Product Details

• Actors: Humphrey Bogart, Alexis Smith, Sydney Greenstreet, Rose Hobart, Charles Drake
• Directors: Curtis Bernhardt
• Writers: Alfred Neumann, Arthur T. Horman, Dwight Taylor, Robert Siodmak
• Producers: Jack L. Warner, William Jacobs
• Format: Black & White, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM (Warner)
• VHS Release Date: September 1, 1998
• Run Time: 86 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302375819
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #260,328 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Classy crime thriller that really keeps you guessing May 28, 2003

By Simon Davis

Format:VHS Tape

"Conflict", starring the always excellent Humphrey Bogart is often dismissed as minor league noir and a fairly ordinary entry in Bogart's sterling collection of film performances. On the contrary I've always found it terrific entertainment that really keeps you guessing and asking questions right up to the final frame. It is a most handsome production with all of Warner Bros. expertise on show in the overall look and feel of the piece and in the excellent performances by the male and female cast members in this story of murder, deceit and mystery.

The film begins with the fifth wedding anniversary for affluent married couple engineer Richard Mason and his wife Katherine (Humphrey Bogart and Rose Habart). To the outside world they appear to be the perfect married couple with everything in life, however in reality Richard is most unhappy with his critical demanding wife and is secretly in love with her alluring younger sister Evelyn (Alexis Smith),who also has strong feelings for Richard. Resulting from a car accident the night of the party where Richard breaks a leg but from which Katherine walks away without a scratch, Richard has time to consider his unsatisfying marital situation and hatches an elaborate plan to do away with his shrewish wife and replace her with her younger sister. Pretending to be confined to a wheelchair when in actual fact he is now able to walk with the aid of a cane, Richard executes a supposedly fool proof murder plan. He pretends to plan a trip away with Katherine to a remote mountain resort and at the last minute on the pretext of work has her go on ahead. He then drives via a shorter route to a mountain pass and there waits for and then murders Katherine, pushing her car over the side of the mountain.... He then quickly returns home and resumes the role of the chair bound invalid. What was supposedly the perfect crime soon becomes a living nightmare as strange things begin to happen that seem to indicate that perhaps Katherine is not dead at all. Her perfume is smelt in the house, jewelry she wore the night of the murder begins to turn up, a pawn ticket signed by Katherine is mailed to him and Richard thinks he sees Katherine walking in the street and then disappearing without trace into a strange house. Richard begins to question his sanity and eventualy his uncertainity about whether his murder plan was successful drives him back to the scene of the crime where all is revealed and the truth comes out!

Directed with suitable flair by veteran director Curtis Bernhardt and based on a short story by Robert Siodmak and Alfred Neumann, "Conflict", is a riverting little murder mystery that benefits greatly from the writing and four lead performances. Bogart is excellent as Richard Mason in a rather unlikeable role and is particulary good in the scenes where he sets up the deception and where the strange return of his wife seemingly from the grave begins to unhinge his tortured guilt ridden mind. This film reunites him with his "Maltese Falcon" costar the superb Sydney Greenstreet in a great performance as family friend Dr. Mark Hamilton who is the one who discovers the clue as to what actually happened on the night of the murder. Rose Hobart in a rare 1940's role is excellent in the small but telling part of murder victim Katherine Mason who might or might not be dead. Her's is not a likeable character and her few scenes with Bogart reveal her as a grating and demanding person responsible for always belittling Richard while of course still not deserving the fate she endures. Alexis Smith provides her usual glamourous presence to the role of Evelyn Turner, Katherine's younger sister who finds herself embroiled in the family complications. But as always in his films Bogart is the life and soul of the production. Menacing while showing a certain vulnerability and uneasiness with what he has done, he turns an unlikeable character into someone you do find yourself caring for. That is the sign of a truly great actor.

