AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Micitype Pretty Good

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

mark.waltz There's an old saying that begs movie audiences never to give away the end of the movie and as a huge classic film buff, I consider my life like a movie. Plot twists occur on a regular basis, minor characters are suddenly major, and major characters turn minor. But if somebody claimed that they knew the end of my story, I'd refuse to listen. Unlike the leading character in "Big Fish", I just don't want to know, otherwise the best stories yet to come might not happen.For three characters, knowing their fates (which isn't necessarily death) alters their behaviors, and one finds potential happiness, another a curse, and the third, possibly the ultimate end. An unattractive girl (Betty Field) learns the truth about what real beauty is; a middle aged man (Edward G. Robinson) discovers that he will kill someone; the third (George Raft) dreams of the lady who will scream at his apparent death, falling off of a trapeze wire. All three stories are part of Robert Benchley's study into the darker side of human existence, and the moods of the three stories makes this part Gothic melodrama, part love story, part horror and completely spiritual.The ensemble cast is stuffed with the best of Hollywood. For Betty Field, there's Robert Cummings, so transfixed by her kind words to him that he ignores the fact that the lips on her realistic looking mask doesn't move. Thomas Mitchell gives Eddie Robinson his fateful spell, while Dame May Witty, Anna Lee and C. Aubrey Smith are important people he fears he may kill. For Charles Boyer, he has the visions of Barbara Stanwyck who turns up on a cruise, adding to his nightmares and bringing a surprise romance.Three short stories, all tightly told and luxuriously produced, directed with artistic flair by Julien Duvivier who knows a thing or two about artistic flair. There's something appealing in each entry, and the cast makes each little detail in their character stand out because of the abbrevity of their screen time. I can't pick a standout performance, but the middle segment with Robinson is by far the spookiest and thus my favorite.

tomsview An intriguing movie, more for what it could have been rather than for what it is."Flesh and Fantasy" is made up of three loosely connected segments – from stories by three different authors. They unfold as tales of the supernatural told by Davis (David Hoffman) to 'humourist' Robert Benchley in a series of linking sequences.The first story is set in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. A plain young woman, Henrietta (Betty Field) receives a beautiful white mask from a stranger. After she attracts a young man, Michael (Robert Cummings), she performs an unselfish act, revealing her inner beauty to him without the aid of the mask. This sequence has a dreamlike quality – the artificiality of the studio sets actually gives it a sense of otherworldliness.The second segment takes place in a moody night-time London. When Marshall Tyler (Edward G Robinson) is told by clairvoyant (Thomas Mitchell) that he will murder someone, he becomes so anxious waiting for it to happen that he attempts to kill two people at random before confronting the clairvoyant again.The third segment has the least connection to the supernatural. A high wire artist, Paul Gaspar (Charles Boyer), loses his nerve performing a dangerous feat, When he dreams about a strange woman (Barbara Stanwyck) with distinctive earrings, he meets her on board a ship bound for New York. He falls in love and his confidence returns, but an unexpected problem separates them again.Although the three segments have a definite style, the whole thing is let down by the linking sequences starring Robert Benchley. These seem totally out of character with the carefully crafted stories directed by Julien Duvivier. It's almost as though they are by another hand altogether. They actually make light of the segments we have just seen, and Benchley's brand of humour hasn't really travelled all that well over the decades.When I sought more information about the movie, I found that a fourth segment – much darker in tone – had been filmed, but apparently the studio scrapped it and then added the Benchley touch.Each segment was designed to flow into the next, and although Duvivier turned the deleted segment into another film called "Destiny", "Flesh and Fantasy" would have had an entirely different mood.Back in the day, studios seemed to feel that films with a supernatural theme needed a lot of explaining, and anthology films often had linking sequences. It was almost as though they didn't think audiences would understand a film that was too abstract. So Duvivier's intriguing, moody film got hit with the mundane stick.The result is still interesting, and the opportunity has long gone for the film to be restored to the original vision, but it's an intriguing thought nonetheless.

kevin olzak 1943's "Flesh and Fantasy" is included in the Brunas-Brunas-Weaver book UNIVERSAL HORRORS, and as such gained a distinction it probably never wanted. Unusual for the studio, it's an anthology film comprised of three tales about personal responsibility and shaping one's fate, with slight supernatural overtones. Like 1945's "Dead of Night" and its Amicus offspring, we have a framing story, the delightful Robert Benchley playing off against David Hoffman (the face announcing the 'Inner Sanctum' series). Story one stars Betty Field as a plain-looking woman whose belief in her own unattractiveness has left her lonely and bitter; a chance encounter with a bearded stranger (Edgar Barrier) offers her a mask to disguise her ugliness from the man she's loved from afar, who now recognizes her beauty during an evening of Mardi Gras. This seems a bit overlong even at a mere 27 minutes, but the second story breezes by quickly, top billing Edward G. Robinson as wealthy attorney Marshall Tyler, whose belief in an eccentric palmist (Thomas Mitchell) nets him the woman of his dreams, but an ominous future in discord. Only when pressed further does the prognosticator confess that Tyler is going to kill someone; he becomes so obsessed with who his victim should be that he neglects his beautiful bride-to-be (Anna Lee) and comes to a bad end. Story three pairs Charles Boyer and Barbara Stanwyck, but its drawn out shipboard romance is a letdown coming after the best segment. What was intended to be the first tale in a four-part anthology was excised and reshaped into a 64 minute feature, 1944's "Destiny," which may have been the most dazzling of all; judge for yourself. Unbilled bits come from Peter Lawford, Marjorie Lord, Jacqueline Dalya, Doris Lloyd, Ian Wolfe, Clarence Muse, and Grace McDonald (who played a different character in "Destiny").

moonspinner55 A trio of mystical stories told in that entertainingly glossy, old Hollywood type of way, boasting showmanship over any sort of logic. The plots involve a woman who learns about inner-beauty, a man's dramatic experience with a fortune teller, and a circus performer who is hounded by an admirer. Superficial nonsense has few surprises, but cast players Barbara Stanwyck, Charles Boyer, Robert Benchley and Edward G. Robinson are always worth a look. Oscar Wilde is credited as one of the screenwriters! A fourth chapter was filmed but then dropped, eventually expanded into its own movie (1944's "Destiny"). ** from ****