Stubs - Conflict

Conflict (1945) Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Alexis Smith, Sydney Greenstreet, Rose Hobart, Charles Drake, Grant Mitchell, Patrick O'Moore, Ann Shoemaker, Frank Wilcox, James Flavin Directed by Curtis Bernhardt. Screenplay by Arthur T. Horman and Dwight Taylor. Produced by William Jacobs. Run Time: 86 minutes. USA Black and White, Suspense, Mystery, Film Noir

Humphrey Bogart may arguably be the greatest star from Hollywood’s studio years, but like many other actors, he didn’t always get to make the film he wanted to. Case in point, Conflict (1945). Bogart did not like the script so much that he had to be threatened, by Jack L. Warner with suspension if he didn’t appear in the film. Bogart’s protest went so far that he didn’t report to work when ordered to on May 3, 1943. However, when production did begin on June 15 of that year, he was on set and ready to go.

Production lasted until August 25, 1943, but the film was not released until June 30, 1945, nearly two years later. The cause was a lawsuit filed over the story which delayed the film’s release. Warner Bros. must have been so concerned that they put into production a very similar story called The Two Mrs. Carrolls that went into production in April 1945 with a similar plotline and starring Bogart and his co-star here, Alexis Smith in similar roles. That film would also get shelved for two years, not getting a release until May 24, 1947. By then, Bogart was a romantic lead.

Conflict, originally called The Pentacle, opens with a handwritten note from Dr. Mark Hamilton (Sydney Greenstreet), a friend and psychologist, reminding Kathryn (Rose Hobart) and Richard Mason (Humphrey Bogart) that they’re going to be celebrating their fifth wedding anniversary at his house.

As they're getting ready for their anniversary party, Kathryn (Rose Hobart)
confronts her husband Richard (Humphrey Bogart) about his fascination with her sister Evelyn,

But all is not happy between the couple and it flares up as they’re getting ready for the party. Kathryn is a bit of a nag but that seems to roll off Richard’s back. However, their real bone of contention is that Kathryn thinks Richard is in love with her younger sister, Evelyn Turner (Alexis Smith). The two quarrel about that but do go to the party together.

Richard hangs on every word Evelyn says at the party.

Evelyn is at the party and just as Kathryn predicts, Richard hangs on her every word. Meanwhile, during a discussion of psychology, Hamilton explains that a thought can be a malignant disease and it is his job to help a patient get rid of that thought. He adds that love, not money, is the root of all evil. His job, he explains is to help a patient get rid of that thought.

Also at the party is a young professor, Norman Holsworth (Charles Drake) who is interested in Evelyn and whom all the other partygoers encourage their coupling, that is everyone except Richard.

The Masons and Evelyn leave to drive home in a driving rain. Kathryn tells Evelyn that their mother wants her to return home as soon as possible. Richard, who doesn’t want Evelyn to leave, loses control of the car and crashes. While Kathryn and Evelyn come through with only minor injuries, Richard suffers a broken leg.

Richard and Kathryn give Evelyn (Alexis Smith) a ride home that ends in an accident.

By the time Richard’s leg should be healed, he insists that he cannot stand on it or walk. Dr. Grant (Grant Mitchell) tells Richard that it is all in his head. He recommends swimming in warm water, which leads Richard to suggest to Kathryn that they go to a mountain resort. 

Dr. Grant (Grant Mitchell) doesn't understand why Richard can't walk.

On the day that they are to leave, Richard’s work, he owns an engineering company, prevents him from leaving but he encourages Kathryn to go ahead without him, promising to join her the next day, even if it means recalling their butler Phillips (Edwin Stanley) back from his own vacation.

Business prevents Richard from leaving with Kathryn on their vacation.

On her way out of town, Kathryn stops at Dr. Hamilton’s house. He’s out gardening and presents her with one of his prize roses. She asks him to check-in on Richard in the morning, since he has work to do. The good doctor agrees and then puts the rose into her suit coats buttonhole.

The mountain road is winding and it doesn’t help that the fog has come in as well. She takes a particular road and several miles from the lodge, there is a car blocking the road. There is a man standing to the side of the road in the shadows. Kathryn is about to back up and go the other way when Richard steps out and calls her name. Kathryn is both happy and scared to see Richard there.

