Les conspirateurs

Hedy Lamarr is never more beautiful and it is always a pleasure to see Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre together. The story line is fairly good for the era but the on-screen results disappoint. The movie is justifiably compared with the much much better Casablanca. Paul Henreid is escaping from the Nazis in neutral Lisbon. Hedy, Sydney, and Peter all offer help but there are complications. Conspirators abound -- who is to be trusted? All is revealed an a too predictable ending. See this film as an example of movie making during the war or to round out your viewing of its cast. On the other hand, my wife loved it! Go figure.

A fine cast throughout. Lorre, Greenstreet, Lamarr, Heinreid. I had even heard of this film before I saw it on Turner Classic Movies. It is certainly not in the class of Casablanca, but it is an excellent WWII thriller. Yes, Lamarr shines in every scene she is in. In fact, she is the main reason to watch this film. She is never more beautiful than in this film, and she certainly is one of the film beauties of all time. But Heinreid is perfect for the lead. It is a bit melodramatic, but we should remember the times when this film was made. The plot is complicated, and this is not a film to "sample" -- the writing is fine, but with few memorable quotes. The black and white photography is excellent. All in all, an excellent film of its type. I recommend it.

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.

The greatness of this film lies in its ability to make you feel absorbed in the story, characters' lives, and outcomes. Negulesco's masterful direction and the excellent cast's strong delivery leaves you wanting to follow every move and hear every word.

There is also a nice variety of scenes throughout that engage you in the complexities of the characters' thoughts and lives. It adds to the sense of anxiety they felt during the war, even in neutral Portugal. Through Henreid's early anti-German sabotage in the Netherlands, music at Café Império in Lisbon, barroom conversations and back alley meet-ups, everything feels and moves perfectly, adding depth to the story. No scene, word, or movement is ever out of place.

The entire movie was interesting and enjoyable and I watched it several times in 1 week. Isn't one hallmark of a high quality movie the need to watch it several times to pick up all the nuances? Even so, I never felt like it was on repeat.

One final note - the picture is a little dark, so I increased the screen brightness and turned off the lights in the room and that helped. Also, wish it were available in HD, but otherwise highly recommend!

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.