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Post by Doghouse6 on Jul 9, 2019 15:49:25 GMT
Flesh and Fantasy (1943) Forgive me if this film's been mentioned already on the thread, but I've only just seen it for the first time and, as the self-proclaimed laziest man in town, have refrained from rechecking all ten pages thereof. Mirrors and reflections figure prominently in two of the three vignettes comprising director/producer Julien Duvivier's vaguely supernatural anthology of tall tales. In the first, embittered seamstress Betty Field believes her lack of physical beauty has kept her from love and fulfillment, until Mardi Gras, a mysterious stranger, a mask and a meeting with Robert Cummings - the man of her dreams she's admired from afar - convince her otherwise. The thematic territory covered will be familiar to those who've seen films such as The Enchanted Cottage and Mr. Skeffington. In the second, palm-reader Thomas Mitchell foretells that lawyer Edward G. Robinson will commit murder, and everywhere Robinson goes, his talkative reflection in mirrors, windows, glass tabletops and eyeglasses taunts him with suggestions that he take active measures to fulfill Mitchell's prophesy. The third (in which reflected images play no role at all) features Charles Boyer as a circus aerialist and Barbara Stanwyck as a woman about whom he dreamt before meeting her, and all three are linked by framing scenes with Robert Benchley as a gentlemen's club member who is unnerved by his own dreams. Each segment is reasonably predictable but well-presented and satisfying enough, with the aid of supporting players such as Dame May Whitty, Charles Winninger, C. Aubrey Smith, Anna Lee and Clarence Muse.
Thanks for the great pictures and review, doghouse. I've never seen this one. It sounds and looks like something I'd really appreciate though. Wonderful cast, and I know that Duvivier is highly respected by a lot of important filmmakers. He didn't make a lot of films in America, and I've only seen one: Tales of Manhattan (1942) , another anthology film. I really liked it, and now I look forward to seeing this one. Thanks for the introduction. As anthologies go, this one leans more toward the direction of Dead Of Night than Tales Of Manhattan with its emphasis on Twilight Zone-esque, "there are more things in Heaven and Earth" unexplained phenomena. In this sense, it's more stylistically unified and harmonious, although the "assorted chocolates" sampling of suspense to rom-com to pathos of Tales has its own appeal, along with strut-your-stuff opportunities for displaying directorial versatility. As was characteristic of Universal in the '40s, every effort is made to see that each dollar shows on the screen (not the least of which is embodied by some of the high-priced imported talent), and the Boyer sequence employs some of the best early traveling matte work* I've seen to place him pretty convincingly on the high wire above the crowds and sawdust far below. Allied Artists could only have wished to achieve results as good sixteen years later when sending Gilbert Roland across Niagara Falls in The Big Circus. *I'm guessing that Boyer must have tiptoed along a white line painted on a broad, stretched, neutrally-colored canvas - against which was printed the circus crowd background plate - that would allow just enough flexible "give" to sell the illusion (see what you think if you happen to catch it). You know how I love nuts-and-bolts technical minutia.
