE CONSPIRATORS, but not one of the ingredients is able to put the film over the top as a story of intrigue, espionage and romance.

What's surprising is that the film fails to sustain interest despite a great supporting cast that includes PETER LORRE, SYDNEY GREENSTREET and VICTOR FRANCEN. Also surprising is the fact that it's directed by Jean Negulesco, who did such a brilliant job on the direction of JOHNNY BELINDA. The script is a talky, muddled bit of contrivances and clichés, with Henried as a Dutch freedom fighter in Lisbon clashing with the Nazis and falling under the spell of a beautiful woman who guards her secrets.

HEDY LAMARR is lovely, of course, but her characterization is so paper-thin that all we can really see is her exotic glamor, without much passion or feeling below the make-up. Nor is PAUL HENRIED seen at his best, more remote than usual in what should have been a much stronger role but is dulled by a witless script and a co-star with whom he has very little chemistry.

The convoluted plot doesn't give the supporting actors much to do and it's somewhat of a relief when the story comes to downbeat ending.