Conflict Blu-ray - Humphrey Bogart, Sydney Greenstreet, Alexis Smith

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

(aka "The Pentacle")

Directed by Curtis Bernhardt
USA 1945

Conflict is a love triangle with murder at its heart, an atmospheric film noir of rainy nights, looming shadows, fatal romance and a trench-coated killer that walks out of the mist -- all directed by Curtis Bernhardt, a filmmaker skilled in the Expressionistic style of his native Germany. The story embraces the perfect noir topic: the almost-perfect crime. Humphrey Bogart portrays Richard Mason, married to nagging Katherine but in love with her sunny sister. Shortly after a fifth-year wedding celebration at the home of a friend, Richard decides to remove the obstacle to his happiness. He kills Katherine, carefully leaving no evidence of his guilt. Or at least he thinks he killed her- until mysterious events cause Richard to fear Katherine is very much alive!

***

Bogart is Richard Mason, successful engineer, just celebrating five years of marriage to Kathryn (Rose Hobart). Underneath the veneer of this idyllic marriage, however, the Masons’ relationship has degenerated into deep bitterness. Richard is in love with his wife’s younger sister, Evelyn (Alexis Smith), but knows that Kathryn will never grant him his freedom.

When he suffers a broken leg in a car accident, Richard sees a chance to escape his situation: Arranging a vacation at a mountain resort, he persuades his wife to make the long drive alone. That night, Richard intercepts Kathryn on the deserted mountain road and kills her, returning home before he’s missed, and maintaining the pretence that he’s still immobile from his broken leg, by way of an alibi.

As the police search for his apparently missing wife, Richard is free to develop his relationship with Evelyn, but odd things soon start to happen: Richard smells his wife’s perfume at home; he receives mail apparently written by her, and then thinks he sees her walk by on the street. He begins to ask himself, is Kathryn still alive - or is something else sinister afoot? With the help of psychiatrist pal Dr Mark Greenwood (Sydney Greenstreet), Richard tries to solve the puzzle, without revealing his own guilt in the process…

Excerpt of review from Dave G at Film Noir of the Week located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: May 13th, 1945

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Review: Warner Archive - Region FREE - Blu-ray

Box Cover		CLICK to order from: Bonus Captures:
Distribution	Warner Archive - Region FREE - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:26:05.618
Video	1.37:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 34,964,225,174 bytes Feature: 24,940,566,528 bytes Video Bitrate: 34.88 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate Blu-ray:
Audio	DTS-HD Master Audio English 1779 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1779 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Subtitles	English (SDH), None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Warner Archive 1.37:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 34,964,225,174 bytes Feature: 24,940,566,528 bytes Video Bitrate: 34.88 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • Theatrical Trailer (2:03) • Life With Feathers (7:42) • Trap Happy Porky (6:52) • Peeks at Hollywood (8:56) • Are Animals Actors? (14:11) • Theater of Romance-9/11/1945 (24:50) Blu-ray Release Date: September 24th, 2024 Standard Blu-ray Chapters 25

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Warner Archive Blu-ray (October 2024): Warner Archive have transferred Curtis Bernhardt's Conflict to Blu-ray. Gregory reviewed the 2012 Warner DVD over a decade ago HERE. We've compared captures below and this new 1080P has had a restoration removing the scratches and marks on the SD rendering. There is more information in the 1.37:1 frame - notably the right edge. It has more layered contrast and is a welcome upgrade. It is on a dual-layered disc with a max'ed out bitrate.

NOTE: We have added 82 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Warner Archive use a DTS-HD Master dual-mono track (24-bit) in the original English language. Conflict has a two fairly aggressive car accidents but no gunfire. It's a more passive film, audio-wise, than you might anticipate. The score was by Friedrich Hollaender (Desire, The Man in Search of His Murderer, The Bride Wore Boots, Bluebeard's Eight Wife, Angel, The Great McGinty, Christmas in Connecticut, Caught, Berlin Express, Background to Danger, The Verdict, A Foreign Affair) adding to the building tension effectively in the lossless transfer. Warner Archive offer optional English (SDH) subtitles on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

The Warner Archive Blu-ray offers a theatrical trailer, two cartoons; Life With Feathers and Trap Happy Porky plus the nine-minute comedy-short Peeks at Hollywood about two young beautiful starlets use the Griffith Observatory telescope to find stars in Hollywood. Also included is the 1/4 hour short Are Animals Actors? - that looks at various animal acts training and working in Hollywood. Lastly, is the 25-minute radio play "Theater of Romance" from September 11th, 1945 of Conflict with Bogart.

Curtis Bernhardt's Conflict is a delightful Robert Siodmak-penned psychological Noir with Bogie as a guilt-ridden murderer confronting evidence that his victim-wife (Rose Hobart) hasn't really kicked the bucket. Sydney Greenstreet is a quietly sleuthing analyst and Alexis Smith portrays the confused sister only minutely aware of being the object of Bogart's mid-life fantasy. There are similarities to The Two Mrs. Carrolls made a couple of years later - also with Alexis Smith as the distracting object of desire - only the wife-to-go is a deductive Barbara Stanwyck. Conflict has a nervous Bogie in a wheelchair and limping with a cane. That carries a lot of water with Noir fans. An imperfect conclusion but still premium dark cinema and nice to have the necessary a/v upgrade and even some, less relevant, supplements. I am very happy the Warner Archive Blu-ray and this is 'a rewatchable'. I am recommending.