What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[Fading Fast]

Went to an ACTUAL movie theater for the first time in a few years this weekend to see "A Man Called Otto".

Reasonably enjoyable, a few clever lines, but fairly predictable.

Sounds just like the book it was based on "A Man Called Ove." Still, I look forward to seeing it when it hits streaming.

 

[Edward]

Via HBO, the highly praised and likely Best Picture contender The Banshees of Inisherin.

View attachment 479519

The story of a friendship gone terribly wrong between two men (Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson) on an Irish island in 1923, I thought it was good, but not great.

It's a beautifully made, well acted film, with a little comedy and a lot of tragedy in an interesting setting. But I don't think it's quite the masterpiece that it's being touted as. Your mileage may vary.

Positively dying to see this one. I've been a huge fan of Brendan Gleeson since 1991 (still gutted Hollywood went for Liam Neeson a few years later. I love Liam too, but Brendan was Michael Collins).

I'm particularly intrigued by this being set during the Civil War (though I know that's not gone into in the plot in a big way). Not often a specific part of the Irish revolutionary period that is covered in and of itself, usually just a sort of add-on to the 16-21. Nice to see this pair together again; rarely have I seen the sort of screen chemistry they had in In Bruges. I'd love to see a detective show based around them. Anyone know what Jimmy McGovern is up to these days? I'm seeing a reboot of Cracker, with Gleeson in the Fitz role and Farrell as Penhaligan...

Went to an ACTUAL movie theater for the first time in a few years this weekend to see "A Man Called Otto".

Reasonably enjoyable, a few clever lines, but fairly predictable.

I may be being unfair (and I'll give it a go as soon as it comes to a 'free to me' option), but the trailer I saw positively reeked of an attempt to pull off a 'safer' version of St Vincent.

 

[PrivateEye]

Sounds just like the book it was based on "A Man Called Ove." Still, I look forward to seeing it when it hits streaming.

In hindsight, it could have waited. But it made the wife happy.

Also, rewatched "The Caine Mutiny" for the hundredth time this weekend. Not my favorite Bogart movie, but I think it's his best performance.

 

[AmateisGal]

You introduced your mum to Cary, right? Better late than never, so how did she like the film?

She really enjoyed it!

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

The Pale Blue Eye (2022)
Anything with Christian Bale is usually something I want to see. He's one of the best.

It's good that films like this are even being made these days..... I can understand why its rating is kinda low, no explosions, no car chases, no slam-bang action. Also seems about ten IQ points higher than the usual fare. In other words it's a bit of a throwback to movies that demanded some thought on the viewers part.

The guy who plays E.A. Poe is terrific. It had slipped my mind that Poe was a southerner.

I missed this so I ran to its trailer which is quite an intrigue spun spider web. Entangled further and with absolutely no hope of escape, my first impression was A Cask of Amontillado. I remembered a university
lecture on Poe and his story The Gold Bug was mentioned. Since to this day I've not read this Bugaboo I am
unable to link anything further with Poe and his past. My task before me I need a brushup with Poe. Thanks.!!!

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

Via HBO, the highly praised and likely Best Picture contender The Banshees of Inisherin.

View attachment 479519

The story of a friendship gone terribly wrong between two men (Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson) on an Irish island in 1923, I thought it was good, but not great.

It's a beautifully made, well acted film, with a little comedy and a lot of tragedy in an interesting setting. But I don't think it's quite the masterpiece that it's being touted as. Your mileage may vary.

Mixed on this. Scanned reviews since trailer not much a taker and looked Beckett meets Yeats with smidgen
Wilde and some Will Shakespeare no less. Rustic coastal Eire counts little amidst chaos and all surreal Beckett without heavy lead pencil linear plot unfolded. Typical gay jibe inside reviews and that crap is old.
Absurdist theatrics have little regard for. Will wait. Read some other reviews.

 

[ChazfromCali]

I missed this so I ran to its trailer which is quite an intrigue spun spider web. Entangled further and with absolutely no hope of escape, my first impression was A Cask of Amontillado. I remembered a university
lecture on Poe and his story The Gold Bug was mentioned. Since to this day I've not read this Bugaboo I am
unable to link anything further with Poe and his past. My task before me I need a brushup with Poe. Thanks.!!!

Poe actually was at West Point. Interesting that they tie that in.

