One of my all time favorites.

Boring

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Charles Boyer's performance - 1st tale: the triangle love affair-was great as ever, Henry Fonda's- 2nd tale: The best man and the bride- quiet shy character is the secret of his charm and the key behind his brilliant performance, not only in this role but in every role he had ever played. The tales themselves were intriguing, Beautiful writing, fast and easy going. with unexpected resolutions. EXCEPT for the 3rd tale: the Musician. The scene with the audience's laughing was one of the most stupid scenes I have ever seen. I cannot believe that the people were really that superficial, and for that matter, no audience has a taste for classic music music could be that cruel and superficial. Weren't any philosopher, priest, teacher among them? Weren't any humble and compassionate soul among them? I cannot believe it, and that is why the scene was stupid and unrealistic. Probably I am mistaken, the people were and still are very much superficial regardless the level of their education, they follow the crowd blindly with absent minds. The 4th tale: class 1917 was truly wonderful; the writer expressed the idea in a very deep elegant manner, to the opposite of the writer if the 3rd tale. The 5th and the last tale, on the surface, it included Christian concept of loving each other and wishes' granted ideas. However, if someone wants to read in the depth of the story, it contained socialist\communist ideas. The movie is a "must see". Just neglect the 3rd tale.

TALES OF MANHATTAN (20th C. Fox, 1942): The name of this film could very well be "Tails of Manhattan," as it is a series of episodes linked together by a custom-made tailcoat and the fortune, or lack of, it brings to those who wear it. The first episode concerns a love triangle between Charles Boyer (the coat's first owner), Rita Hayworth, and the ever-dependable Thomas Mitchell. The coat then moves to another owner, Cesar Romero, and his pal, the shy Henry Fonda. Cesar palms off the tails on Henry Fonda who is to be best man at his wedding to Ginger Rogers. He put a love letter from another woman in the pocket and Rogers finds it. Romero has Fonda claim the cutaway – and the contents – were his. It works only too well, as Rogers dumps Romero for Fonda.The coat is then sold to a thrift shop and purchased by Elsa Lanchester for her husband, Charles Laughton, a poor musician making ends meet playing piano in a sleazy restaurant. He gets to see his dream come true by conducting the symphony he has written, but the coat dooms him when it begins to fall apart at the seams. Laughton recovers with the help of the symphony master and takes off the coat to continue his concert. At this point I have quite a few tears in my eyes. Only Laughton can get away with this. The men in the audience then show their solidarity by taking off their coats.The coat next comes into the possession of down-and-out disbarred lawyer Edward G. Robinson. James Gleason, the pastor at the mission, gives it to Eddie G. so he can attend his college reunion. While there he runs into snobbish, antagonistic classmate George Sanders, who knows the truth about Eddie G. and makes use of another classmate's loss of money to embarrass Robinson. The scene of Robinson keeping his dignity throughout the scene as he comes clean is nothing short of remarkable acting and Sanders is wonderful as his straight man. Eddie G. returns to the mission and all looks lost, but three of his classmates arrive and offer him a job on Wall Street. Again, more tears in my eyes. Eddie's reaction out of the sight on the stairs is precious. Pastor Gleason has the coat taken across the street to the Santelli Bros. used clothing store to resale. Gleason is also terrific as the pastor of the mission.The coat's next owner is W.C. Fields, playing his usual conman role. Phil Silvers does a nice turn as the seller of the coat and Fields is engaged by Margaret Dumont to speak on the evils of alcohol to Dumont's high society friends. What he doesn't know is that the coconut milk being served at the lecture has been liberally spiked by Dumont's son in revenge for here cutting off his nightlife. This marks the last appearance by Fields on film. To watch Fields delivering his lecture is truly to see a comic master at work.The coat is then taken in a burglary by J. Carroll Naish. He uses it to rob a Park Avenue social gathering. During his escape in an airplane the coat catches fire and he ends up throwing it overboard, where it lands in the field of poor farmers Paul Robeson and Ethel Waters on Christmas Eve. They bring the coat and the cash to their pastor, played by Eddie Anderson. The pastor disburses the cash to the entire community so no one goes without on Christmas.Charles Beaumont later adapted this theme for an episode of The Twilight Zone entitled "Dead Man's Shoes."The only glitch in the film is Boyer's heavy French accent, which reminded me so much of Pepe Le Pew that I cracked up just listening.

In New York, a man's dress coat, supposedly cursed by a disgruntled tailor, changes the lives of those who come in contact with it. They are: Charles Boyer as a suave actor wooing married Rita Hayworth, Henry Fonda as a nerd who stops Ginger Rogers from marrying skirt-chaser Cesar Romero, Charles Laughton as an aspiring musician, Edward G. Robinson as an unemployed alcoholic about to attend his class reunion, and Paul Robeson and Ethel Waters as poor black farmers (another story starring W.C. Fields was trimmed in 1942 but later became available on home-video--it adds nothing). Short stories told mostly in expert fashion, though some are obviously better than others. Fonda and Rogers are such an odd twosome that the second episode is probably the weakest; the exceptional performances by Laughton and Robinson make their installments the strongest. However, the striking finale, complete with heavenly light and hallelujah chorus, looks so different from the rest (and is filmed like a mini-epic) that it appears to be a reel from another movie altogether. Overall, an entertaining piece for the actors, particularly Robinson as the ultimate underdog, surprisingly vulnerable in an Oscar-worthy turn. **1/2 from ****

I think it's fairly safe to say that this is the finest film that Julien Duvivier made outside France, let alone made in America; Anna Karenina which he made in England doesn't really compete with the Don Camillo films he shot in Italy - in fact on reflection The Little World Of Don Camillo may tie Tales Of Manhattan for Best-Duvivier-Made-Outside-France. He was a master of the 'anthology' movie and both Un Carnet de bal and Sous le ciel de Paris are outstanding examples that had the advantage of tighter scripting - in Tales Of Manhattan the roster of credited writers threatens to outnumber the cast and Duvivier deserves a small accolade for unifying so many diverse styles into a cohesive whole. Others have provided details of the several episodes as well as pointing out that not Every sequence takes place in Manhattan, notably the final sequence which is set in the Deep South and provides a perfect coda when the tuxedo in question finds a final resting place on a scarecrow. It feels as if every Hollywood actor who wasn't on active service in 1942 was on Duvivier's set standing up to be counted and Phil Silvers is brilliant in an all-too-brief segment working a pre-Bilko scam on W.C. Fields. A delight.