"Flesh and Fantasy" is a 1943 effort that presents an ensembled anthology of stories within that fits somewhat within the narrative of the presented title of the film itself. At face value, the title fully gives the appearance of aged dime store pulp novel motif, which is somewhat of experience your given. The only somewhat difference is rather than getting something that has the ethos of a crime noir in a pulp novel, you are getting a series of three fantasy driven stories. They aren't really an ensemble of horror within their narrative, more of that blended mix of blurring the lines of reality that we would get later on with an assortment of episodes from Rod Sterling's "The Twilight Zone" (1959-1964). As a brief overview without giving twists away before viewing, the film gives us three presented stories to sit through, each with their theming. This is all transitioned as if they were being told in conversation between two gentlemen sharing interesting stories. The first story, taking place during the events of Mardi Gras presents a narrative of a woman and the exploration of masks and facial beauty. The second story, connectively based on Oscar Wilde's "Lord Arthur Savile's Crime" features Edward G. Robinson obsessing on a premonition of murder given to him by a palm reader. The third presented tale features another preemptive build, but this time of a trapeze artist fixated on falling to his death. That feature notably features Barbara Stanwyck as the love interest in the story.There is really not much more to it outside of the anthology build that it is. Some have taken a noticing that the film lacks horror energy, but in reality, I see it more that was not the real intended driver of the film in first place, but rather more of a mental billing by common society expecting that they are going to get a series of spooky stories that usually comes along with the theme of anthology. True to its title in the first place, the film presents films that don't conventionally scare outright but deliver great twist for its time. Additionally, the production value is pretty well done, not a dive into a cheap production process but actually something that is conventionally well developed with studio system application. Overall, it's an easy fun watch for any enjoyers of simple stories with a twist.