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Post by teleadm on Jul 9, 2019 17:56:33 GMT
Some mirrors from Key Largo 1948:    |
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Post by bravomailer on Jul 9, 2019 18:14:42 GMT
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (I hope it hasn't already been mentioned.)  |
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Post by hitchcockthelegend on Jul 10, 2019 9:01:51 GMT
Flesh and Fantasy (1943) Forgive me if this film's been mentioned already on the thread, but I've only just seen it for the first time and, as the self-proclaimed laziest man in town, have refrained from rechecking all ten pages thereof. Mirrors and reflections figure prominently in two of the three vignettes comprising director/producer Julien Duvivier's vaguely supernatural anthology of tall tales. In the first, embittered seamstress Betty Field believes her lack of physical beauty has kept her from love and fulfillment, until Mardi Gras, a mysterious stranger, a mask and a meeting with Robert Cummings - the man of her dreams she's admired from afar - convince her otherwise. The thematic territory covered will be familiar to those who've seen films such as The Enchanted Cottage and Mr. Skeffington.     In the second, palm-reader Thomas Mitchell foretells that lawyer Edward G. Robinson will commit murder, and everywhere Robinson goes, his talkative reflection in mirrors, windows, glass tabletops and eyeglasses taunts him with suggestions that he take active measures to fulfill Mitchell's prophesy.    The third (in which reflected images play no role at all) features Charles Boyer as a circus aerialist and Barbara Stanwyck as a woman about whom he dreamt before meeting her, and all three are linked by framing scenes with Robert Benchley as a gentlemen's club member who is unnerved by his own dreams. Each segment is reasonably predictable but well-presented and satisfying enough, with the aid of supporting players such as Dame May Whitty, Charles Winninger, C. Aubrey Smith, Anna Lee and Clarence Muse. Thanks for the heads up! I have a bent for these type of tales and recently watched and loved The Enchanted Cottage, so I tracked it down and watched last night. Will have a review up for next weeks thread, but quick interim thoughts. I find the running order disappointing, the last segment should have kicked things off and the superb Eddie G segment as the finale. That last segment outside of the high wire sequences I found pretty dull, which when considering the talent on show is such a shame. Eddie G rocks as usual, this part is a perfect aperitif to his Night Has a Thousand Eyes (1948) . The photography is superb, Cortez stamp all over things, with the first episode wonderfully off kilter, the Mardi Gras setting very noirish. Interesting to note that another episode was filmed to open this film but was pulled and would be extended to make the feature film Destiny (1944) (I'll have to see if that's available). Finally, there is at least one mirror shot in the last episode, right at the end with Boyer in his trailer sitting in front of the make-up mirror. 
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Post by lostinlimbo on Jul 13, 2019 7:52:43 GMT
  Debbie Harry in Union City (1980).
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Post by Doghouse6 on Jul 13, 2019 14:41:59 GMT
Thanks for the heads up! I have a bent for these type of tales and recently watched and loved The Enchanted Cottage, so I tracked it down and watched last night. Will have a review up for next weeks thread, but quick interim thoughts. I find the running order disappointing, the last segment should have kicked things off and the superb Eddie G segment as the finale. That last segment outside of the high wire sequences I found pretty dull, which when considering the talent on show is such a shame. Eddie G rocks as usual, this part is a perfect aperitif to his Night Has a Thousand Eyes (1948) . The photography is superb, Cortez stamp all over things, with the first episode wonderfully off kilter, the Mardi Gras setting very noirish. Interesting to note that another episode was filmed to open this film but was pulled and would be extended to make the feature film Destiny (1944) (I'll have to see if that's available). Finally, there is at least one mirror shot in the last episode, right at the end with Boyer in his trailer sitting in front of the make-up mirror. Reading your remarks, I realize now that I gave no thought to the order of the stories while watching it. But I can speculate after the fact about reasons they might have chosen to place them as they did. One could be that the order amps up the star power with each successive story: from Cummings and Field to Robinson to Stanwyck and Boyer. Another might have had to do with wartime entertainment tastes and moods: it opens with a very easy-to-take and wildly romantic fable; the middle episode, good as it is, is a brutal downer; the final one sent audiences home with another dose of romance along with feelings of hope and optimism. Just guesses. About the third segment, it's interesting to me that Stanwyck signed up for a role and story covering some thematic territory similar to that of Remember the Night, which she'd done only three years earlier. (Ginger Rogers and Joseph Cotten would do so the following year in 1944's I'll Be Seeing You). Elements of the Sadie Thompson character and story are echoed as well. And wouldn't Stanwyck have made a wonderful Sadie? I intend to see if I can track down Destiny too. I wish us both luck.