Richard waits in the shadows for Kathryn on a mountain road.

While we don’t actually see him do it, it is clear that Richard kills her. After gathering up some of her things that had fallen out of her purse, Richard releases the brakes on her car and pushes the car down a steep ravine. As the car rolls back, it hits a neatly stacked row of logs, which follow the car over the edge and crush it under the weight.

Having killed Kathryn, Richard releases the brake on her car and pushes it over a cliff.

Richard establishes his alibi by meeting with a business associate, Robert Freston (Frank Wilcox) and feigning to worry about Kathryn calling the lodge several times during the night.  Dr. Hamilton telephones as Kathryn had asked him to do and when Richard tells him that she is missing, the doctor suggests calling the Highway Patrol. When he gets off the phone, he calls the police to institute a search.

Dr. Hamilton (Syndey Greenstreet) listens to Richard tell the police everything
 he remembers about the last time he saw Kathryn.

Dr. Hamilton is present when the police come to Richard’s house. Richard remembers great details about how Kathryn was dressed, from the color of her suit to the rose she wore on the lapel of her jacket. A highway patrolman comes by to say they’ve found nothing, even that they searched both roads leading up to the mountain resort.

Evelyn and Richard listen to a hobo explain how he ended up with Kathryn's ring.

Richard also notifies Evelyn, who comes to stay with him while he waits for news on Kathryn. While having dinner with the omnipresent Dr. Hamilton, the police call to say that they have arrested a hobo who had tried to pawn Kathryn’s distinctive cameo ring. Richard, Evelyn and Dr. Hamilton head down to police headquarters and hear the hobo’s tale about getting the items through pickpocketing a woman’s purse. The woman he describes sounds very much like Kathryn.

Back at the house, Richard smells Kathryn’s perfume in their bedroom and discovers her key to their safe on his desk. He opens the safe and finds her wedding ring inside. This prompts him to frantically call the police.

Richard and Evelyn relax up at the lake.

Dr. Hamilton suggests that Richard and Evelyn accompany him to the mountains for some fishing. Richard is happy to be there with Evelyn but Hamilton also invites Professor Norman Holdsworth to join them.

The operator tells Richard that she thought the caller said she was Mrs. Mason.

While having dinner with Dr. Hamilton, Richard is called away to take a phone call. The operator insists that she tells him is from Mrs. Mason, however, when he picks up the phone, there is no one there.

Norman Holsworth (Charles Drake) proposes to Evelyn who turns him down.

Meanwhile, Norman proposes to Evelyn but she turns him down. While they're talking, Richard interrupts them accidentally, on purpose.

Richard tells Evelyn how she feels about her. She doesn't feel the same.

Later, Richard tells Evelyn how he really feels about her. He insists that she rejected Norman because she returns his love, which Evelyn vehemently denies.

Richard goes through his mail and finds a pawn ticket in an envelope from his dead wife.

Richard returns to his office for a day, where his personal mail is waiting for him. There is a letter addressed in Kathryn's handwriting, which he confirms by comparing it to an autographed photo of her on his desk.  Inside the envelope is a pawn ticket He takes the ticket to a pawnshop, where a tall clerk (Oliver Blake) assists him in finding Kathryn's gold locket. In the ledger is Kathryn’s signature.  But the broker refuses to give him the locket since he’s not the one who pawned it.

At the pawnshop, clerk (Oliver Blake) shows Richard Kathryn's signature in the ledger and the locket she pawned.

Richard goes to the police and takes one of the detectives back to the pawnshop. However, the locket is no longer in the case, and the pawnbroker (Harlan Briggs) denies Richard's story. When the police don’t prove to be any help in finding his wife, he hires, at Dr. Hamilton’s insistence, a handwriting expert, who will verify if the writing on the envelope belongs to his wife.

Dr. Hamilton helps Richard find a handwriting expert who verifies its is Kathryn's handwriting.