The One Real Aspect of Edgar Allen Poe's Life That Inspired "The Pale Blue Eye"

Netflix's The Pale Blue Eye is mostly fictional, but some aspects of the story were really inspired by Edgar Allen Poe's life. Here's what's to know.

www.popsugar.com

"The real Poe really did enlist in the US Army in 1827 under the alias "Edgar A. Perry" at age 18. While he transferred between Massachusetts, South Carolina, and Virginia early in his Army career, he eventually enrolled at West Point in March 1830 at age 21. He quit in January 1831 and was formally dismissed that March.
Director Scott Cooper explained to Tudum, "Of course, this is a work of fiction, although Poe was at West Point."


edit: I was wrong about Poe being a southerner, he was born in Boston, lol. But I think they did the right thing in this film in giving him a southern accent, given all the time he spent in the south in the military and as a resident of Baltimore..... a case can be made that it's a southern city.

 

[Worf]

From TCM: the 1945 British film Vacation From Marriage (original British title: Perfect Strangers), with Deborah Kerr, Robert Donat, Ann Todd, and Glynis Johns, directed by Alexander Korda.

A film about the effects of WWII service on people, which was no doubt an important concern at the time (also reflected in other films like The Best Years of Our Lives).

Londoners Kerr and Donat had married in the mid-thirties and live a dull life. He's an accountant in a stuffy office, she's a timid housewife, and their life has become entirely routine.

View attachment 478741

Donat joins the Navy when the war breaks out; after he leaves, Kerr joins the Wrens (*). Both of them find that the challenges of the service make them stronger and more self-reliant, and both of their personalities evolve. Kerr ends up piloting a launch as shells explode all around her; Donat ends up surviving a sinking and rows a lifeboat for days with badly burned hands... Both of them grow as people.

(* The closed captioning kept saying "Reds," which had me confused, though it was clearly the women's naval auxiliary. My mom served in the Marines during the war, so I can relate.)

Their leaves never coincide, and it's over three years before they see each other again. (Both have almost-affairs during this time, Donat with the superbly lit Todd.) When they finally are going to reunite, both have changed so much that each expects the other to be their pre-war selves, and that they will no longer get along. Kerr even wants a divorce. It's a bumpy reunion, as both are NOT what the other expected.

I thought this was a very historically interesting film, if not quite a classic. And it captures Kerr a moment before she became a full-blown star (it was made between The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp and Black Narcissus). She's not afraid to be portrayed as really dowdy and timid in the first act. The rest of the cast is good, including a VERY YOUNG Glynis Johns as Kerr's fizzy pal in the Wrens.

Recommended, especially for Kerr fans.

I've seen this film several times over the years and love it. Their transformations from "frump" and "cold tea" to Sailors for King and Country is remarkable and, in some ways, quite believable. As any veteran and I'm sure they'll tell of going through boot or serving with someone who was just clueless. Someone they were sure would NEVER be anything other than a bullet sponge... And lo and behold add some spit, polish and discipline and voila... a first class military man or woman. It doesn't happen all the time but sometimes... just sometimes you get to witness an honest to God miracle. Great flick with great acting.

Worf

 

[Fading Fast]

No Highway in the Sky from 1951 with Jimmy Stewart, Glynis Johns, Marlene Dietrich and Janette Scott


No Highway in the Sky is another 1950s "an airplane may crash" movie that works, not because of airplanes or crashes, but because you enjoy and care about the likable characters.

Jimmy Stewart plays a brilliant American aeronautical engineer of the absent-minded-professor type, but without any slapstick or buffoonery. Instead, he's a genuinely interested-in-science guy who simply doesn't have much mental bandwidth left for the day-to-day demands of normal life.

He's a war widower working in England for the research division of a major airline, while also raising a high-IQ twelve year old, played with a wonderfully understated precocious mien by Janette Scott. She has, clearly, become mature beyond her years, perforce, as without a mother, someone has to run the house.

When we first meet these two at home, we see an oddball, cluttered house where science and learning are the norm amidst an atmosphere of understated love, but where it's the child who does more of the practical things that makes a household work. Daughter Scott is a happy kid who, one suspects, doesn't fit in well with most other kids, but hardly knows it.

Stewart, at work, is currently testing a theory that the tail of a new class of airplanes his company just put into flight, "The Reindeers," will fall off from vibrations after about 1400 hours of flight time. While most of the fleet is far from hitting that limit, one did and crashed, so Stewart is sent to investigate the tail section.

