Humphrey Bogart in a cast list at the trailer's end. Robinson's role is evocative of Duke Mantee in "The Petrified Forest" (1936), a Bogart leading man breakthrough the studio had originally earmarked for Robinson. The enormous success of "Casablanca" redefined Bogart's career. For the first time, Bogart could be cast successfully as both a tough, strong man and vulnerable love interest. Despite his elevated standing, he did not yet have a contractual right of script refusal. When he got weak scripts he simply dug in his heels and locked horns again with the front office, as he did on the film "Conflict"
Humphrey Bogart married Mary Philips, whom he'd met when they appeared in the play "Nerves" during its very brief run at the Comedy Theatre in September 1924, at her mother's apartment in Hartford, Connecticut. After the stock market crash of 1929, stage production dropped off sharply, and many of the more photogenic actors headed for Hollywood. Bogart's film debut was with Helen Hayes in the 1928 two-reeler "The Dancing Town", of which a complete copy has never been found. He also appeared with Joan Blondell and Ruth Etting in a Vitaphone short, "Broadway's Like That" (1930) which was re-discovered in 1963. Bogart