Tags:
Film: Flesh and Fantasy
Year: 1943
Director: Julien Duvivier
Writers: Ernest Pascal, Samuel Hoffenstein and Ellis St. Joseph
Starring: Edward G. Robinson, Charles Boyer and Barbara Stanwyck
Review:
This was a movie that I discovered when searching for horror from 1943 for my Traverse through the Threes. I ended up buying the Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray of it since I couldn’t find this streaming. What made it easier was seeing that Edward G. Robinson and Barbara Stanwyck starred in this, as they’re actors I’ve seen other of their works. Plus, knowing about the history of cinema, they were up there as tops in their craft during this era. Other than that, I came into this one blind.
Synopsis: an anthology of three loosely connect occult tales with ironic and romantic twists.
We start at what would be considered a gentlemen’s club from back in the day. Davis (David Hoffman) is there reading and Doakes (Robert Benchley) comes in. The latter is uneasy due to seeing a fortune teller the previous night that predicted he’d do something. Davis calls him out on being superstitious to which Doakes says he’s not. What threw him off was that night he had a dream that contradicted what the fortune teller said. This has him confused. Davis tells him that this reminds him of a story he read. Doakes doesn’t want to hear it but gets pulled in to listening.
This is where we start the first of our three stories. We are in New Orleans on the last night of Mardi Gras. A man is fished out of the water. This brings Henrietta (Betty Field) to Michael (Robert Cummings) in the crowd. Ahead of this, Henrietta had a tiff with a customer. She made her a costume but didn’t have the money to pay. She refused to give it to her and this caused the customer to say harsh words. Henrietta doesn’t see herself as pretty and it has made her bitter with the world. She’s fallen for Michael, even though they’ve never spoken.
Things change for her when she meets a stranger in a mask shop, played by Edgar Barrier. He allows her a mask to wear. She just must return it by midnight. Henrietta draws the attention from everyone she passes. She ends up at a café where she finds Michael. The two spend the night together and to her dismay, she learns he’s given up his studies to be a sailor. She takes the rest of their time together to change his mind. This may cause him to fall in love with her, but her confidence still isn’t there and could make it a problem.
We then go back to Doakes and Davis. The former decides to read the next two stories by himself and they flow into each other. The first follows Marshall Tyler (Robinson) as he attends a séance put on by Lady Pamela Hardwick (May Whitty). The psychic is Septimus Podgers (Thomas Mitchell). He makes bold statements until he gets to Marshall. There is something troubling that he sees and this drives Marshall mad. He visits Mr. Podgers at his place and learns that his hands tell him he will kill someone. This becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy as he tries to control this, but it isn’t as easy as he thinks.
Then our last story is at a circus. Paul Gaspar (Charles Boyer) is the star and his act is that he pretends to be drunk while doing a tightrope act. He is retiring and this is last performance. He dozes off and has a nightmare that his last go ends disastrously. He also sees a beautiful woman in the crowd. Paul backs out of going through with it, being unable to concentrate. It is after this that he meets Joan Stanley (Stanwyck) on the ship to America as he sticks with the circus for a bit longer. It is on the ship that he has another dream of Joan being arrested. He must decide to face these fears or descend into madness to prevent them.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I’ll start is by breaking down each of these shorts through the story and acting with a section at the end for filmmaking since we have the same director for all three. I did like that we have a wraparound story. It isn’t one that is new. I can think of ones that use this same concept after it. It might even be used in the Turn of the Screw. I cannot confirm that though. I like as well that Davis suckers in Doakes with that first tale and then the next two deal with the parts of what is making him uneasy. I’m not sure that will get resolved though.
Now with that out of the way, let’s start with the first story. This feels like it is borrowing from Cinderella. We have this lowly woman with Henrietta. She doesn’t believe that she is beautiful and these negative thoughts have soured her. It takes Michael to meet her with a mask on and fall in love with someone that truly cares about what is best for him. Where it ends up is a bit of a fairy tale as it is the Hollywood ending. We don’t get much horror here, but I liked it overall. Field is good as our lead and I like how she plays off Cummings. Barrier is also solid as the ‘fairy godfather’ as well. There is a supernatural angle there.
Our second story is based off the story: Lord Arthur Saville’s Crime by Oscar Wilde. This one is dealing with self-fulfilling prophecy. Marshall is told he will commit a crime. In knowing this, he’s trying to control it. This causes him to descend into madness. I like that he is suckered in through a talk with a fortune teller. Marshall is a lawyer, so you’d expect him to be more grounded. Robinson does an excellent job here as our lead. I like that he’s trying to control his future instead of just living his life. He has stakes to lose as well when Rowena (Anna Lee) finally gives in to wanting to marry him. This also isn’t necessarily horror outside of the idea of him going crazy and where it ends up as well.
Then our last story is an interesting follow up to the last one. I like how 2 and 3 are looking at the fortune teller and dreams that have Doakes bothered. What is interesting here is that he doesn’t know if he should trust this dream or not. This makes him shaky. This gets reinforced when he meets Joan. She was in it. He falls for her, but she has a dark past so she keeps him at arm’s length. When he does something that he thinks changes an outcome, he gets his confidence back. I thought that Boyer was good as Paul and Stanwyck was solid as Joan here. Charles Winninger was also solid King Lamarr who runs the circus. Another one that I wouldn’t necessarily call horror, but it’s another story of our lead being driven to madness to prevent things from happening. It is just done differently.
All that is left then is filmmaking. I thought that this was well-made. The cinematography is good. What I didn’t realize was that the director here was prolific in France. He didn’t seem to have the same success in America. There is a featurette that I saw where Christophe Gans, another director, is giving history and background for Julien Duvivier. It gives me a different perspective about our director. I think this is done well in setting the scenarios and establishing them. We don’t get much in the way of effects outside of the third story. There is superimposing Paul to make it look like he's on a tightrope. I did appreciate that though. I’d also say that the soundtrack was solid in fitting what was needed. They use voice-over to give a bit more insight. I like it as a conscious in the first story and the other two use it to convey that something is driving our characters mad.
I also wanted to include this section here after watching this with the commentary. It is done by historian/author Barry Forshaw and film critic/author Kim Newman. The amount of information they give is astounding. There are things that I didn’t know about the cast and crew, which helps me appreciate this commentary more. There is also interesting insight to things that were changed due to the Hayes Code. They bring up the missing short and how the order would be changed. It explains why the circus story ends this portmanteau and it would make more sense to the body that is fished out in the beginning as well. I’ll be honest, I could listen to this duo talk all day. So much knowledge and insight.
In conclusion, I’m not entirely sure that this is a horror film, but I can see elements. Since it is listed on Letterboxd that way, I’m keeping it in. This is a solid anthology film that is grounded while using supernatural elements. We have good acting, especially from our leads of Robinson, Boyer and Field. This is a well-made movie. The cinematography is crisp and that brings to life where things are. The soundtrack and design also help here. Not one I can necessarily recommend to horror fans. I would recommend it to fans of cinema, especially for this era of filmmaking.
My Rating: 7.5 out of 10