Robert Benchley is upset by a dream he's had and it takes three tales of slightly paranormal goings on to get him over the jitters, along with two thirds of a bottle of scotch. It's rather like "The Twilight Zone" with more subtlety and no science fiction. Or, if we compare it to a feature film, the English "Dead of Night" comes to mind.Tale number one is set in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. (It's always Mardi Gras in New Orleans movies.) Betty Field is a real schlub, dressed in rags, disheveled, mean spirited, and deeply in love with her neighbor, Robert Cummings. She dons the mask of a beautiful woman, runs into Cummings on the street, and they get all hormonal. At midnight, when she reluctantly removes her mask, she's radiant. The radiance is augmented by her sparkling costume, fresh make up, and stylish hair. It really IS a remarkable change. She glows with good-heartedness.The second story is from Oscar Wilde but it seems more like Poe. It's about a self-fulfilling prophecy. A palmist, Thomas Mitchell, tells Edward G. Robinson that Robinson is going to murder someone. E.G., a respectable fellow, thinks it's nonsense but over time convinces himself that he must kill somebody before he can get on with his life and his plans for marriage to the beautiful Annabelle Lee -- I mean Anna Lee, not Annabelle. So he kills somebody.In the third story, Charles Boyer is a circus tightrope walker. He has a dream in which he falls during a difficult stunt and the image that sticks with him is Barbara Stanwyck, a stranger, shrieking in the audience.The three stories having been read, Benchley duly exits the scene by turning it all into a joke and squeezing past a step ladder rather than walking under it.Universal Studios wasn't noted for nuance. Their staples were movies about Francis the talking mule and the Abbott and Costello series. But this is pretty good. The director, Julien Duvivier, brought impressive panache to the production. The imagery isn't highly stylized but the superb lighting turns the spooky scenes even more impressive. Alexander Tansman's musical score fits the movie perfectly -- sprightly yet with portentous overtones.The acting is seasoned and professional. Bess Flowers, who appeared in more movies than anyone else on earth, is here. Thomas Mitchell looks half deranged as the palm reader. Barbara Stanwyck is alluring enough to seduce an ordinary insurance salesman, as she did in the same year's "Double Indemnity," only here without the fake blond pompadour.Most of the dialog is functional but there are a few lines that sparkle here and there. Robinson tells Mitchell that he's not interested in the past, only the future, and Mitchell replies, "But Mr. Marshall, the future IS the past. One slides gently into the other. Look around you. Poof -- it's past." Cute.It's a movie made for adults rather than kids, though they might get a kick out of it too. If you enjoy it, take a crack at the more tightly wound "Dead of Night." Try it while stoned.

As far as I know, not many movies in the 1940s dealt with topics like dreams, magic, predestination, premonition....the supernatural in general; most horror and / or fantasy films of the era were about monsters, mad scientists, and old dark houses. "Flesh And Fantasy" is quite different from such movies, which may in large part be attributed to the involvement (as director and co-producer) of the French Julien Duvivier. It consists of three stories: the first one is both an eerie twist on the classic "Cinderella" fairy tale and a lyrical love story, with a remarkable performance by Betty Field, who has to act a lot with her voice and her amazing eyes, as her face is covered by a mask for most of the running time. The second story presents a brain-twisting cause-and-effect paradox (Edward G. Robinson decides to kill someone only because a chiromantist tells him that he will....but the chiromantist only tells him that he will because he sees in the future that Robinson will decide it!), and a clever visualization of Robinson's "talks" with his conscience - "it" appears as his own shadow and mirror image; overall, it is the best of the three. The third story also has a grabber of a premise, a great dream sequence, and two glossy stars (Charles Boyer and Barbara Stanwyck) at their near-peak, but the ending is a bit of a cop-out. The other thing that hurts this movie is the elimination of a fourth episode which was shot by Duvivier, and which apparently explains the discovery of the drowned body which opens the first (in the film's present form) story. So perhaps not a great film like it might have been originally, but still a very good one. *** out of 4.

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 ****

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).