Conflict

Conflict is a 1945 American black-and-white suspense film noir made by Warner Brothers. It was directed by Curtis Bernhardt, produced by William Jacobs from a screenplay by Arthur T. Horman and Dwight Taylor, based on the story The Pentacle by Alfred Neumann and Robert Siodmak. It starred Humphrey Bogart, Alexis Smith, and Sydney Greenstreet. The film is the only pairing of Bogart and Greenstreet of the five in which they acted together where Bogart rather than Greenstreet is the villain or corrupt character. There is also a cameo appearance of the Maltese Falcon statue. Plot On the surface, Richard and Kathryn Mason appear to be a happily married couple. But on their fifth wedding anniversary, Kathryn accuses Richard of having fallen in love with her younger sister, Evelyn Turner, who is visiting them. He does not deny it, but has resigned himself to leaving things as they are, since Kathryn certainly would not give him a divorce. Kathryn knows he knows it, and derides him further. At a party celebrating the couple's anniversary, hosted by family friend and psychologist Dr. Mark Hamilton, Evelyn meets with Mark's handsome young colleague, Professor Norman Holdsworth. On the way home Kathryn slyly mentions to Evelyn that their mother is lonely, knowing that Evelyn will feel obligated to move back home. Angered, Richard crashes their car and suffers a broken leg. Richard decides to take desperate action. He pretends to require a wheelchair even after his leg has healed. His puzzled physician, Dr. Grant, diagnoses the problem as psychological, not physical, and suggests exercise, so a car trip to a mountain resort is arranged. At the last minute, Richard contrives to stay home to finish some work. Going on ahead, Kathryn stops by Hamilton's home and asks him to check in on Richard. Resuming her journey, Kathryn comes upon an abandoned parked car blocking the narrow, deserted mountain road. Unexpectedly, Richard walks threateningly out of the fog. The audience is left to imagine him killing her. Next he pushes her car down a steep slope; it dislodges some logs which crash down and hide it. He returns home in time to set up an alibi by meeting with an employee he had summoned to finish the work. In his presence he twice phones the resort, only to be told she has not arrived. He then notifies the police that she is missing.