The Conspirators (1944)

Fantastic!

Better Late Then Never

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

With the signing of Hedy Lamarr, borrowed from MGM, "The Conspirators" started shooting in February, 1944. A studio release noted that Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre, "who recently were teamed in both Passage to Marseille and The Mask of Dimitrios" were also "joining the cast." Although the cast was not as much like Casablanca's as originally intended, publicity for The Conspirators played on the same theme of topicality: "That Warner Bros bring to the screen those spots on the map where things are popping loudest, is a fact long acknowledged by moviegoers. Moscow (Mission to Moscow), Casablanca (Casablanca), Marseille (Passage to Marseille) are but a few of such cities. The most recent case is The Conspirators..." That last facile statement is prominently emblazoned in the Warner Bros press book. But the critics were neither seduced not impressed! The Conspirators was consistently panned from New York to Oshkosh. The film emerged as a sumptuous production with a commanding cast, attractive art direction, and noirish photography; however the direction (by Jean Negulesco, who had just completed The Mask of Dimitrios, and staged it superbly well) seemed both impersonal yet surrealistic — a quality that rendered the implausible story line all the more unbelievable.That the motion picture bore little resemblance to its source novel was pointed out by every critic who had read the book. Adding insult to injury, the novel's author was credited on all the Warner publicity material, as well as in the film's actual titles with his first name misspelled! A letter appearing in The New Republic on 13 November 1944, stated, "I have just been to see my first film after a year and a half abroad... It was called The Conspirators... All I felt when I rose to go was weariness, intense boredom and a certain amazement. Weariness and boredom, after the preposterous rubbish I had been observing; amazement at the mentality which can concoct such nonsense with a straight face; amazement also at the mentality which is willing to pay to see such tedious stuff... I suppose there are plenty of others just as bad; I just happened to see this one." The letter was signed by Frederic Prokosch, the author of The Conspirators.

This is a thoroughly adequate film and not much more. It was intended to try to capitalize on the success of CASABLANCA. Despite Warner Brothers trying to recapture the magic of this earlier film, THE CONSPIRATORS just can't compare--mostly due to a very poor script and some poor performances. Now the parallels to CASABLANCA are there but the film isn't a remake. Instead, it's a slight reworking of the ideas and a few plot points. Many of the stars in the film were actually originally in CASABLANCA (Paul Henreid, Sidney Greenstreet and Peter Lorr).Henreid plays a Dutch freedom fighter who has escaped to neutral Portugal. His hope is to go from there to Britain, since he is a wanted man in Nazi occupied Europe. However, once in Lisbon, there is a long and complicated web of Nazis and anti-fascist operatives. Uncovering who were actually friends and who were double-agents was the main theme of the film.As for Henreid and Hedy Lamarr, they are agreeable enough people but just don't have the charisma to make us forget Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman from CASABLANCA. Henreid isn't really bad--he just isn't Bogie. As for Lamarr, she is the weakest link in the film. Like so many of her films, she is essentially a walking mannequin--wearing lots and lots of expensive costumes (common for her films) but also delivering a rather flat and emotionless performance. Had the part been written more multi-dimensionally, perhaps she would have been a greater asset to the film. Aside from her beauty, she added little to the film--especially since her romance with Henried seemed to come out of nowhere and there was little chemistry between them.As for the intrigue, it wasn't bad but it also wasn't particularly good. Plus, so many plot holes and inconsistencies made the film very slow going at the end. The finale seemed to drag and much of it just didn't make sense.Still, this is a decent wartime film--not great, but a decent enough time passer.

A fine cast throughout. Lorre, Greenstreet, Lamarr, Heinreid. I had even heard of this film before I saw it on Turner Classic Movies. It is certainly not in the class of Casablanca, but it is an excellent WWII thriller. Yes, Lamarr shines in every scene she is in. In fact, she is the main reason to watch this film. She is never more beautiful than in this film, and she certainly is one of the film beauties of all time. But Heinreid is perfect for the lead. It is a bit melodramatic, but we should remember the times when this film was made. The plot is complicated, and this is not a film to "sample" -- the writing is fine, but with few memorable quotes. The black and white photography is excellent. All in all, an excellent film of its type. I recommend it.

The Conspirators is often compared to Casablanca. I agree that the latter movie was superior, in many ways. However, I don't think the similarities between these two movies were intentional. It was WWII, look at all the movies made about the war, and you will see numerous and consistent themes.I think this movie stands on its own merits. The cast is good and delivers consistently. Paul Henreid does not have the charisma of Humphrey Bogart, and Ingrid Bergman was always given credit for great performances, that she never quite deserved. She had a clean, fresh faced, innocent appeal, that seem to make people feel she had depth. She was also lucky enough to work with superior directors, and films with better scripts. She was good, but not great; however I loved Anastasia. Hedy Lamarr on the other hand, was so beautiful, that critics would not even consider that she could act. I think she was capable, but was too beautiful to be taken seriously; and I don't think she chose her films wisely.The Conspirators is a good film, with some flaws; but deserves to be considered on its own merits.