"Conflict", may not be in the top draw of Bogie classics but it is a very enjoyable little murder mystery that stays in the mind long after seeing it. Warners spared no expense in bringing it to the screen and what we have is 80 minutes of terrific entertainment with character work as could only be done with such finesse in Hollywood's golden age. Enjoy the murderous marital goings on in Warner Bros. noir classic "Conflict". Read more ›

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars My Favorite Bogart Movie March 19, 2009

By C. Mathieu

Format:VHS Tape

I simply can't believe that all previous reviewers only give 3 or 4 stars for "Conflict". It's such a thrilling and brilliant movie, at least as good as "Dark Passage", my other favorite Bogart film. And after having watched more than 95% of all Bogart movies, I seriously think that "Conflict" and "Dark Passage" are a lot better than "The Big Sleep" or "The Maltese Falcon" even though those are considered his best, but I still prefer Conflict & Dark Passage by far! I just find their plots so much more fascinating.
10 stars.

For years and years I was wondering why "Conflict" (and another film noir with Brian Donlevy called "Nightmare" (1942)) are not available on DVD and also are never on TCM. So I finally bought both of them at ioffer.com and I'm happy to have them now at home. It's such a shame that only one third (and not necessarily the best third!) from all old movies ever produced is available on DVD's.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A Guilty Conscience March 23, 2002

By James L.

Format:VHS Tape

Humphrey Bogart stars as an engineer who has fallen in love with the younger sister of his shrewish wife. Having recovered from a car accident faster than anyone suspects (his wife didn't receive a scratch), the seemingly incapacitated engineer kills his wife on a mountain road while everyone else thinks he's home in a wheelchair. But funny thing is, he starts finding clues that she might not be dead, despite the obvious evidence. Tricks of a guilty mind, or something else ...? Hmmmm. Bogart is pretty good as the wife killer, or at least good enough that you almost feel sorry for him. Alexis Smith is alright as the younger sister, while Rose Hobart is appropriately grating as the late(?) wife. The formidable Sydney Greenstreet is fun as the family friend/psychiatrist. The idea behind the story is a good one, although it is highly improbable. But the dialogue isn't nearly as sharp as it could have been and the characters played by Bogart, Smith, and Hobart aren't likeable or developed enough to be interesting. It's a good premise with a satisfactory climax, but it could have been better.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Very minor league film noir June 30, 2000

By George N. Fabian

Format:VHS Tape

This 1945 offering has Bogey knocking off his wife because he prefers her sister, commiting (he thinks) the perfect crime but.... Mundane dialogue, occasional excursions into soap opera, and bits of dime-store psychology all weigh this opus down. Bogart does the best he can with what he has to work with. This was released after Double Indemnity and near the same time as Murder, My Sweet and Woman in the Window but it is not in the same league with any of them.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Minor noir enlivened by terrific cast January 17, 2010

By Muzzlehatch VINE™ VOICE

Format:VHS Tape

*Spoilers after the first paragraph, beware*

Bogie is the star here, as Richard Mason, an architect in an outwardly-seeming fine marriage to Kathryn (Rose Hobart), but really in love with her younger sister Evelyn (Alexis Smith). The couple have a close friend, a psychology professor (Sydney Greenstreet) who gushes about how happy they are at an anniversary party, and this only makes things worse, especially as Evelyn is present. On the way home from the party, Richard crashes the car. The two women are safe but he injures his leg. While recuperating, he hatches a plot to do away with Kathryn so that he can have Evelyn - despite no evidence that she loves him. He manages to get her killed in another auto accident, but soon finds evidence that she may still be around.

Mason's deteriorating state, and the odd occurrences -- in particular a great sequence in which he follows the apparent ghost or still-living Kathryn from a distance into an empty house -- are the best part of the film, and so I was disappointed that the ending was so abrupt and the spookiness brushed off as deliberate ploys on the part of Greenstreet and the cops, who know that he's guilty but just can't prove it. Ultimately, this is neither hard-boiled enough to be really exciting and compelling, nor dreamlike enough to be unsettling and unnerving - it just doesn't quite hit the key noir qualities for me. Still, Bogart and Greenstreet are solid, and I liked the rather artificial sets which gave it an "anytown" feel -- something that was lost with the location shooting that tends to dominate later noir from about 1947-48 on.

Overall then fairly minor, but as with every film Bogart was in after 1938 or so, it ought to be on DVD.... The VHS looks decent enough if, like me, you can't wait for a better medium. Read more ›