Flesh and Fantasy (1943 film)

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Flesh and Fantasy is a 1943 anthology film, directed by Julien Duvivier, starring Edward G. Robinson, Charles Boyer and Barbara Stanwyck.

The film tells three stories, unrelated but with a supernatural theme, by Oscar Wilde, Ellis St. Joseph and László Vadnay. Tying together the three segments is a conversation about the occult between two clubmen, one played by humorist Robert Benchley.

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

In the first segment, plain, bitter Henrietta (Betty Field) secretly loves law student Michael ([Robert Cummings]). On Mardi Gras night, a mysterious stranger gives her a mask of beauty that she must return at midnight. Cummings falls in love with Henrietta, not seeing her face. Henrietta removes the mask and she is now beautiful.

In the second segment, based on an Oscar Wilde story, a palmist named Podgers (Thomas Mitchell) is making uncannily accurate predictions at a party. He tells skeptic Marshal Tyler (Edward G. Robinson) that he will murder someone. The notion obsesses Tyler, who decides that he must kill someone. He comes close to killing two people, but does not do so. He finally meets Podgers one night and, feeling that he must kill someone, kills the palmist.

In the third segment, high wire artist Gaspar (Charles Boyer) is haunted by dreams of falling and by the woman (Barbara Stanwyck) who appears in the dreams.