Really Surprised!

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

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.

I remember seeing the film "Conflict" on video back in the early 1990s when the film was part of a Humphrey Bogart collection. My brother warned me that "Conflict" was only a standard film and he was right. The plot and everything else about the film is only routine. It is one of those films where everyone concerned is just going through the motions. Bogart has a strong leading lady in Alexis Smith, she made some good films and was a very capable performer. Sidney Greenstreet offers more solid support in yet another Bogart vehicle and is cast as a decent character for a change. It helps that the film is only on for 83 minutes, otherwise the story would lose all momentum. There isn't much of a twist to the tale, in spite of what some people may think. Watchable but nothing special.

Humphrey Bogart (Richard) is married to Rose Hobart (Katherine) but has the hots for her sister Alexis Smith (Evelyn). Hobart knows this and makes it clear that she will never divorce him. So, Bogart takes an alternative route to dispose of Hobart and give himself a clear run at the sister. However, Hobart doesn't seem to actually go away….I never used to like Humphrey Bogart and couldn't understand why people thought of him so highly. Well, I now get it. I've seen a few more of his films and I find him great entertainment when he plays a bad guy. The rest of the cast are all excellent although I'm not sure about Bogart's taste in women. Alexis Smith over Rose Hobart? I don't think so.The film has a story that keeps you watching with tense scenes as Bogart is plagued by one haunting incident after another that points to one conclusion. But it can't be! Can the dead return? The film reminded me of "Les Diaboliques" although "Conflict" was released 10 years earlier so came first.

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.