Tales of Manhattan [VHS]

Tales of Manhattan [VHS]
by Julien Duvivier

Tales of Manhattan [VHS]

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Category: VHS Video
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Product details

Actor: Charles Boyer, Charles Laughton, Ginger Rogers, Henry Fonda, Rita Hayworth
Director: Julien Duvivier
Writer: Alan Campbell
Writer: Ben Hecht
Writer: Buster Keaton
Writer: Donald Ogden Stewart
Writer: Edmund Beloin
Writer: Ferenc Moln?r
Writer: Henry Blankfort
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Unknown)
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, NTSC
Running Time: 118 minutes
Release Date: 1996-05-07
Audience Rating: Unrated
Publisher: 20th Century Fox
Studio: 20th Century Fox

VHS Movie Reviews of Tales of Manhattan [VHS]

Movie Review: Fun all-star life-is-a-circle film undone just a bit by overly sappy ending
Summary: 4 Stars

*Bit of an ending SPOILER ahead*

I'm a sucker for the concept of the "life as a circle" in film, with some plot device used in most cases to carry the story from character to character through the whole film, possibly back to the person it started with and possibly not. This is one of the earlier examples I know of; Max Oph?ls' 1950 French film LA RONDE is probably the best-known and loved classic example; a couple of other well-known renditions of the basic idea are THE YELLOW ROLLS ROYCE (1964) and SLACKER (1991). It's always fun to see just how the filmmakers will maneuver the story to get back to the beginning, and just how readily they can make the characters' crossing of paths both interesting and at least faintly realistic. In this case, the ending is truly bizarre and unlikely, and almost kills a film which was a whole lot of fun up until that point.

There's a jacket, see, a handsome tailcoat that belongs to a famous Broadway start, and it's the jacket that migrates, from Charles Boyer the start to playboy Caesar Romero, on to would-be composer Charles Laughton and down-and-out lawyer Edward G. Robinson, while also touching friends, lovers and enemies like Elsa Lanchester, Rita Hayworth, Thomas Mitchell, Ginger Rogers, W.C. Fields, and Henry Fonda. All well and good with plenty of moments of intrigue, romance, and good old fashioned star-power, until the coat makes one last journey, out of an airplane and into the hands of a poor black man in some unnamed and somewhat unearthly southern town. Paul Robeson's voice and presence are certainly powerful enough, but they aren't alone enough to keep the last segment's religious mawkishness from leaving a bad taste in the mouth as songs are sung and massive amounts of money are miraculously found and put to good use by the poor townspeople. Well, it was the war, and I guess they needed an uplifting ending, and maybe at the time it seemed like nothing less than a miracle would do...

Still absolutely worth seeing, and one of the better all-star "revue" type films from the era. Director Julien Duvivier really ought to be better known generally; this probably isn't one of his best films by any means, but he invests it with a great deal of wit and a very facile and light touch in the transitions that keeps the film from betraying the essential determinism of the plot for quite a while.

Movie Review: A Not To Be Missed Film
Summary: 5 Stars

I first saw this movie years ago on AMC - I'd never heard of it but there wasn't anything else on, so I settled in to watch. After all, with the cast of stars including Rita Hayworth, Ginger Rogers, Henry Fonda, Charles Laughton and Edward G. Robinson, I figured it couldn't be too bad. I was wrong - it was GREAT! The story involves a tailcoat which is passed from one story to the next and affects the lives of each person who receives it. Some of the stories were pure 40's fluff and that's okay - I like fluff. But two of the "tales" especially touched my heart - so much so that here I sit, years later, writing a review that I hope will inspire someone else to watch this hidden gem. You'll see other people talk about the vignette with the great Edward G. and I agree - it's absolutely one of the best stories and the performance he gives is one for the ages. However, my personal favorite is the piece with Charles Laughton - a truly gifted and underrated actor. He plays a man of little means whose love of music leads him to a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to conduct a symphony orchestra performing his own composition. I don't want to give away too much but suffice it to say that there is a single moment in this story that will cause tears to form in your eyes - much in the way that I cry everytime I watch Harry Carey as the Vice President looks at Jimmy Stewart's Mr. Smith (Goes To Washington) at the very end of the film when it looks as if all hope is lost (that little smile he gives gets me everytime!) Tales of Manhatten is a wonderful film to watch again and again - it doesn't feel dated at all - because the glory of the human spirit is the same now as it has always been....enjoy!

Movie Review: fields
Summary: 4 Stars

The studio apparently agreed with the previous reviewer, since the W.C. Fields segment was cut from the movie when it was initially released in theaters.

Movie Review: That mythical place where everyone gets what he/she deserves
Summary: 5 Stars

Other reviewers have given plenty of information regarding the general shape of this film--stars, cast, vignettes. A wonderful collaboration of ten different writers who together with a cast of stars, character actors, the Hall Johnson Choir (one of the gems of the Harlem Renaissance), and probably every extra then available in Southern California trace the path of a tailcoat cursed by it's tailor. This film was released in September 1942, the same month the German 6th Army began it's advance on Stalingrad; it was, and should be, considered light entertainment. Not Frank Capra-ish, each vignette weaves into the next with the final feeling of the film leading the viewer to believe that people, good and bad, somehow get what they deserve. A gentle gem with a particularly wonderful performance by Edward G. Robinson. Watch it with an open mind.

Movie Review: A cavalcade of 20th Century Fox stars
Summary: 3 Stars

"Tales of Manhattan" was an essentially pointless series of vignettes starring a plethora of stars under contract to 20th Century Fox studios. The pretext for the story surrounded a finely tailored formal tailcoat which was purported to be cursed. The tailcoat represented a talisman of both good and evil as it was passed from character to character.

The tailcoat was first presented to Charles Boyer who was portraying wealthy actor Paul Orman. Boyer winds up getting shot by the husband of the ravishing Rita Hayworth, who was the object of his affections. The coat gets handed down by Boyer's valet and is soon involved in a witless passion play starring Henry Fonda, Ginger Rogers and Cesar Romero.

On and on the plot goes, with the coat get handed down from one person to another.

Clearly the highlight of the movie was a recently resored story involving the teetotaling professor W.C Fields who was extolling the virtues of coconut milk in a lecture sponsored by Margaret Dumont of Marx Brothers fame. Dumont's husband had secretly spiked the milk with gin creating a raucous scene with Field's at his vaudevillian best.

Edward G. Robinson starred in another good story involving the turn of fortune of a basically decent, down on his luck lawyer. He uses the coat to dress up for a 25 year college reunion and gets his dignity and self respect restored among his upper crust classmates.

The film was fairly entertaining but in no way would ever be confused with any memorable movie classic.

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