On his way there, he discovers the Reindeer he's flying on is also about to hit 1400 hours of flight time. Nondescript Stewart now becomes animated Stewart to warn the pilot, but after serious consideration, the pilot doesn't accept Stewart's theory. Yet, he still lands the plane early to have the tail inspected.

When it passes the inspection as Stewart said it would because the aborning stress can't be seen by traditional inspection, Stewart sabotages the plane to prevent it from flying, which sets off a publicity storm for the airline and Stewart.

A passenger, a movie star played by Marlene Dietrich, and a stewardess, played by Glynis Johns, believe and befriend Stewart, but almost everyone else is aligned against him.

Back in England, as an investigation and inquiry begin, Dietrich and Johns spend time taking care of Stewart's daughter and helping manage the household, while Stewart tries to defend his research and actions. Being British, there is an incredible amount of fair play at work, but if Stewart can't quickly prove his theory, his career will be ruined.

It's a reasonably complicated set up, but well worth it. Director Henry Koster knew he had, in Nevil Shute’s novel, smart and nuanced material that required a thoughtful build to its climax. (See comments on the novel here: #8,903 )

The rest of the movie is tension increasing as Stewart struggles to prove his theory, while we see the delicate and quirky balance of Stewart's household buffeted as Scott begins to learn, through Dietrich and Johns, that there's more to a young girl's life than books and science.

Johns, in particular, displays a practical but infectious kindness as the woman who sees that Stewart needs her to make his life work and to make his daughter's upbringing well rounded. But she's no silly girl in love; she's a smart independent woman who recognizes a situation where she's needed and where she wants to be.

It's an atypical love story in a country still recovering from a war where atypical love and good people, unasked, were needed to jump in and fill voids left by that war.

The best movies are about characters where the plot - say a tail potentially falling off of a plane in flight - exists only so we can learn more about people we come to enjoy and care deeply about.

No Highway in the Sky tells a good story about planes, engineers and tail sections. But it becomes a charming, almost whimsical movie because you come to love an oddball engineer, his sweet but too-serious-for-her-age daughter and a kind, smart and practical stewardess who sees what needs to be done to make three people's lives better and, then, she just does it.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

Stewart, rumour heard at Trinity had a prewar entangle with Marlene. Supposed badly ended.

 

[Julian Shellhammer]

It Happened on 5th Avenue (1947), with Don DeFore, Ann Harding, Charles Ruggles, Victor Moore, and Gale Storm, directed by Roy Del Ruth. We watched it well past the end of Christmas Movie Season, but, remarkably, the grandkids really wanted to watch it. The Missus considers this a Christmas movie, so it holds a place in the rotation.

If you haven't seen it, prepare for a Capra-esque ensemble story about a genial hobo who lives in a NYC mansion while its owner winters in Virginia. A bunch of folks find themselves without shelter, and the hobo takes them in. Gale Storm, a finishing school truant who is the owner's daughter, also moves in, disguising her true identity. Romantic fun follows, and we learn lessons about being humane, as well as not placing money over people.

We really enjoyed it, laughing out loud a lot.

 

[Fading Fast]

Patterns from 1956 with Van Heflin, Ed Begley and Everett Sloane


Patterns, a business boardroom drama, started life as a teleplay written by the, at that time, relatively unknown Rod Serling. Its success prompted Hollywood to make it into a low-budget, but well-cast movie that foreshadowed the haymaker style of dialogue writing and delivery that's become the norm of business and political movies and television shows today.

Van Heflin plays a smart and relatively young executive whose success running a regional plant prompts his hiring into the executive suite of the Wall Street headquarters of his company. As the movie opens, we see him being introduced to his fellow executives while he's ushered into his well-appointed office. Equally inviting, the company found, furnished and decorated an attractive home for him and his wife.

The bonhomie of the first day is quickly shattered, though, when at his inaugural executive meeting, the head of the company, played by Everett Sloane, viciously browbeats Van Heflin's new partner, an older executive played by Ed Begley.

Heflin is stunned as he realizes he's in some sort of corporate thunderdome where he doesn't know the rules or the players - it's a heck of a first day at work.

It takes a bit for the puzzle to become clear to Heflin, but he eventually realizes that he was brought in, in part, to replace Begley, not work with him. This is made harder for Heflin as he begins to like and respect Begley, a tired executive now cracking under Sloane's abuse.

