Conflitos d'Alma

Conflict is definitely a disturbing and horrifying psychological thriller. With it's maliciously unnerving mood and heavy, dismal cinematography, the film aspires to achieve an all-new level of anxiety.

It's about a guilt-ridden man - Humphrey Bogart's arguably most sinister role ever - who gradually plunges deeper and deeper into state of a devastating mental illness. Hinting at a thorough psychological evaluation in the beginning, Conflict analyzes how a fearless and brutal man - convinced that he's just killed his innocent wife - is trapped in a vortex of clues, which might lead to a mightily shocking revelation. The more observant viewers might already be able to uncover the whole mystery in the first act, but for those who are in desperate need of a satisfying and suspenseful intrigue Conflict brings a genuinely captivating mystery.

Sydney Greenstreet - with his usual charm, sophisticated mannerism, and most-cheerful laughter - plays the psychoanalyst and a friend to Mr. Bogart. The manner in which he exhibits his impeccable intelligence is the film's most-promising quality. And Bogart, with all his devilish attitude and increasing fear is as convincing (and as stylish and graceful) as he was in Casablanca or The Maltese Falcon.

Conflict is a lesser-known film noir, but it's crucial to note that its mightily clever and disquieting premise - along with a bunch of twisted and deranged sequences - delivers a seriously thrilling melodrama that's not to be argued with.

This may not be one of Bogart's best, in fact not even close to his best....but his pairing with Sidney Greenstreet makes it worth watching. There is something magical about the manner in which these two actors mesh that is seldom seen in film. Bogart is Bogart, always the tight lipped hero or villain with the clipped speech and slight chip on his shoulder. Greenstreet is the jolly fat man who hides behind that facade, either evil or cunning or both. Two actors with different personas which play perfectly against each other. They are seldom on the same side and although initially, in this film, they appear to be, the tables turn as the film progresses. The story is not a new one....man kills wife...or so he thinks....is she dead or isn't she? The ending is fairly predictable but it still holds your interest. Alexis Smith, as the target of Bogart's affections, is tall, coldly beautiful and rather detached....she does not seem vulnerable enough and can't seem to make up her mind about her feelings for Bogart's character. Watch this film for the exchanges between Bogart and Greenstreet...that's what it is all about. They make the rest of it worthwhile.

Richard Mason (Humphrey Bogart) kills his wife Katherine on a remote hill road. With a good alibi he feels it is the perfect crime and plays the role of the concerned husband as the police follow up a missing persons report. However things begin happening that convince Richard that his wife is very much alive.

This is not a classic Bogart role. He is quite good as the murderer who begins to unravel as his crime begins to catch up with him, he quite convincingly gets increasingly frantic during the film as things keeping happening that couldn't happen unless his wife was alive. However it isn't as strong a role as some of his classics. The strongest performance is Sydney Greenstreet as Doctor Hamilton who supports Bogart through his loss.

The story requires on two mysteries to keep your interest - one, is his wife still alive or is he being played by someone with an ulterior motive? and two - will he get away with the murder? As a mystery it doesn't quite grab you as much as it should. The two mysteries are not enough to drive you until the end but are quite entertaining - especially where Bogart believes he is losing his mind when someone plays games with him. But it's not that great a mystery - we know that either she's alive or she's not - the options are limited so the solution doesn't exactly come out of left-field! The ending is therefore not great, although it is clever, in particular finding out the mistake that Bogart made in his otherwise perfect crime. But it's all a bit of an anti-climax and you feel that you suspected as much the whole way through.

A reasonable mystery film but it doesn't have the tension or mystery that it needed to keep it's audience on a knife's edge for the duration

Conflict stars Humphrey Bogart as architect Richard Mason, not in love with his wife (Rose Hobart) and infatuated with her sister Alexis (Evelyn Turner) Events soon take a sinister turn, when Richard hatches a plot to murder his wife on a remote mountain road. Just when he thinks he has committed the perfect crime, things start to happen which plant seeds of doubt in his mind.

Sydney Greenstreet gives a fine performance as a psychologist friend of the Masons who offers useful insights into the criminal mind and gives you food for thought as he voices his opinion on the human psyche.

With good performances all round, this is an atmospheric mystery which will keep you guessing to the end.

Conflict (1945)

*** (out of 4)

Nice thriller about a husband (Humphrey Bogart) who murders his wife because he's in love with her younger sister (Alexis Smith). The husband is in a bad car wreck but he fakes how serious his injury is so he will have an alibi as to why he couldn't be the murderer but soon he starts seeing his wife and begins to fear he might not have killed her. I was pleasantly surprised to see how good this picture was even though some stronger direction would have helped matters. While watching the movie I was entertained every step of the way but at the same time I couldn't help but wonder what this would have been like with someone like Hitchcock behind the camera. What works best are the performances with Bogart leading the way and doing a very fine job in the role of the husband who slowly begins to crack once he realizes he might not have done a very good job in terms of his murder plot. Bogart manages to play the character's nerves quite well and makes the role very believable. Smith was also very good in her role bringing a certain type of innocence that really makes her register with the viewer. He own scenes of doubt over whether she should be falling for her sister's husband were well done. Sydney Greenstreet plays the friend/psychologist who tries to keep Bogart calm throughout the matter. Greenstreet's calm, nurturing voice certainly makes him perfect for the character. The screenplay also works very well as we're given two different mysteries to keep in our mind. The first being whether or not the wife is actually dead or is something more supernatural going on. The second is, if she's dead, will Bogie get away with it. This film really has a lot of elements of a horror film or at least the Val Lewton productions that were being made around this time. This film is quite dark and really fits into that genre so fans of the Lewton films will certainly want to check this out.