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| Conflict - 1945 |
Coming up next is 1945's "Conflict", a story about a married man who is in love with his wife's sister. When he kills his wife in order to be free, strange things start happening to make him doubt his wife's death.
The film's cast includes Humphrey Bogart, Alexis Smith, Sydney Greenstreet, Rose Hobart, Charles Drake, Grant Mitchell, Patrick O'Moore, Ann Shoemaker, Mary Servoss, and Bess Flowers.
Richard and Kathryn Mason are celebrating their fifth wedding anniversary. However, things are far from happy and loving.
Kathryn confronts Richard over his infatuation with her younger sister Evelyn. Richard doesn't deny the accusations.
Kathryn tells Richard that she's not going anywhere and it's no good trying to divorce her. Evelyn would be too loyal and would never countenance a relationship with an ex-brother-in-law.
That evening, their good friend Dr. Mark Hamilton, a noted psychologist, hosts a dinner for them in honor of their anniversary.
Evelyn is a guest at the dinner, and Richard only has eyes for her, much to Kathryn's disgust.
On the way home later that night, Richard loses his temper during an argument with Kathryn. The roads are wet from a heavy rain, and he crashes the car, which results in his being seriously injured. Kathryn walks away without a scratch.
Weeks later, after he is supposed to be healed, Richard finds he's still unable to walk. A consultation with his doctor results in the suggestion that Richard and Kathryn should visit a mountain resort, where a change will do Richard good.
After the doctor leaves, Richard apologizes to Kathryn for the way he treated her before the accident. She replies coldly, "It's funny how virtuous a man can be when he's helpless."
When the arrangements are made and it's time to leave, Richard tells Kathryn she should go up to the resort without him because he has some work he has to do at the house with a co-worker. He will follow her later. Before she leaves town, Kathryn stops over and asks Dr. Hamilton to look in on Mark.
Kathryn makes the long trek on the winding and twisting mountain roads. A stopped car along the way causes her to have to stop her own car.
Looking for the car's owner, she is shocked to see her husband Richard standing there. It turns out he's been able to walk all along. Kathryn is terrified.
Richard strangles Kathryn, and then pushes her car over a ledge, sending it careening down the mountainside. It dislodges some logs and they land on top of the car in a peculiar formation.
Richard then hurries home so he can be there when the news comes that his wife is missing.
With no leads to go on, the police declare her officially missing. Richard tries to get on with his life and begins to spend a lot of time with Evelyn.
Peculiar things begin to happen. Kathryn's cameo ring is found on a pickpocket and returned to Richard. He can't make any sense of it.
At home, Richard can smell some of Kathryn's freshly applied perfume about their bedroom. Subsequent investigation leads him to her key. He opens their safe to discover her wedding ring inside. Richard is thoroughly confused. As far as he knows, she lies dead at the bottom of a mountain under a pile of logs.
To ease the strain he's under, Dr. Hamilton asks Richard, along with Evelyn, to join him for his spring vacation at Rainbow Lake. Both of them agree.
There, Richard continues to spend a lot of time with Evelyn, falling more and more in love with her.
Strange occurrences continue. Richard sees a pile of logs eerily like the one Kathryn's car is buried under. He also receives an untraceable phone call from a "Mrs. Mason".
Later that night, Richard tells Evelyn how he feels about her. He's disappointed that she doesn't return his feelings. He angrily leaves the lodge and returns home.
He receives a letter written in Kathryn's handwriting. Inside is a pawn ticket.
He goes to the pawn shop and discovers that Kathryn's locket has been pawned, apparently by her.
Later, Richard catches a glimpse of Kathryn through a shop window. At least, he thinks it's her. The woman is wearing the exact same outfit that Kathryn was on the day she died. He's thoroughly exasperated when no one believes the things that are happening, even Dr. Hamilton is dubious.
Richard decides that the only thing he can do to calm his mind is to return to the scene of the crime and make sure that Kathryn is really dead.
Richard is shocked to see that Kathryn's body is not in the car. However, staring at him from the other side of the vehicle is Dr. Hamilton, along with the police detective in charge of Kathryn's case.
Dr. Hamilton explains to Richard that he knew pretty early on that Richard killed his wife. However, there was no evidence to prove it. With police assistance, he contrived to drive Richard back to the scene, which proves that he knew what happened to Kathryn all along.
Cast rundown:
Humphrey Bogart...........................................Richard Mason
Alexis Smith..................................................Evelyn Turner
Sydney Greenstreet........................................Dr. Mark Hamilton
Rose Hobart..................................................Kathryn Mason
Charles Drake................................................Prof. Norman Holsworth
Grant Mitchell................................................Dr. Grant
Patrick O'Moore.............................................Det. Lt. Egan
Ann Shoemaker.............................................Nora Grant
Mary Servoss.................................................Landlady
Bess Flowers.................................................Lodge Guest
And that's it for Conflict. Jack L. Warner originally had Joan Crawford in mind to play Kathryn Mason in this first rate film. Crawford read the script and then had her agent relay a message to Warner: "Joan Crawford never dies in her movies, and she never ever loses her man to anyone." The role subsequently went to Rose Hobart. This was the first of two films in which Humphrey Bogart kills or tries to kill his wife to be with Alexis Smith. The other film was "The Two Mrs. Carrolls". The brooch worn by Rose Hobart in the opening scene was also worn by Ingrid Bergman in her opening scene in the movie "Casablanca".
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