Heflin finds no solace at home from his social-climbing and greedy wife who wants her husband to be as cutthroat as necessary to get ahead; she even helps throw Begley under the bus behind her husband's back.

Sitting at the center of this executive suite war is Everett Sloane whose business philosophy is a dark combination of Nietzsche, Machiavelli and Scrooge where the only measure of a man's worth is his ability to compete better, manage better and drive the business better than the next man.

In this contrived setup, Begley is a sympathetic character shown to be a caring father whose confidence is being systematically undermined, while Van Heflin is the moral outsider who sees the injustice. Sloane, more a caricature than character, takes joy in maliciously destroying Begley under the pretext of doing what's right for the business.

The dialogue throughout is smart and powerful in the modern way that characters spit out complex philosophical thoughts in long flawless speeches seemingly on the fly. When Van Heflin and Sloane have the climatic face off the entire movie has been leading up to, the scene will have you gripping the arms of your chair over what is, effectively, two men fighting about the role of an executive.

Kudos to writer Rod Serling for creating an exaggerated but compelling look at business-leadership philosophy, a subject that usually has one's head bobbing forward and eyelids closing.

All our sympathies, here, are with Begley and Heflin because Serling set it up that way, but the reality is Begley should have resigned as, it was noted, he'd have his pension and wouldn't have the shame of being fired. The few people who get to the top of a company are expected to perform like professional ballplayers and when they can't, they should be replaced.

Every employee and every shareholder of the company relies on the top executives to make critical decisions that ensure the survival and success of the company. Executive jobs come with plenty of pay and perks, including attractive retirement packages in exchange for an unforgiving demand for top performance.

So while Patterns tells a compelling story that shows business in an unflattering light - Sloane's character is loathsome - had the facts remained unchanged, but the characters tweaked, we'd see a completely different picture.

Had Sloane been a gentler version of himself trying to kindly encourage Begley, a man whose day at the top of the business world had passed, to retire comfortably and had Begley been shown to be an greedy executive not willing to give up his luxurious perks and high compensation, our sympathies would switch sides, but the facts would not be that different.

Patterns is impressive for what it does with actors, dialogue and not much else. There are a few story-framing New York City location shots, but the bulk of the action takes place on a foreboding executive floor. Serling tossed in a loyal-to-Begley secretary and a loving son, but they are just props to further sway our emotions to Begley.

The picture is contrived and aggressively tendentious, but the viewer can still form his own opinions about right and wrong. Patterns the movie works, though, for the same reason most good movies work, you care about the characters and conflict in this well-written and well-acted boardroom drama.


N.B. As a kid from NJ and just out of college in the mid 1980s, my first job on Wall Street was working for a firm that was in the same building, 120 Broadway, used as the corporate headquarters in Patterns. I was a bit awed to be working in such a building.

Opened in 1915, 120 Broadway has the distinction of being the first skyscraper to take up a full city block in Manhattan. It is a beautiful and impressive behemoth of a building whose architecture can't help but inspire you. It's no surprise that the makers of Patterns, looking for a skyscraper that said "this" is the center of the business world, chose The Equitable Building.

120 Broadway when it opened:

It's lobby today:

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

^ I've visited New York for firm often enough to recognize this venerable lady and our nodding acquaintance.
Wall Street and environs are without doubt Mecca, Keynesian acolytes soever misguided fools served writ here.

Last evening sat The Pale Blue Eye. A very fine film done a shoestring tab quite but the overall package tied tight as a drum. Lose ends there are none and after this crime detective tattoo with reflection puzzle pieces there were, disparate and broken shards some. All really lying akimbo for grab. An incohesive jumble yet. So much so I shrugged off the day's ennui and forgave myself for not batting a queer pitch. Catch most def on Netflix.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

Only add-on here. The Pale Blue Eye is a seamless expertly wove movie. A period piece shown entirely in candlelight, with wardrobe, dialogue to match an excellent plausible script led by Christian Bale. And set at West Point military academy in 1830 with look and land. All of it. The actor who plays splendidly done Edgar A Poe is worth the ticket and then some. Duvall is in, cameo yet integral character. So too the FX girl. I didn't recognize these individuals because they so became their characters. And again this film is tightly wove. I so much enjoy a movie that not only grabs but shakes one so next day it's the dominant yesterday moment.

