A Not To Be Missed Film 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!
fields 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.
That mythical place where everyone gets what he/she deserves 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.
A cavalcade of 20th Century Fox 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.
Something for everybody. While not less than the sum of the parts, Tales Of Manhattan really IS just parts. And some of the parts don't quite fit.
But you get your money's worth. A fine and hillarious segment with Henry Fonda and Ginger Rodgers. A brilliant, but desparately sad performance from Edward G. Robinson. A slow, boring and wildly implausible tale with Charles Boyer and Rita Hayworth. But she looks so beautiful, its almost beyond belief.
Rounding it out is a politically incorrect piece with Paul Robeson and don't miss the recently resurected part with W.C. Fields giving a temperance lecture.
As they used to say "You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll experience the entire range of human emotion". Not bad for $20.
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