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.

I really enjoyed this movie and it is one of my favorites for WWII intrigue. I consider this a sequel to Casablanca, taking off from where The Flying Dutchman left Casablanca and lands in Portugal. I liked enough that I bought the original book (searched and found it online). Definitely worth watching as it is also a good play on romanticism of the era.During World War 2 underground movements all through Europe helped thwart the Nazi movement. In this movie a portrayal of the underground in 'neutral' Portugal is similar to what went on in Europe. Only one cheesy scene in the move, where a secret security camera is used. But that is a brief scene and does not detract from the film.Because of this movie Paul Henreid is one of my favorite actors along side Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre. My first viewing was on a Sunday morning when a local TV station aired the movie. Finally I was able to see it again and record from TCM.

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.

After the success of "Casablanca," Warner Bros. channeled aspects of their mega-hit through other films of the 1940s. "The Conspirators" is a splendid example, including many of the "Casablanca" cast members, moody sets, and even the airport beacon. In "The Conspirators" Paul Henreid recreates the Dutch resistance leader. Hedy Lamarr stands in for Ingrid Bergman as Henreid's love (although not his wife). Sidney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre work together like a well-oiled machine, if the rest of the troupe is a bit too typecast. As with Warner Bros. films of this era, a large part of the entertainment is in the music (although this is in no way a musical), especially the authentic sounding Portuguese songs in the fishing village. Everyone hits their marks and executes their lines well, and the final plot twist will come as a surprise to most viewers.