Conflict

Conflict, directed by Curtis Bernhardt, is a film noir starring Humphrey Bogart as an unhappily married man who carefully plots to kill his shrewish wife so he can marry her sister. After committing the murder and arranging what he believes is a perfect alibi, he becomes unsettled as his wife's belongings begin turning up in strange places, unaware that a psychiatrist character, played by Sydney Greenstreet, has suspected him from the start and worked with police to plant false clues luring him back to the crime scene. Bogart initially refused the script on moral grounds, but Warner Bros. studio head Jack Warner pressured him into the role by threatening to block another of his films. This is the only one of the five films Bogart made with Sydney Greenstreet in which Bogart plays a villainous, corrupt character. Who it's for: anyone curious about a film noir in which Humphrey Bogart unusually plays the villain, a role he initially refused before studio pressure forced his hand. Who it's not for: those wanting to see Bogart in his usual sympathetic hero mode, since this is an exceptional villain turn in his career.