User reviews

This film's cast is so amazing you're going to expect it to be a perfect 10. You will most likely love some vignettes and only like others. You will be glad you watched and will be entertained.

This is a clever frame story that follows the "experiences" of a formal tails jacket from the upper crust of the idle rich down through all levels of society. The all-star cast give great performances in five well-written stories.

The film's theme has to do with the American Dream and what it really means. To some it is just social pretense and money. But to others, it is the right to express one's own art, to retain one's dignity, and to live free from fear of poverty.

This is a charming and moving film. Don't pass it up.

If you like vignettes like O. Henry's Full House or the game "Six Degrees of Separation"-or if you like the connection of clues between movie stars on Hot Toasty Rag-you'll probably like Tales of Manhattan. It's the story of a tuxedo coat that gets passed down to five different owners, and each vignette shows how the coat changes the owner's situation. The biggest criticism of the film is the title. It's so obvious! It should have been called Tails of Manhattan. What were they thinking?

Anyway, the coat is first given to Charles Boyer, an actor who's having an affair with a married Rita Hayworth. His segment is interesting, but it goes on a little too long. Next up is the worst vignette, despite the very promising premise. Cesar Romero is about to marry Ginger Rogers, but when she finds an incriminating love letter in his coat pocket, he panics and begs his best man Henry Fonda to pretend that the coat and note are his. Sounds good, right? Then it goes downhill. Cesar disappears and takes the good comic timing with him. Henry and Ginger have zero chemistry together, and the dialogue is beyond stupid. Plus, her terrible wig makes her look homely.

Next up is the lovable Charles Laughton. He's a struggling musician who wears the coat when he's finally given the opportunity to perform at Carnegie Hall. As you might expect from anything starring Charles Laughton, his segment is sad and touching. As I always do, I wanted to reach into the screen and give him a big hug.

After that, the even more lovable Edward G. Robinson is given the best vignette. Had a different actor been cast, the entire Tales of Manhattan would have infinitely less class and heart. He's going to a college reunion and wants to impress all his old friends, but in reality he's homeless and an alcoholic. He borrows the topcoat from the Salvation Army in an effort to look presentable.

Last but not least-that award goes to Ginger Rogers's wig-the story gets taken to a poor farming village. Paul Robeson and Ethel Waters find the coat, which by now has thousands of dollars in its pockets, and they take it to the town minister, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson. What will happen? Well, just as I haven't told you the endings to the other four tales, I won't tell you about this one. You'll just have to watch this entertaining little classic to find out!

For a brief period in cinema history, the anthology film was all the rage. Movies like "Flesh and Fantasy" and "O. Henry's Full House" used large casts to tell several interlocked stories. "Tales of Manhattan" is the best of the anthology films, following the adventures of a tuxedo's tailcoat as it passes through the hands of several diverse people in New York. There's Charles Boyer, the Broadway actor who is carrying on an illicit affair; there's Henry Fonda who is helping Cesar Romero get out of a sticky situation with his fiancee Ginger Rogers (along the way, Fonda and Rogers fall in love and have one of the best-written love scenes to ever hit the screen); there's Charles Laughton who seeks one shot at glory conducting an orchestra; and, in the most touching and rewarding of the tales, there's Edward G. Robinson, a down-and-out bum who has been invited to his college reunion. If you're looking for an all-star cast and a first-rate cinema experience, "Tales of Manhattan" is the one. I consistently put this movie at the top of my all-time favorites.

