Flesh and Fantasy

This trio of separate stories was an attempt to recreate the success of the similar TALES OF MANHATTAN. As the film opens, Benchley and Hoffman are sitting around their club one night, discussing dreams and elements of the supernatural. Their conversation provides the setups for the three stories. The first is set in New Orleans and features Field as a dressmaker who is angry and bitter about her plain looks. Mardi Gras is about to begin, and a mysterious masked man appears and gives her a mask to wear during the galas of Fat Tuesday. He assures her that wearing the mask will change her life, if she is willing to jettison the envy and hatred that gnaws at her. She meets handsome Cummings, a frustrated attorney, and their romance flourishes that night, but is consumed with dread at the thought of removing the mask. The second episode opens at a party where psychic Thomas Mitchell predicts Robinson will commit a murder. Robinson makes fun of the prediction and calls Mitchell a charlatan. But Robinson soon finds himself obsessed with the prediction and consumed with thoughts of murder. In the final story, Boyer is a circus aerialist who performs without a net while under the influence of alcohol. Boyer has a dream of Stanwyck being seated in the audience when he falls to his death. He eventually meets her on a sea voyage to America and learns she is a jewel thief. (Verleiher-Text)