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 gladly lose a scene". The film was shot in the heat of summer for greater realism and atmosphere, proving grueling to make. James Agee wrote, "Bogart does a wonderful job with this character ... miles ahead of the very good work he has done before". John Huston won the Academy Award for Best Director and screenplay and his father won Best Supporting Actor, but the film had mediocre box office results. Bogart complained, "An intelligent script, beautifully directed—something different—and the public turned a cold shoulder on it". Bogart, a liberal Democrat, organized a delegation to Washington, D.C., called the Committee