So after about 35 years reading about this film in the book "The Films of W.C. Fields", I finally watched Tales of Manhattan on YouTube. It has several short films connected together by a black coat. First segment stars Charles Boyer as an actor in love with Rita Hayworth who is married to Thomas Mitchell. Yes, you read that right. Second segment has Ginger Rogers finding what her fiancée Cesar Romero does when she's not around so the latter tries to pawn his coat with the incriminating evidence to future best man Henry Fonda. Third segment has Charles Laughton leaving his honky tonk playing days behind when he gets his dream job of conducting a symphony though he has to find a coat first of which one is given by his real-life spouse Elsa Lanchester. Fourth segment has Edward G. Robinson down on his luck when his friend James Gleason offers a formal suit so he can attend his 25th college reunion at the Waldolf Astoria where everyone except George Sanders seems glad to see him. What was supposed to be the fifth segment-cut from original release supposedly because it overextended the length-had W.C. Fields buying the coat from Phil Silvers-the only time two lovable con men met on film-before lecturing a hoity toity crowd-of which Margaret Dumont is among them-on the evils of alcohol. But nobody saw what happened before the meeting. Final segment takes place on a poor farm where the coat falls "from Heaven" in front of Paul Robeson and Ethel Waters. They give it to Eddie "Rochester" Anderson who tries to take the money found in it but ends up sharing it with his congregation. Also appearing are Clarence Muse and Cordell Hickman who is one of the kids. He plays Nicodemus. I first remembered him from the last "Our Gang" short ever made-Tale of a Dog. Oh, and Robeson and the Hall Johnson Choir sing their hearts out. Just about all of these sequences have some entertainment in them with the most hilarious one being the Rogers/Romero/Fonda one and the Robinson one being the most touching. About the last sequence: Robeson had returned to Hollywood after years of making films in England and this was only his second-after Universal's Show Boat from 1936-major studio appearance, that studio being 20th Century-Fox. If you know about him and his previous films, you know he would usually play dignified characters without stereotypical characteristics as well as present fine messages. While something of his point of view is here (that of openly sharing the wealth), he felt the entire sequence did a poor job of representing his race as being childlike hobos speaking in almost unintelligible dialect and spontaneously singing "Halleujah!" when a windfall go their way. At least, I think that may have been his problem with it. He was appalled by it so much, he tried to buy all prints of that sequence and destroy it. Anyway, the end result was he held a press conference and said he'd no longer appear in films because of the way his race was depicted then and to his dying day in 1976, he never did. A shame, really. Still, all his films are now available on DVD (well, except for Show Boat though there may still be some VHS copies around) so if anyone wants to be a Robeson completest, be my guest. So on that note, Tales of Manhattan is very much worth a look.

The movements of an accursed tail coat about the Big City, and the lives of those who use it, becomes part of the TALES OF MANHATTAN.

Fox Studios and director Julien Duvivier fashioned this most enjoyable film. The idea of the tail coat never becomes silly or gets in the way of the plot, which doles out equal amounts of irony, suspense, pathos & comedy. The all-star cast gives worthy performances which keeps the viewer's attention right to the very end.

SEQUENCE ONE An actor and his lover (Charles Boyer & Rita Hayworth) are confronted by her quietly sadistic husband (Thomas Mitchell). Eugene Palette plays Boyer's loyal valet. An unbilled Robert Greig appears as the corpulent creator of the elegant tail coat.

Most of the action in this sequence takes place at an estate outside of Manhattan.

SEQUENCE TWO A shy fellow (Henry Fonda) tries to help his friend (Cesar Romero) out of a jam with his suspicious fiancé (Ginger Rogers). Gail Patrick appears as Rogers' nosy gal pal; Roland Young plays Romero's protective valet.

A quite different tail coat is the center of the plot here, which can become a bit confusing.

SEQUENCE THREE A poor composer (Charles Laughton) finally has the opportunity to conduct his magnum opus at a concert. Radiant Elsa Lanchester appears as Laughton's adoring wife. Christian Rub plays a friendly cellist, while Victor Francen is very believable as the noble Bellini. An unbilled Dewey Robinson plays the bullying owner of a small café.

Laughton is magnificent, as is to be expected, giving another master class in how to turn a small part into something very special.

SEQUENCE FOUR

After being spiffed-up and accoutered in the tail coat, a skid row bum (Edward G. Robinson) makes a poignant appearance at the Waldorf-Astoria for his college's 25-year class reunion. James Gleason plays the kindly parson who runs a rescue mission; silent screen star Mae Marsh appears as his sweet-natured wife. Harry Davenport appears as a wise old professor; George Sanders snarls his way through his role as Robinson's old antagonist.

