Conflict (1945) (#ad) is a murder mystery that doesn’t seek to answer the question of who committed the crime because we already know the culprit and we even see him do the evil deed. Rather, the film seeks to answer the question of what happens now after the crime has been committed and on whether or not the criminal can get away with what he did.
Kathryn Mason travels alone
Meeting a stranger
The ride to her destination seems all right at first. However, when she gets to a certain spot, she discovers a car blocking her way.She notices a man, who appears to be the driver of said car, standing nearby. She calls out to him, asking him to move the car, but the man doesn’t respond so she just decided to turn around and find another way to get to where she wanted to go.
Unexpected surprise in Conflict
As the man moves to approach her, Kathryn looks and feels scared and apprehensive, so much so that even the audience fear for her safety and worry about what will happen to her.But then the man comes into view and both viewers and Kathryn breath a huge sigh of relief as the supposed stranger is revealed to be Richard Mason (played by Humphrey Bogart), Kathryn’s husband.
No reason to be afraid
Kathryn looks highly relieved at seeing that it’s just her husband who’s now standing in front of her and not some stranger who might do her harm or hurt her or even kill her or something. She isn’t scared anymore and her relief is palpable and understandable because this is her own husband that’s right in front of her, so what reason would she have to be afraid?Reason to be scared of your own husband?
Who would have thought that Kathryn would have been so much safer if the man before her had been a total stranger because Richard had evil intentions towards her? Who would have expected that you’d have something to fear from the people that you know and the people that you trust?
But, as soon as it became apparent that Richard was planning something sinister, Kathryn’s entire demeanor changes and she is suddenly afraid and apprehensive and worried about what might happen to her.
What do you think she felt when she realized that she was in danger from someone that she actually knew and thought that she could trust?
*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki based on the image by Rusembell (CC:BY) from deviantArt
- Image of car is meant to symbolize how Kathryn also drove in a car before she was killed
- Second pic is from Amazon.com; link shown above
- YouTube video features the trailer for the Conflict 1945 movie