Five years in and the marriage fighting gloves are off -- Bogie obsesses over his wife's years younger sister, who was mentioned 'too young' to be dating material when Wife and Bogie first met. Well, she's not now, and Bogie has it bad.What with the atmospheric cabin in fog shrouded mountains, dangerous roads, and Beta Couple Alexis Smith and Charles Drake's melodrama, it's easy to lose sight of the marriage that ends with Bogie murdering his wife. Rose Hobart, playing the wife, has a reserved demeanor that knows her husband very well and for some reason, propriety perhaps, or maybe greed over their accumulations which include a pretty darn nice looking home *with servants, yet!*, will not let him go. She pays for that with her life, perhaps thinking herself invulnerable due to her intelligent reasoning. She proves herself vulnerable in little ways, such as wanting to wear a piece of jewelry because "it goes with the suit", surely a girly way to think, and her hesitant look when leaving Bogie as an invalid, even though he urges her to drive away and flatters her driving ability.This woman cares for her husband, not blindly or romantically, but practically, and a point can be made that she will await his coming to his senses, but he doesn't return to her as her partner in any way. He kills her. The movie doesn't show any sort of struggle, it's like she gave up completely upon discovering his deception and he killed quickly, efficiently, with what he thought was a super dee dooper hiding of the wreckage. Oh darn, it didn't work. Nice ghostly touches in the plot that I really enjoyed, not to mention his straining to figure it all out without succumbing to superstition. Good drama.

" . . . but women don't," hapless "Dick Mason" (Humphrey Bogart) tells his shrink-in-hangman's-clothing, "Dr. Hamilton" (Sydney Greenstreet). Warner Bros. made CONFLICT primarily to allow Greenstreet to get back at Bogart for out-smarting him in THE MALTESE FALCON, CASABLANCA, and several other films. If Warners had paired James Cagney and Bogie for 100 flicks, they'd have forced the latter to bite the dust at least 99 times (as they loved the YANKEE DOODLE DANDY). Since it was harder for the Brothers and Church Censors to identify with Greenstreet than Cagney, they did not mind letting Bogart win the majority of his conflicts with the Fat Man. Given that Fundamentalist Societies essentially give the husband of an oldest sister "dibs" on her younger female siblings, there'd be little cause for CONFLICT here if this story took place in such an environment. Unfortunately for Dick, it doesn't. And women actually DO come back sometimes, if they have a little help from their friends.

An architect (Humphrey Bogart) murders his nagging wife (Rose Hobart) in hopes he can be with her younger sister (Alexis Smith). After the murder things start to happen that make him question whether his wife is really dead after all.Entertaining film despite a plot that's easy to get ahead of. It's helped by some good acting and decent direction. Similar in some ways to The Two Mrs. Carrolls, which also had Bogie plotting to kill his wife so he could marry Alexis Smith. Of the two movies, this is the better, helped largely by the presence of Sidney Greenstreet. Bogart also gives a less over the top performance here than in the other movie. Both films have something else in common: they both sat on the shelf for two years after filming before they were released.

Conflict is definitely a disturbing and horrifying psychological thriller. With it's maliciously unnerving mood and heavy, dismal cinematography, the film aspires to achieve an all-new level of anxiety.It's about a guilt-ridden man - Humphrey Bogart's arguably most sinister role ever - who gradually plunges deeper and deeper into state of a devastating mental illness. Hinting at a thorough psychological evaluation in the beginning, Conflict analyzes how a fearless and brutal man - convinced that he's just killed his innocent wife - is trapped in a vortex of clues, which might lead to a mightily shocking revelation. The more observant viewers might already be able to uncover the whole mystery in the first act, but for those who are in desperate need of a satisfying and suspenseful intrigue Conflict brings a genuinely captivating mystery.Sydney Greenstreet - with his usual charm, sophisticated mannerism, and most-cheerful laughter - plays the psychoanalyst and a friend to Mr. Bogart. The manner in which he exhibits his impeccable intelligence is the film's most-promising quality. And Bogart, with all his devilish attitude and increasing fear is as convincing (and as stylish and graceful) as he was in Casablanca or The Maltese Falcon.Conflict is a lesser-known film noir, but it's crucial to note that its mightily clever and disquieting premise - along with a bunch of twisted and deranged sequences - delivers a seriously thrilling melodrama that's not to be argued with.