Robinson & Gleason do some impressive acting, making their characters come alive.

SEQUENCE FIVE

An eccentric professor (W.C. Fields) gives a temperance lecture to a gathering of high society swells, not knowing that the coconut milk has been liberally spiked. Phil Silvers shines in the brief role of the secondhand dealer who sells the tail coat to Fields. The monumental Margaret Dumont enlivens her scant appearance as the matron sponsoring Fields.

Before the film's initial release, there was consternation from some of the other major stars concerning Fields' large salary. The clamor grew to the point that Fox weaseled out by simply excising the sequence entirely. Rumor was allowed to grow that the removal was due to an inept performance from Fields. This is tragic, in that it was to be one of Fields' final appearances on film and he is hilarious, as is Phil Silvers (who has the distinction of being practically the only person in film history who ever managed to both outtalk & hoodwink Fields). After more than half a century, this sequence has finally been reunited with the rest of the film--the only problem, for anyone that cares, being a slight one of continuity, as it is not shown how the tail coat returns to the Santelli Bros. shop in time for the burglary that opens Sequence Six.

You have to be quick to read the painted sign on the Santelli Bros. window: WE TAKE AN ABSOLUTE LOSS ON EVERY TRANSACTION WE'RE ECCENTRIC

SEQUENCE SIX

In the film's most photographically stylish sequence, a shanty town full of impoverished farmers rejoice when the tail coat--and its pocket full of cash--literally falls out of the sky. J. Carrol Naish plays the airborne robber who loses the coat. Paul Robeson & Ethel Waters are the couple who find it. Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson is their gently conniving preacher; an almost unrecognizable Clarence Muse appears as a greedy old grandfather. Members of the wonderful Hall Johnson Choir lift their voices as the jubilant townsfolk.

Once again, the action in this sequence mostly occurs far from Manhattan. The short song at the very end is the only occasion Robeson and The Hall Johnson Choir ever sang together on film--and, unbelievably, Miss Waters isn't allowed to sing at all.

********************

Director Duvivier and stars Boyer, Robinson & Mitchell would travel to Universal Studios to make another sequential film, FLESH AND FANTASY, in 1943.

We think of Jean Renoir's, Rene Clair's and Julien Duvivier's sojourns in Hollywood during the war as difficult times for these creators, and certainly Renoir's experience with the studio system was not a happy one. But I find Tales of Manhattan to be a light frolic that betrays little of the cultural confusion that these transplanted Frenchmen must have felt.

It's by no means a delight from beginning to end: the W. C. Fields episode is not funny at all, and the finale with Paul Robeson and Ethel Waters as sharecroppers drowns in bathos. There is enough fun from Henry Fonda and Ginger Rogers as tentative lovers to compensate, and Edward G. Robinson as the disgraced lawyer is worth the effort to find this film.

NOTE: How did Charles Laughton get so shapely? He can't be called slender here, but he is far from the obese hulk that we remember from his later years.

Anthology film that centers around a formal tailcoat and the different people who come into possession of it. The first story is about an actor (Charles Boyer) in love with a married woman (Rita Hayworth). Her husband (Thomas Mitchell) doesn't like it one bit. Boyer and Mitchell are fine but Hayworth overacts big time. The story is thin but, as with the rest of the picture, director Julien Duvivier and cinematographer Joseph Walker make it look beautiful. The second story is also about a love triangle, although lighter in tone than the previous tale. This one's about a woman (Ginger Rogers) who suspects her fiancé (Cesar Romero) is cheating after finding a love letter in the pocket of his coat (same coat from before), which leads to her taking a second look at his best man (Henry Fonda). This is probably the weakest story in the movie. Just not as amusing or cute as it wants to be. Also Ginger Rogers sports one of the ugliest hairstyles I've ever seen.

