clanciai This is an intriguing psychological drama with apparent supernatural elements which however prove perfectly natural. The spider in the web is Sydney Greenstreet, Humphrey Bogart being entirely at his mercy without even being aware of it. The tangle gets constantly further messed up, until finally everything is settled because of an innocent rose. Alexis Smith is here in one of her early roles, always stylish and making an absolutely convincing character, although her character here is not very interesting. Humphrey is the greatest actor here and steals the show entirely, while the audience, like himself, gets constantly more confused. We never see the murder being committed, no dead body is ever shown, so it's only natural to assume that the victim somehow got away. Well, if that really was the case, the target certainly got away with a vengeance. Least suspicious of all you must be of the kind old doctor Sydney Greenstreet, while he actually is the one who Humphrey should suspicious of.A great intelligent crime plot, actually originated by Robert Siodmak.

bsmith5552 "Conflict" is one of Humphrey Bogart's lesser known films sandwiched between two of his best, "To Have and To Have Not" and "The Big Sleep". It is nonetheless, an enjoyable noir mystery.There is murder, deception and mystery. We have a love triangle involving Richard Mason (Bogey), his wife Kathryn (Rose Hobart) and Kathryn's younger sister Evelyn (Alexis Smith). A murder takes place and the murderer is satisfied that the perfect crime has been committed. But has it? What incriminating evidence did the murderer overlook? Is the murder victim really dead? Family friend Dr. Mark Hamilton (Sydney Greenstreet) seems to know more about the crime that he's letting on.Directed by Curtis Berhardt, the film is a fine example of 40s "film noir". It has all of the elements of the genre...dark shadows, night scenes, femme fatales and mystery. Although the identity of the murderer is known, the rest of the film is devoted to the question of whether or not the murder will be the perfect crime...or not.Bogey is well, Bogey playing the lead character with his usual conviction. And any teaming of he and the venerable Sydney Greenstreet is worth the price of admission alone. Their exchanges and knowing glances are at the heart of the story.An entertaining little film.

robert-temple-1 This is an excellent film noir, featuring a very pert and pretty Alexis Smith as the object of a nasty Humphrey Bogart's lustful obsessions. Good old Sydney Greenstreet is as jolly and quietly scheming as ever. Regarding Smith, who is his sister-in-law, Bogart has 'gotta have her' but has not bothered to ask her first how she feels about that. Not waiting for such trivial information as what anyone else thinks, he hastens to commit 'the almost-perfect murder' of his wife so that he can be free to pursue his fantasy relationship with her sister. Greenstreet notices the giveaway-clue but with his poker face says nothing. This is all good vintage Hollywood stuff. The film was directed by German refugee Curtis Bernhardt, who fled the Gestapo and became one of Hollywood's many Germans, along with Fritz Lang and all the others. The next year, he directed the famous Bette Davis film A STOLEN LIFE. Robert Siodmak, another well-known émigré German director of noirs, wrote the original story for this one. Good expressionist angst.

madmonkmcghee On their fifth wedding anniversary a man and wife find out their marriage is a big mistake, and he's convinced her sister is in love with him. If only he wasn't already married.....Since this is a thriller he does the logical thing and pushes his wife off a mountain cliff. But then he gets signs that she may still be alive. Is he losing his mind or is he just a sloppy killer? The whole movie hinges on the fact that the viewer must choose either option as being true. Unless there's a third option, and just about anybody who has ever seen or read a mystery story will figure out soon enough what that is. Oh yes, Sydney Greenstreet's character is a psychiatrist, now what on earth would that have to do with any of this? I wonder...... Apart from the rather obvious plot there's isn't much suspense to make this an effective thriller.Bogart's character seems more annoyed than scared by any of the strange goings-on, like finding his dead wife's jewelry in her safe. And when he finds out his wife's sister rejects him, so the whole murder was in vain he's more unpleasantly surprised than shocked. The ending can't really come as a surprise to anyone. This movie is not without merit, and Bogart and Greenstreet are worth seeing in any movie, but i had higher hopes for this.