It's a dream come true:my favourite French director ,Julien Duvivier ,directing American stars I've always admired.And it is a film made up of sketches,a field where Duvivier bows to no one,in his native country.He had already made "UN Carnet de Bal " and its remake "Lydia" but the American audience never knew that he would take the genre to its absolute limits in the fifties with "Sous le Ciel de Paris" and "La Fete A Henriette" (poorly remade as "Paris when it sizzles ")
"Tales of Manhattan" deals with the whims of fate ,a subject Duvivier loved during all his life.Six destinies ,where Duvivier shows his sense of humor ,his complete mastery of the picture,his unexpected twists.The connection between the segments is rather tenuous (a tux),"Manahattan" has not yet the perfection of "Sous le Ciel de Paris".But its eclecticism is stunning,this could be a film equivalent of the Beatles' famous White Album.It takes us to so many places ,from the slums to the bourgeois desirable mansions,from a party at the Waldorf's hotel to a poor village of black people ...One should note that the screenplays are not by Duvivier himself ,and Edward G .Robinson's segment would have been given a harsher treatment in France.
Segment one or "the dear hunter" Duvivier casts his compatriot Charles Boyer as a stage actor;This is the well-known tale of the love triangle ,and the mistress is none other than the sumptuous Rita Hayworth.Duvivier gambles on the "acting " thing and he makes it a winner.His technique has something HItchcockesque here when he shows the three characters' hands in close-up.With its reversals of situation,it looks like Shaffer/mankiewicz's "Sleuth" in miniature.
Segment two or" the lion does not sleep tonight" A woman (Rogers) is to get married but one of her female friends advises her to have a look in her soon-to-be-hubby's pocket.She finds a " scented bill" which is not a bill at all.Enter Henry Fonda who comes to the fiancé's rescue...a bit Lubischesque.Revenge is a dish best eaten cold.
Segment three or "It (used to) fit like a glove" An obscure musician (Laughton) becomes a genius overnight thanks to his symphony .Tonight's the night :in front of a posh audience,he conducts the symphonic orchestra till...The French audience will think of that sequence of "La Fin du jour" (1939)when Michel Simon collapses on stage.And it was Victor Francen ,who after his death ,said to us all "the show must go one" .It is Victor Francen here too and he says "continue" .It's some kind of spoof on "la Fin du Jour" and it's brilliant.
Segment four: "Every dog has his day" is my favourite and Edward G.Robinson gives the most moving performance of the whole film.Old University pals throw a party at the Waldorf's.One of them has become a tramp.And there's also a man who knows him and tries to humiliate him (George Sanders,who else?).The way Robinson maintains his dignity is admirable ,even the if the ending is more Capra than Duvivier.
Segment five or "Cocoa milk cocktail" :essentially an interlude,it's the shortest part.But this lecture on that enemy which kills slowly (alcohol) by an earnest professor whose audience (posh ladies,chic gentlemen) become all drunk cause the hostess's husband ,a joker,has poured liquor into the cocoa nut milk,is worth the price of admission.
Segment six or "the lord moves in mysterious ways" After a hold up ,two men try to get to Mexico,but the plane catches fire and the tux full of dough falls on a field where two black farmers think it is a Godsend.But,says the wife,have we really prayed the Lord for THAT? This will be a memorable Christmas for all of them,which Frankenheimer might have remembered for the conclusion of his "reindeer games" .In a sweet atmosphere of Negro spirituals and angelic choruses,everybody's praying the Lord and celebrating,the tux will find its destiny too.
Duvivier would continue in the film-made-up-of -sketches genre with his follow-up "flesh and fantasy " ,another movie crying to be seen.
Jean Tulard ,the most eminent French critic of our time wrote about Duvivier:"Une Oeuvre d'une Richesse et d'Une Diversité Incroyable!" When it came to telling a story (or stories more like) Duvivier was never surpassed in France.
"Tales of Manhattan" deals with the whims of fate ,a subject Duvivier loved during all his life.Six destinies ,where Duvivier shows his sense of humor ,his complete mastery of the picture,his unexpected twists.The connection between the segments is rather tenuous (a tux),"Manahattan" has not yet the perfection of "Sous le Ciel de Paris".But its eclecticism is stunning,this could be a film equivalent of the Beatles' famous White Album.It takes us to so many places ,from the slums to the bourgeois desirable mansions,from a party at the Waldorf's hotel to a poor village of black people ...One should note that the screenplays are not by Duvivier himself ,and Edward G .Robinson's segment would have been given a harsher treatment in France.
Segment one or "the dear hunter" Duvivier casts his compatriot Charles Boyer as a stage actor;This is the well-known tale of the love triangle ,and the mistress is none other than the sumptuous Rita Hayworth.Duvivier gambles on the "acting " thing and he makes it a winner.His technique has something HItchcockesque here when he shows the three characters' hands in close-up.With its reversals of situation,it looks like Shaffer/mankiewicz's "Sleuth" in miniature.
Segment two or" the lion does not sleep tonight" A woman (Rogers) is to get married but one of her female friends advises her to have a look in her soon-to-be-hubby's pocket.She finds a " scented bill" which is not a bill at all.Enter Henry Fonda who comes to the fiancé's rescue...a bit Lubischesque.Revenge is a dish best eaten cold.
Segment three or "It (used to) fit like a glove" An obscure musician (Laughton) becomes a genius overnight thanks to his symphony .Tonight's the night :in front of a posh audience,he conducts the symphonic orchestra till...The French audience will think of that sequence of "La Fin du jour" (1939)when Michel Simon collapses on stage.And it was Victor Francen ,who after his death ,said to us all "the show must go one" .It is Victor Francen here too and he says "continue" .It's some kind of spoof on "la Fin du Jour" and it's brilliant.
Segment four: "Every dog has his day" is my favourite and Edward G.Robinson gives the most moving performance of the whole film.Old University pals throw a party at the Waldorf's.One of them has become a tramp.And there's also a man who knows him and tries to humiliate him (George Sanders,who else?).The way Robinson maintains his dignity is admirable ,even the if the ending is more Capra than Duvivier.
Segment five or "Cocoa milk cocktail" :essentially an interlude,it's the shortest part.But this lecture on that enemy which kills slowly (alcohol) by an earnest professor whose audience (posh ladies,chic gentlemen) become all drunk cause the hostess's husband ,a joker,has poured liquor into the cocoa nut milk,is worth the price of admission.
Segment six or "the lord moves in mysterious ways" After a hold up ,two men try to get to Mexico,but the plane catches fire and the tux full of dough falls on a field where two black farmers think it is a Godsend.But,says the wife,have we really prayed the Lord for THAT? This will be a memorable Christmas for all of them,which Frankenheimer might have remembered for the conclusion of his "reindeer games" .In a sweet atmosphere of Negro spirituals and angelic choruses,everybody's praying the Lord and celebrating,the tux will find its destiny too.
Duvivier would continue in the film-made-up-of -sketches genre with his follow-up "flesh and fantasy " ,another movie crying to be seen.
Jean Tulard ,the most eminent French critic of our time wrote about Duvivier:"Une Oeuvre d'une Richesse et d'Une Diversité Incroyable!" When it came to telling a story (or stories more like) Duvivier was never surpassed in France.