Good start, but then it gets ruined

Absolutely Brilliant!

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Anthology film from Universal with three stories of the bizarre, as told through a framing story with David Hoffman and Robert Benchley. The first story is about a plain-looking woman (Betty Field) who wears a mask on Mardi Gras that is supposed to make her appear attractive to the man she loves (Robert Cummings). A beautifully photographed story with a somewhat flimsy premise. Good acting by Field and Cummings. The second story is about a fortune teller (Thomas Mitchell) who tells Marshal Tyler (Edward G. Robinson) that he will murder someone. Tyler becomes obsessed with the prediction which leads to a fairly predictable ending. Robinson is excellent as always. The third story is about a circus high-wire artist (Charles Boyer) who has premonitions about falling that involve a woman (Barbara Stanwyck). This is the weakest of the three stories. A fourth story was originally part of the film but Universal removed it. The following year they had a new screenwriter and director do additional material to add to the story, including a new happier ending. They released this as the movie "Destiny." Overall, not a bad movie but not a great one. Certainly it looks good. Director Julien Duvivier creates an ethereal atmosphere throughout.

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 ****

Flesh and Fantasy is a rare forties Hollywood attempt at an art film, and while I cannot say it's wholly successful, it's a good try. Directed by the highly esteemed French director Julian Duvivier and produced by the highly esteemed French actor Charles Boyer, it consists of three stories of the supernatural, told to Robert Benchley, in a framing device, in what appears to be a men's club. The first tale concerns a homely girl who is turned beautiful by the power of a mask sold to her by a strange little shopkeeper. It's a slight, lovely fable, well-acted by Betty Field and Bob Cummings. In the second story we find Edward G. Robinson in London, where a fortune teller reveals to him a fate he tries vainly to escape. The third segment, despite the presence of Charles Boyer and Barbara Stanwyck, is rather mediocre, and concerns predictions in a circus setting. Of these three tales the middle one, an adaptation of an Oscar Wilde story, is by far the best; it is also visually the most appealing. Duvivier brings a Gallic gentility to the film, and his compositions are excellent and always fastidious. One gathers that the movie must have been a labor of love for producer Charles Boyer. All the actors are in top form, and the picture does not at all feel like a product of the Universal studio of this period. Flesh and Fantasy is one of several wartime movies that dealt with the issues of death and fate, which were obviously hanging heavier than unusual on peoples' minds in those days. Off the top of my head I can think of Here Comes Mr. Jordan, I Married a Witch, A Guy Named Joe, Between Two Worlds, The Uninvited and The Picture Of Dorian Gray. Death, rather than dying, was a feature of most such films, which as a rule steered clear of anything grisly, which is to say reminiscent of battlefields. Flesh and Fantasy is quite good at this. With its soft chairs, cobbled streets and a convincing London bridge thrown in for good measure, it makes facing up to one's fate feel as comfortable and delicious a proposition as attending a masquerade ball.

Great fun for fans of those slightly off-kilter, dark 40's films which center around a strange and mysterious theme. In this case it's a man's obsession with dreams that are destined to come true. Features a trio of stories, and the best comes last. (plus an all-star cast!) A sister film to Three Strangers (1946).