The Conspirators - Hedy Lamarr

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

directed by Jean Negulesco
USA 1944

At the end of Casablanca (1942), resistance leader Paul Henreid and his gorgeous wife Ingrid Bergman take off by plane for Lisbon. In The Conspirators (1944), resistance leader Paul Henreid escapes from Holland and arrives in Lisbon, where he joins other members of the underground to fight the Nazis. Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre are also on hand, but otherwise the similarities to Casablanca end there. Instead of Bergman, we have Hedy Lamarr (a ravishing screen presence but not nearly as good an actress), and instead of the magical combination of romance, humor, and first-rate dialogue, we have a noticeably weaker script and story.

Maybe it's unfair to compare any movie to Casablanca, but The Conspirators was made by Warner Bros. specifically to recreate some of the Casablanca magic (and more importantly, the Casablanca box office receipts). It's interesting to see the movie and look at why it didn't really work. It's a handsome production, with great sets, costumes and cinematography, but the characters and story just don't cast a spell.

Excerpt of review from Jeremy Arnold for Turner Classic Movies located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: 11 October 1944 (Bridgeport, Connecticut)

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DVD Review: Warner Home Video (Film Noir Archive Collection) - Region 0 - NTSC

Big thanks to Gregory Meshman for the Review!

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Warner Home Video Region 0 - NTSC
Runtime	1:41:00
Video	1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 5.63 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate
Audio	Dolby Digital Mono (English)
Subtitles	None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Warner Home Video Aspect Ratio: Fullscreen - 1.33:1 Edition Details: • Theatrical trailer (2:42) DVD Release Date: June 19th, 2012 Keep case Chapters 32

Comments

The Conspirators is often compared to Casablanca, but it never reaches the heights of the earlier film and made its home video debut only recently, in June of 2012 as part of Warner Archive's Film Noir Archive Collection with two additional films directed by Jean Negulesco - Nobody Lives Forever and Three Strangers - that have more to do with film noir than this espionage wartime drama.

The new progressive transfer from Warner has some marks and specs and can be soft at times, but overall this is very fine presentation. The contrast is good and problematic ending in the fog registers well despite some grain (see the last capture). The mono soundtrack is good and a theatrical trailer is included as an extra. A recommended release, just be warned to leave the expectation of the second Casablanca at the door before viewing the film.

- Gregory Meshman

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