The third story has a struggling composer (Charles Laughton) getting his big chance to conduct his own composition in front of a large audience. But the tailcoat he's wearing (yup, same one) is too small and rips in front of everyone. What happens next I won't spoil but I thought it was pretty neat. This is my favorite part of the movie, albeit for sentimental reasons. The fourth story is the most widely-praised one, judging by the reviews I've read. It's a great story about a down-on-his-luck former lawyer (Edward G. Robinson) who borrows the tailcoat to attend his college reunion. Again, I don't want to spoil too much because of how good this one is, but it's another one that pulls at the heartstrings.

Next is an interesting story in that it was originally cut to reduce the running time but has since been restored to the film, despite apparently missing a part at the end that connects it to the next segment. It's a funny story about a man (W.C. Fields) giving a lecture on the dangers of alcohol at the home of a wealthy woman (Margaret Dumont). But it turns out the woman's husband has spiked the milk they're all drinking with booze so everybody at the anti-alcohol meeting gets drunk. Simple story but fun. Fields is a hoot as usual. The final story has a crook (J. Carrol Naish) stealing the coat to help him commit a robbery at a casino. As he escapes via plane, he dumps the coat and it lands in a field where a poor black Southern couple (Paul Robeson, Ethel Waters) find it. The coat has the money from the casino heist in it, which pleases the couple at first as they believe it is a gift from God. But it dawns on them God would want them to use the money to help others, not themselves. It's a nice story, if a little patronizing. Paul Robeson, a devout communist who liked the story's 'community before the individual' philosophy, was so disappointed by the finished product and its stereotypical depictions of poor blacks that he would never make another Hollywood movie.

In addition to the stars I've listed already, the cast includes many wonderful supporting actors like George Sanders, Victor Francen, Eugene Palette, Roland Young, Elsa Lanchester, Harry Davenport, James Gleason, Phil Silvers, Gail Patrick, and Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson. Julien Duvivier would do another anthology film for Universal the following year called Flesh and Fantasy. Boyer, Robinson, and Mitchell would also appear in that film. Dynamite cast and fine direction make this one something that I think most classic film fans will enjoy. The stories aren't all home runs but they're all interesting in different ways.

This movie is made up of many vignettes featuring many capable stars--all centering on the same second-hand tuxedo as it is passed on from one owner to the next. I won't try to elaborate on all the segments, as one of the previous reviewers did a very thorough job of describing them. However, they are all extremely well-crafted and engaging. I would also agree that stylistically, this film is reminiscent of IF I HAD A MILLION, though the stories in Tales of Manhattan are generally less funny but more polished.

The one portion of the movie that really stood out for me was the one featuring the down-and-out Edward G. Robinson attending his college class reunion (from Harvard, I think). He goes in a tattered old hand-me-down tux hoping to fool his old chums into thinking he's made it in life. You really feel for the guy in his plight--especially when a mean-spirited member of the class seeks to expose the ruse! So give it a try, why don't ya?

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 ****

Uneven is the key word to describe the overall effect of this anthology about the effect a dress tail coat has on the fate of its various owners. The film is overloaded with well-known film personalities but lacking in the sort of wit and sophistication that would have turned it into the sort of clever short story anthology that writers like Somerset Maugham, Guy de Maupassant or Edgar Allen Poe churned out.

A standout among the stories is the one featuring EDWARD G. ROBINSON who needs the tail coat to attend the 25th Class Reunion with poignant and ironic results; and almost equally effective is a sequence involving CHARLES BOYER, RITA HAYWORTH and THOMAS MITCHELL. But most of the stories (there are five) are of little consequence in the scheme of things and the film has a finale with the Hall Johnson Choir that is just short of ridiculous.

Interesting that GINGER ROGERS and HENRY FONDA share an episode, the first and only time these two major stars appeared together on screen.

But beware--it's a shame more attention wasn't given to creating some really good stories for all these talented stars and character actors. Julien Duvivier's direction lacks the pace to sustain interest throughout.

Trivia note: A section with W.C. FIELDS and MARGARET DUMONT has been restored and helps considerably in stirring up the flagging interest.