Back at the resort, Richard finds Evelyn is ready to go home to her mother. He insists on driving her to the train station. As they are pulling out of the resorts parking lot, a bellhop runs out to tell Richard that he has a phone call. Returning to the lodge he takes a call from Dr. Hamilton who confirms that the handwriting belongs to Kathryn. Dr. Hamilton tells Richard that Kathryn must still be alive. 

Richard seems devastated by the news. On the way back to the car, he runs into Holdsworth, who is shaken by Evelyn’s refusal to marry him. Richard encourages him to try again, telling him that he’ll find Evelyn out in his car.

Back in town, while buying suitcases, an action never explained, Richard sees a woman through the shop window who looks a lot like Kathryn and follows after her.  Slowed by his cane, he can never make up the ground between them and she disappears into an apartment house. He follows her to the unit, flat, that she went into but no one answers his knocks.  The owner (Mary Servoss) of the apartment building informs him that the flat is empty and unrented. She gladly shows it to him upon his request. After searching every closet and room, Richard turns on her but she feigns not to know about the woman he saw enter.

From there, thinking he’s going mad, Richard goes to Hamilton's office to seek advice. The doctor tells him that there is nothing he can do for him.

Richard returns to the scene of the crime.

Now distraught, Richard drives back to the scene of the crime. The pile of logs is still on the car, so Richard climbs down the mountain. While searching with a flashlight, he hears Dr. Hamilton tell him that Kathryn’s not here. With the doctor are the police and Richard is arrested for Kathryn’s murder. Richard seems relieved that the ordeal is over.

Dr. Hamilton and the police have worked together to gaslight Richard into confessing to the crime.

Dr. Hamilton explains that he knew Richard was lying from the start when he said Kathryn was wearing a rose when she left the house since Hamilton had given her after she’d left. The police found Kathryn's body the day after the murder, but because there was no proof of Richard's guilt, they agreed to stage Hamilton's trap and let Richard's own fears prove his guilt.

This film, like so many other film noirs, is flawed. Dark storylines and deep shadows don’t make up for the problems that are apparent in Conflict. To begin with, there are problems with the story. Not only is a little hard to believe that Richard could get ahead of Kathryn on the mountain road or know for sure which route she was going to take. Also, he has to get back home before everyone else to set up his alibi, which is another time defying feat.

Richard would have to know there is no guarantee that he could actually kill her by strangulation. I’m not sure why Kathryn couldn’t have driven away or run away from him, after all, he is burdened with a cane. The only way he could have been certain to kill her would be to shoot her which we’re lead to believe he doesn’t do.

Also, it is hard to believe the police would go along with Dr. Hamilton’s gaslight scheme, which itself is a little far-fetched especially since Richard could have just skipped out of the country rather than play along.

And why would Richard, who had thought everything out, give himself away by bringing up something he must have known Kathryn wasn’t wearing when she left the house? Agreed, he wouldn’t have necessarily known she’d gotten the rose from Dr. Hamilton but if he was so careful why give himself away so easily?

I can see why Bogart was reluctant to play the lead in this film. He must have felt he had moved past these sorts of roles, especially having made it to romantic lead in Casablanca (1942). He shows his disdain by sort of sleepwalking through the role. It doesn’t feel like you get a fully engaged Bogart here.

Alexis Smith has very little to do as Evelyn except to look pretty. There isn’t much more to her character than that. There were better roles for her to come.

Sydney Greenstreet almost made a career out of playing opposite of Humphrey Bogart on film having appeared in The Maltese Falcon (1941), Across the Pacific (1942), Casablanca (1942), Passage to Marseille (1944) and this film a year later. Greenstreet has been better as well.

All that said, there are a couple of really good images in the film. I’m thinking of the image of Richard standing off the road in the trees and the fog. It is an iconic look with Bogart in trench coat and fedora. And there is the car accident itself, which I don’t believe I’ve seen depicted this way before on film. Very visceral for the viewer.

The car crash in the film is very visceral.

But those few bright spots aren’t enough to save the film. If you’re a Bogart fan, like me, you want to see everything he’s ever made but this sort of feels like a step backward for the famed actor in his career. If you want to see Bogart and Greenstreet together, their other collaborations are much better.

Be sure to check out our Film Noir Review Hub for reviews of other films in this genre.