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Post by hitchcockthelegend on Jul 17, 2019 13:41:00 GMT
Thanks for the heads up! I have a bent for these type of tales and recently watched and loved The Enchanted Cottage, so I tracked it down and watched last night. Will have a review up for next weeks thread, but quick interim thoughts. I find the running order disappointing, the last segment should have kicked things off and the superb Eddie G segment as the finale. That last segment outside of the high wire sequences I found pretty dull, which when considering the talent on show is such a shame. Eddie G rocks as usual, this part is a perfect aperitif to his Night Has a Thousand Eyes (1948) . The photography is superb, Cortez stamp all over things, with the first episode wonderfully off kilter, the Mardi Gras setting very noirish. Interesting to note that another episode was filmed to open this film but was pulled and would be extended to make the feature film Destiny (1944) (I'll have to see if that's available). Finally, there is at least one mirror shot in the last episode, right at the end with Boyer in his trailer sitting in front of the make-up mirror. Reading your remarks, I realize now that I gave no thought to the order of the stories while watching it. But I can speculate after the fact about reasons they might have chosen to place them as they did. One could be that the order amps up the star power with each successive story: from Cummings and Field to Robinson to Stanwyck and Boyer. Another might have had to do with wartime entertainment tastes and moods: it opens with a very easy-to-take and wildly romantic fable; the middle episode, good as it is, is a brutal downer; the final one sent audiences home with another dose of romance along with feelings of hope and optimism. Just guesses. About the third segment, it's interesting to me that Stanwyck signed up for a role and story covering some thematic territory similar to that of Remember the Night, which she'd done only three years earlier. (Ginger Rogers and Joseph Cotten would do so the following year in 1944's I'll Be Seeing You). Elements of the Sadie Thompson character and story are echoed as well. And wouldn't Stanwyck have made a wonderful Sadie? I intend to see if I can track down Destiny too. I wish us both luck. There's a very good chance that a feel good factor was grabbed for due to the wartime era, though it's not a fully formed feel good, it's still ill fated love come the resolution. Maybe though? What we do know is that it wouldn't be long before noir would hit its straps and film makers were more than happy to close out their pics with bleak finales.  I love Remember the Night, lovely and ideal Xmas fare. I'll add another mirror image from F&F for the thread 
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Post by Doghouse6 on Jul 17, 2019 15:43:56 GMT
I'll add another mirror image from F&F for the thread I'm glad you found an image depicting the lens reflections. That's one I couldn't track down, so back at ya.
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Post by teleadm on Jul 18, 2019 17:13:59 GMT
A few mirrors from White Heat 1949:  Writing an important message for the police.   Mama Jarrett knows a policecar when she see's one in the rearview mirror. |
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Post by hitchcockthelegend on Jul 21, 2019 12:37:49 GMT
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Post by london777 on Jul 21, 2019 18:10:24 GMT
The Cranes are Flying (1957) Mikhail Kalatozov 
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Post by BATouttaheck on Aug 1, 2019 1:25:02 GMT
 The Bad Seed |
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Post by Lebowskidoo ππ·π on Aug 6, 2019 1:32:18 GMT
Jim Carrey in Me, Myself and Irene (2000)  Ed Helms in The Hangover (2009)  |
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Post by BATouttaheck on Aug 6, 2019 2:29:58 GMT
The Last Picture Show  |
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Post by BATouttaheck on Aug 7, 2019 4:00:20 GMT
Strangers on a Train   |
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Post by BATouttaheck on Aug 7, 2019 4:01:51 GMT
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Post by BATouttaheck on Aug 7, 2019 23:58:52 GMT
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Aug 10, 2019 21:02:29 GMT
Apologies if this has already been mentioned, but there are two memorable instances of reflected images in the film Road to Perdition (2002). One is in a mirror on a door, the other is in a window.
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Post by hitchcockthelegend on Aug 11, 2019 15:05:06 GMT
Miss Potter (2006)
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Post by Chalice_Of_Evil on Aug 12, 2019 5:20:53 GMT
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