 

[Worf]

"RRR" - I've never seen a complete "Bollywood" or "Tollywood"(sp) movie save "Slumdog Millionaire" which barely qualifies as it only has one dance number and its at the end of the film. RRR is one part bromance, two parts Blaxploitation, a jigger of real drama, one truly amazing dance number... all overlain by some of the most amazing special effects I've ever scene. Just when you think "great googly moogly they CAN'T top that..." they do. Set in India during the Raj the film revolves around a child stolen from her mother by the British Governors wife, a jungle warrior not seen since the days of Tarzan and an Indian policeman whose moves put Batman to shame.

I won't reveal any more for fear of spoilers but I will say it's the fastest 3 hours I've spent in the movies since "The Seven Samurai". Wish I'd seen it on the big screen, home theatre doesn't do the spectacle any justice. If you want a rip roaring shoot em up... RRR's your meat.

Worf

 

[Worf]

"Megan" - Another good time spent at the movies. If you've seen any of the trailers.. you know what to expect. If not, the story is pretty simple. A female engineer at a toy company develops a walking, talking, thinking and learning A.I. doll. When her sister and her husband are killed in a wreck, she suddenly finds herself caring for her distraught niece. Overwhelmed by suddenly having to balance a career and the "joys" of motherhood she decides to bring her wunderdoll home as a playmate (read surrogate mother) for her niece.

It works out as badly as you'd expect when a robot is tasked first and foremost with protecting her assigned child from ALL harm, mental and physical. What I can't understand though is why do these mad scientist types ALWAYS make their machines stronger, faster and more powerful than the humans they're supposed to serve? Wouldn't it make more sense to equip them with the strength of Don Knotts rather than the punch of Sonny Liston? Still, I digress. Needless to say... Megan runs amok, murder and mayhem ensue. Set up for the obvious sequel but a good time nonetheless. Great experience when viewed with a mangy mob of pre-teens.

Worf

 

[Fading Fast]

The Sniper from 1952 with Arthur Franz, Adolphe Menjou, Marie Windsor and Richard Kiley


The Sniper packs a lot into this crime-drama look at a male serial killer of young women that, while dated in ways, still has something to say to us today about mental illness, the law and shooters.

Arthur Franz plays a "sex offender," an ex-con who was locked up for hitting women. As the movie opens, we see he is driven to kill women - as a sniper from rooftops with a stolen military rifle - owing to perceived slights from women that he's unable to endure like normal men.

Franz's interpretation of a serial killer is nuanced and reserved. Other than a few angry outbursts, Franz portrays the killer as a man who goes quickly to a controlled boil at small offenses as he is carrying a lot of unresolved emotional baggage.

His interpretation shows us how a highly unstable person can still function in society and look normal to others almost all the time. Franz also portrays his killer as a man crying out for help - and man who wants someone to stop him - as he nearly, but doesn't turn himself in.

After the second killing, the police and community realize they are dealing with a serial killer and we see all the cogs of society kick into gear.

The police begin an extensive investigation and search as the newspapers sensationalize the story, making the police the fall guys for not catching the sniper quickly, while the politicians try to frame the story to deflect criticism.

The debate, that we see mainly within the police force, is between those who see this as just another crime to be addressed - arrest or kill the killer - and those, like the police psychiatrist, played by Richard Kiley, who see a need to address "sex offenders" differently.

His progressive-for-the-day argument is that we must have a new law that allows the sex offender to be put in a mental institution after their first, even minor, offense so that they can be either cured and released or kept locked up permanently to prevent them from becoming the next serial killer as he argues there is a pattern and progression in these disturbed individuals.

Knowing what mental institutions were like back in the 1950s, one shudders at his plan, but there is a common thread running from that approach to the argument made by many today for early intervention and forced treatment.

Director Edward Dmytryk, after a slow start, keeps the movie moving along, as he shifts back and forth between Franz, who becomes more unhinged as he kills more woman, and the police, led by Adolphe Menjou, playing an old-school police lieutenant, but one open to the new ideas proffered by psychiatrist Kiley.

It's a solid cast, with noir queen Marie Windsor in a brief but impactful role playing a woman who very modestly toys with Franz's emotions leading to her being his first victim (not a spoiler as it happens early on). But it is Menjou who stands just a bit above the rest of the cast, which argues this leading man of the 1930s was a true acting talent.

