Conflict

Summary

“Sometimes a thought can be a malignant disease that starts to eat away the willpower.”

Warner Archive has given Curtis Bernhardt’s 1945 film noir Conflict a Blu-ray release. The film stars Humphrey Bogart in a less sympathetic role as a man who murders his wife in hopes of marrying her sister. Conflict is not as well done as Out of the Past, Double Indemnity, or a number of other great noir pictures that Warner Archive has released, but Conflict is still a pretty solidly crafted film with a number of good qualities. The film pairs Bogart onscreen with frequent collaborator Sydney Greenstreet, so it will appeal to those who enjoyed seeing them together in both The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca. I have an affection for Warner’s noir releases, so I was more than happy to check this movie out.

Richard Mason (Humphrey Bogart) is unsatisfied in his marriage. His wife Kathryn (Rose Hobart) can be somewhat cold towards him or nagging, but she has good reason to be upset with him. She has realized that Richard is infatuated with her little sister Evelyn (Alexis Smith,) and when she confronts Richard he can not deny her allegations. Kathryn would never consider allowing a divorce to take place, which means that Richard is stuck with her until death. Richard not only is infatuated with Evelyn, he also thinks that Evelyn might love him back. Richard and Kathryn have a close friend named Dr. Mark Hamilton (Sydney Greenstreet) who is a psychiatrist. Dr. Hamilton cherishes both of their friendships and considers them to be the model couple (which is pretty funny considering.) Driving back from Dr. Hamilton’s house, Richard and Kathryn are in a car accident. They both survive but Richard struggles to walk on his left leg afterwards. He hatches a plan to kill his wife without drawing suspicion so that he can be with her sister, but after the deed is done Richard begins to question if Kathryn might have survived his plot.

Conflict is an enjoyable if somewhat less memorable film noir. I enjoyed the script’s plot machinations, especially its clever ending and the cold nature of the killing of the wife by the script’s protagonist, but pacing on the picture could have been slightly improved in the middle section. The middle section has possibly one detour too many and with slight trimming could have made the picture much more effective. The best reason to watch the film is Humphrey Bogart’s screen presence. He is dynamite in the film playing a character that the audience should not root for. Richard, even though he is a murderer, is hard to root against given that he is played by Bogart. Rose Hobart is well cast as Kathryn and Alexis Smith is enjoyable (albeit very forgettable) as Evelyn. Sidney Greenstreet does justice to his character, and Charles Drake is fine in the role of a suitor for Evelyn. The direction by Curtis Bernhardt works well within the noir confines. The influence of German Expressionism is evident in the picture because Bernhardt had actually been a film director in Germany for some time before fleeing that country due to his Jewish heritage. His work with cinematographer Merritt B. Gerstad on the picture looks the part. The film works pretty well overall and the Warner Blu-ray is sure to scratch the itch for fans of Bogart and noir of that golden era.

Video

Warner Bros. have done another wonderful job with their transfer of Conflict. Using an MPEG-4 AVC codec of a new 4K restoration in Black and White, Conflict is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1. This film looks really dynamic thanks to solid cinematography in the German Expressionism style by Merritt B. Gerstad under the direction of Curtis Bernhardt. The film looks great on the Blu-ray format and this transfer presents it incredibly well. Grain is well resolved and fine detail is excellent.

Audio

Warner Bros. have provided a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track that sounds very good. Front speakers are used for the entire mix, which is as one would expect. The audio has been cleaned up well and the score by Frederick Hollander comes through nicely.

Supplements:

• Theatrical Trailer
• Merrie Melodies Shorts
  • Life With Feathers
  • Trap Happy Porky
• Vitaphone / Variety Shorts -.
  • Peeks at Hollywood
  • Are Animals Actors?
• Theater of Romance – in this 9/11/45 radio adaptation of Conflict, Humphrey Bogart reprises his role.

Overall Scores:

Video – 4.75/5

Audio – 4.25/5

Supplements – 2.5/5

Overall – 4/5

Conflict is a well made film noir from Curtis Bernhardt that benefits from expressionistic cinematography and a solid lead performance from Humphrey Bogart. The picture is less memorable than some of Warner Archive’s other exceptional film noir releases, but it still has plenty aspects that fans of the genre will enjoy. Warner Archive’s release of Conflict brings the very best out of the film elements with a great looking video presentation from a 4K transfer and a solid mono track. Fans of the film will be thrilled to add it to their collection.

The film can be purchased at www.moviezyng.com.