From: mleeper@optonline.net   
      
   THE CONSPIRATORS (1944) was Warner Brothers' attempt to cash in on   
   the surprise success of CASABLANCA the previous year.  They could   
   not get Humphrey Bogart or Ingrid Bergman, but they stocked THE   
   CONSPIRATORS with Paul Heinreid, Peter Lorre, and Sidney   
   Greenstreet, as well has having Max Steiner do the score and Arthur   
   Edeson serve as cinematographer.   
      
   The parallels extend to the plot as well.  Heinreid is a Resistance   
   fighter who escapes to Lisbon.  In CASABLANCA, Lisbon is just a   
   destination, but in THE CONSPIRATORS it is front and center.   
   (Heinreid enters from Spain, rather than from Casablanca, probably   
   because between the time CASABLANCA was made and the filming of THE   
   CONSPIRATORS, the Germans occupied the gateway to Casablanca,   
   Marseille.)  But there is a cafe, a casino, and a man stopped by   
   the police and asked for papers who first lies, then attempts to   
   flee.  There is a love triangle with a "secret" marriage, and the   
   hero convinces the "neutral" policeman to help him against Nazis   
   after all.   
      
   Alas, although it starts out trying to be CASABLANCA, it turns into   
   a film six feet wide and a quarter of an inch deep, and seems as   
   episodic as an "Indiana Jones" film.  It is good to see familiar   
   actors, but there are problems with the acting.  (In particular,   
   Hedy Lamarr proves herself a better inventor than an actress.)   
   There are also a bushel basket full of character names of several   
   nationalities you are asked to remember.   
      
   And a comment not on the film itself, but on TCM's subtitling:   
   When in a World War II, "Quisling" is subtitled "Quisny" and "Field   
   Marshall Goering" is subtitled "Field Marshall Gurin", you realize   
   the company was hiring people who had no knowledge of the period   
   whatsoever.  (This extends to general vocabulary as well: a   
   reference to a plan for someone to "avenge your family" is   
   subtitled "revenge your family.")  That TCM accepts such sloppy   
   work is a real black eye for them.   
      
   --   
   Mark R. Leeper   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)