Conflict

As history has shown, whether playing good guy or villain, Bogart plus a fantastic plot makes for outstanding film noir. In Curtis Bernhardt’s dreamy Conflict, Bogart plays the putative happily married Dick Mason who has fallen in love with his wife Kathryn’s (Rose Hobart) younger sister Evelyn (Alexis Smith). Confronted by Kathryn on their fifth anniversary, he admits his attraction to Evelyn, and when Kathryn makes it clear divorce is out of the question, Dick’s only option is to make her disappear, but will it be permanent? Conflict is brilliantly plotted, perfectly scored, and effectively directed, a thread of damaged psychology linking key moments and leading up to suspense on a foggy, treacherous mountain road. Illusions battle with reality, which gives the film a halcyon luster which even Bogart’s reliably down-to-earth presence can’t fully escape.