Unlimitedia Sick Product of a Sick System

SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Kinley This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

mark.waltz There's an old saying that begs movie audiences never to give away the end of the movie and as a huge classic film buff, I consider my life like a movie. Plot twists occur on a regular basis, minor characters are suddenly major, and major characters turn minor. But if somebody claimed that they knew the end of my story, I'd refuse to listen. Unlike the leading character in "Big Fish", I just don't want to know, otherwise the best stories yet to come might not happen.For three characters, knowing their fates (which isn't necessarily death) alters their behaviors, and one finds potential happiness, another a curse, and the third, possibly the ultimate end. An unattractive girl (Betty Field) learns the truth about what real beauty is; a middle aged man (Edward G. Robinson) discovers that he will kill someone; the third (George Raft) dreams of the lady who will scream at his apparent death, falling off of a trapeze wire. All three stories are part of Robert Benchley's study into the darker side of human existence, and the moods of the three stories makes this part Gothic melodrama, part love story, part horror and completely spiritual.The ensemble cast is stuffed with the best of Hollywood. For Betty Field, there's Robert Cummings, so transfixed by her kind words to him that he ignores the fact that the lips on her realistic looking mask doesn't move. Thomas Mitchell gives Eddie Robinson his fateful spell, while Dame May Witty, Anna Lee and C. Aubrey Smith are important people he fears he may kill. For Charles Boyer, he has the visions of Barbara Stanwyck who turns up on a cruise, adding to his nightmares and bringing a surprise romance.Three short stories, all tightly told and luxuriously produced, directed with artistic flair by Julien Duvivier who knows a thing or two about artistic flair. There's something appealing in each entry, and the cast makes each little detail in their character stand out because of the abbrevity of their screen time. I can't pick a standout performance, but the middle segment with Robinson is by far the spookiest and thus my favorite.

utgard14 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.

fedor8 The first story is overly sentimental and "character-rushed", with Betty Field who we are supposed to think is ugly(!), becoming beautiful after a "Twilight Zone"-like moral lesson. (I'm surprised they didn't serve us Vivien Leigh or de Havilland as the ugly woman.) The second story is the best and most original one, with a predictable ending but at least it remains interesting throughout. The blonde falling in love with Edward G. Robinson is as realistic as Betty Field being ugly.The third story: Boyer is quite sympathetic and Stanwick is good, but the story's ending isn't finite. Boyer's deliveries of lines like "I have been searching for you such a long time" and "You are the woman of my dream" are borderline funny because they epitomize the cliché of the smooth-talking Frenchman wooing a woman; Pepe Le Pew immediately came to mind (who must have been modeled after Boyer).

David Atfield This is a rather plodding series of three films dealing with dreams and pre-destination. The best is the central one, based on a Noel Coward story, in which Edward G. Robinson, Thomas Mitchell, Dame May Whitty and C. Aubrey Smith are all excellent. The first and last episodes are quite weak - and the linking sequences with Robert Benchley are just awful. But the film looks great, with interesting montages and great lighting. Overall though pretty disappointing.