The Sniper, because it is shot in black and white, on location in San Francisco and with a modest but not shoestring budget, has a street-level verisimilitude that feels documentary-like in spots.

The killing scenes, themselves, shot from Franz' perspective on the rooftop looking down at his victims, are brief and frighteningly believable with none of the excesses that modern Hollywood would employ. The police investigation is handled in the same way, as it has a Dragnet-like methodicalness and realism that also avoids modern movie-making histrionics.

That investigation, though, which is often professional and thoughtful, veers into crazy town, at one point, when we see the police heckle, in a stupidly abusive way, the suspects. It's not physical abuse and, thankfully, it's not good-cop-bad-cop intimidation in a locked room, but it is an odd sort of ridicule without purpose. Every era does its dumb things.

To see director Dmytryk's and, probably, producer Stanley Kramer's talents on display, look for, first, the impressive last sniper scene where a painter on a smokestack plays a pivotal role and, then, the closing scene which is effective in its chilling simplicity.

The Sniper is uneven and preachy, but still effective and engaging. Its views, overall, appear dated and simplistic to us today, but our present-day "solutions" will probably not look impressive in seventy years either. Especially when you notice the aforenoted common thread running from that period to modern day, which tells us we still haven't found the solution to preventing mental illness from leading to horrific crimes.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

Fast-chilling snap of sniper and more freeze reading your take on it all. Bone cold shake.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

Saw Elvis again. Considered Ana de Armas Marilyn film but for fiction might.
Had thought Butler right for Oscar earlier and with Lisa Marie's tragic passage done and done. Only fifty four.

 

[Fading Fast]

The Conspirators from 1944 with Paul Henreid, Hedy Lamarr, Sidney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre


All the studios re-assembled the parts of their successful movies into new movies, but Warners Bros took it to an artform. Heck, almost every Hollywood studio re-assembled the parts of the massive 1934 hit It Happened One Night into new movies for the following two decades trying to catch that lightning in a bottle again.

After Casablanca surprised Warners by being a huge hit, it put what many consider the greatest movie ever made into the Cuisinart, time and again, to spit out cognate Casablancas for several years in the 1940s. The Conspirators is one of these efforts that, while mildly entertaining, to riff on an old Presidential debate line, "is no Casablanca."

In the movie, Paul Henreid, once again, plays a heroic anti-Nazi resistance fighter both fleeing the Nazis and fighting them, but at least not in a spotless white suit this time. Henreid, one of the weakest characters in Casablanca, as he is made small by Bogart in that one, does a pretty good job looking heroic as the male lead here.

His Ilsa, umm, mystery woman is played by Hedy Lamarr, who had been considered for the role of Ilsa in Casablanca. Lamarr, who is an okay actress, chooses in The Conspirators to not really act much at all, but instead to just stand around with a blank expression on her face and simply overwhelm you with her beauty. It's a play-to-your-strength move.

Sidney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre are also back. This time, instead of swatting flies and making money in the black market, Greenstreet heads a resistance group - the titular anti-Nazi conspirators - of which "Rick, hide me, Rick!" Lorre is a member.

All the action takes place in somewhat neutral Portugal, subbing in geographically for Casablanca, where Henreid is passing through on his way to England to join an allied fighter squadron. He gets roped in by Greenstreet to help him find a spy in Greenstreet's team and roped in by Lamarr because he likes having sex with one of the most-beautiful women on earth.

Also in the mix are Nazis trying to hang a murder rap on Henreid, while breaking up Greenstreet's band of resistance fighters; a mysterious "eagle" that everyone is after; the Portugal police trying to maintain some independence from the Nazis and the "simple" Portuguese fishermen who risk life and limb to help Henreid.

Throw in a bunch of chase scenes, some flirt fighting between Henreid and Lamarr, a casino scene (Casablanca again) that is embarrassingly obvious, a few heroic speeches and a pretty good gun fight and Warners called it a wrap on another Casablanca doppelganger.

While almost every movie ever made owes something to several movies that came before, these 1940 Casablanca copycats were often, like The Conspirators, too obvious in their imitation.

Still, Greenstreet and Lorre are always worth a watch and Lamarr is blindingly beautiful, plus Warner Bros.' backlot and soundstage simulacrums of Portugal are lavish and seeing Nazis lose is always entertaining. So despite its limitations, The Conspirators is an okay diversion if you need a break from watching Casablanca for the hundred-and-fiftieth time.