Flesh and Fantasy

Rare film with interesting stories.

Good short stories

This is a film that most fans of old movies are unfamiliar with. It isn't exactly a horror anthology film, although the stories deal with the supernatural and belief in fate and premonitions. The first story, about a mask, is perhaps the best. It feels like it inspired a famous Twilight Zone episode. The second story, with Edward G. Robinson, is darkly humorous and well done. The final story, with Barbara Stanwyck, is well-done but the ending needs more punch. Perhaps "Flesh and Fantasy" works best if you know not to approach it as a horror film.

The third segment of this film is a complete loss. The first segment begins well, but a badly conceived narrator's patter dilutes its effectiveness. The second segment, however is just right, hard as a diamond, cynical and cruel. Edward G. Robinson lifts his actor's reputation higher as the self made target of a fortune teller.

Lots of fun and great cast.

Always loved this movie, DVD plays fine and quality looks good. No complaints.

It is a fantasy. I had a hard time following all the story lines.

I have been waiting quite a while for the release of 1943's FLESH AND FANTASY. The concept holding the film together is rather weak but the three stories are interesting. The third story with Barbara Stanwyck and Charles Boyer is a bit confusing. Why is she a wanted woman? Was it a dream? Makes no sense. The first story with Betty Field as an ugly woman who wears a mask and eventually finds her true beauty is rather moving. What a wonderful story. The second story is the showcase. Edward G. Robinson is told by a psychic that he will murder someone. Will he? Enough said. Tune in yourselves. Great story. Overall I would recommend this rare film. I've been noticing that Amazon is discontinuing most of the Universal Vault Series, so get this classic before it becomes unavailable.

Las tres historias fantásticas que ofrece este film tenían posibilidades que el guión no realiza. Consiguen entretener, pero no transmitir la ilusión de lo sobrenatural, pues resultan convencionales y poco imaginativas.

Piacevole film in tre episodi collegati (esilmente) da una simpatica conversazione tra due amici, uno dei quali la annaffia abbondantemente di buon (credo proprio così) scotch. Più modesto il primo episodio (dove però l'interprete, che dovrebbe essere brutta, è molto bella), migliori gli altri due. Buoni interpreti (e non potrebbe essere altrimenti, visti i nomi), buona la qualità del DVD.

It was good to see again

It is good to see that Universal has put out Flesh and Fantasy, even if only on a DVD-made-on-demand basis. This edition runs 89 minutes and 31 seconds on my player. That is 4 to 5 minutes shorter than the time listed on the IMDb, but it does not seem that anything has been cut from the film. Perhaps this is a speeded-up version (as explained in an Amazon.com review which suggests that this DVD was made from a PAL transfer). Like other Universal Vault DVD-MODs, this one lacks any special features or scene menu. You just pop in the DVD and it plays. If you want to find a particular scene, you have to fast forward or rewind. I should add that I now own two Universal Vault DVD-MODs, and both have played perfectly well on my DVD player. I wish I could say the same about my Warner Archive DVD-Rs, which have all had skipping problems and have had to be returned for replacements (which themselves skip, if not quite as badly). Warner should find out how to do the job right from Universal. The print and sound of this edition of Flesh and Fantasy are reasonably good, for a movie from 1943 that has not been properly preserved and has had no restoration done on it. There are numerous small flaws in the image -- sparkles, vertical lines, etc. -- but none of them persist for very long, and most of the film can be watched without distraction. The sound, contrary to what the aforementioned Amazon.com reviewer says, does not distort Edward G. Robinson's voice, at least, not noticeably. It is not, as the reviewer suggested, youthfully high-pitched. It sounds like the normal Robinson voice to me. This is an anthology horror film by Universal, perhaps the first talkie anthology horror film (there was a German silent anthology, *Waxworks*); it predates the British *Dead of Night* by two years. The structure of these films is: an opening and closing framing scene, with free-standing episodes in between, and a bit of linking between episodes via a return to the framing scene. In this case, the framing sequence is two men talking in the library of a gentleman's club about dreams, fate, etc.; one fellow starts to read some creepy stories about fate to the other, and the stories that are read constitute the body of the film. The individual stories are all interesting; none of them is weak, and the middle story, with Edward G. Robinson, is quite strong. The atmosphere, thanks to the direction of Julien Duvivier (who rarely directed Universal films), is dark and moody throughout. There is great acting, as usual, by Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson, and there are strong performances by Charles Boyer, Bob Cummings, and Betty Field in lead roles, with excellent supporting work by Thomas Mitchell, C. Aubrey Smith, Dame May Whitty, Charles Winninger, Robert Benchley and others. For those who associate Universal only with the great movie monsters -- Dracula, Frankenstein, etc. -- this film will come as a pleasant surprise. It is, in its own off-beat way, a good horror film. Credit goes to Julien Duvivier, of course, who was probably a better director than some of the in-house directors that Universal used for many of the second-tier horror films, but credit goes also to Universal for putting the feature together in the first place, using many non-Universal contract players from other studios. The price on this DVD-MOD is a bit steep, but when you consider that there is no other way of seeing this extremely rare film, and that it is still cheaper than, say, a Criterion DVD, it is acceptable. There are no special features -- which is to be regretted; there should have been a featurette on the relationship of this film to the Universal film *Destiny* (1944) which was originally to be part of the anthology and then split off into a film of its own (unfortunately not yet available on DVD or VHS). Nonetheless, this is a watchable and apparently complete version of a nearly forgotten and greatly underrated Universal film, and no Universal horror fan should be without it. I cannot give 5 stars to a DVD product which does not have even a scene menu, so 4 stars is all that this one earns.

Worth watching for the Robinson episode alone.