The movie's a pretty good look at some of TCF's top stars of the day. The plot amounts to a series of vignettes that follow a dress coat as it gets passed around to a series of new owners. The trouble is the coat is supposed to be cursed so we expect some adversity to befall each new owner. Some vignettes, of course, are better than others. Personally I liked the Rogers- Fonda farcical 20-minutes best. On the other hand, I can see why the WC Fields episode was dropped from many versions since it's not the grouchy comedian at his best. (I also suspect the rather gross anatomical drawing behind his lectern didn't help.)

As a movie, it's certainly different, something of a showcase and, my gosh, was Rita Hayworth ever any lovelier than here. Pairing her with a pixie-ish Thomas Mitchell as a cuckolded husband was a masterstroke. Watch how slyly he asserts himself against the over-confident Boyer. Robinson gets the most extended screen time as a down-and-out lawyer trying to impress his old school chums. I'm just sorry we didn't get to hear more of Paul Robeson's wonderful bass voice in the final darktown jubilee section. Nonetheless, it's a sprightly and satisfying way to end the saga of the accursed dress coat.

The movie comes across today as an exception to the standard studio product, but is cleverly set up with a dash of humor and a touch of timeless human interest.

Some good performances here, in short story style. Boyer, Hayworth, Rogers, Robinson, and Laughton, particularly. I really disliked the last part, however. I didn't think it was all that racially insensitive, particularly for the times. It just finished the movie on its, by far, weakest part. Worth seeing once.

This movie leads us through a wide range of emotional interests -- good, bad, and indifferent -- all based on the odyssey of a tuxedo coat (or 'tails') which also seems to carry with it a superstitious jinx of sorts. At the start the first tale runs the gamut of intense romantic intrigue, with a suave Charles Boyer drawn to beautiful Rita Hayworth, and Thomas Mitchell as the husband with a few ulterior motives of his own in mind. I think the cinematography by Joseph Walker is absolutely superb in this episode. Those closeups are priceless.

I was surprised to see the episode with W C Fields in it and checked IMDb to note that this was included in a restored version, which is nice. Fields and his "liquid edification" are seldom far apart, and here it appears in the guise of cocoanut milk, with a few additives as you can guess, which he highly recommends for (?) I forget what it was.

Another tale is of Edward G. Robinson who gives an excellent performance as the down-and-outer dressed in the tux for a special gathering of old school chums. It has fine emotional content which I consider the dramatic highlight of the film and gives one much to think about afterwards. I might add here that this movie brings to mind some of Somerset Maugham's short stories that are on film as well.

The final Manhattan tale, starring Paul Robeson and Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, has dialogue that is both amusing and touching at times. Ethel Waters, the matronly Esther, shows them a firm hand in directing them to do what's right. I always like to see Paul Robeson and hear his great voice. His singing ends their episode on a note of what freedom means to so many, and really brings the film to a fine conclusion. Great stuff!

It is a fascinating movie to experience and one of the best of its kind in my opinion.

This is a forgotten classic. It's funny, moving and old fashioned. Add the fact that it's chock full of stars and you have one fun movie to watch. Edward G. Robinson is a standout as a bum trying to make good. If you like old movies, try to hunt this one down.

After one seeing, this movie is one of my top favorites.

It's six or seven short stories with perhaps the most astounding cast in history.

I loved Charles Laughton as an impoverished composer getting his big chance from a Toscanini-type martinet conductor. I loved Edward G. Robinson as a Bowery drunk sent to his Harvard(like) reunion by a doting Bowery reverend. I loved the plot twists in the first two stories. Anyhow, I LOVE it. We see familiar actors in unfamiliar roles: Thomas Mitchell, a great actor, usually plays character parts, Irish or sailors or Uncle Billy in "Wonderful Life"-- here we see him as the real sophisticate he was. Rita Hayworth as jealous and uncertain as well as gorgeous. Henry Fonda, very young and playing very dumb. Ginger Rogers as a spitfire jealous fiancée. And on and on.

And best of all-- The final sequence is incredible, politically incorrect in every possible way. It stars Paul Robeson, Ethel Waters and Rochester (the comedy black guy from the Jack Benny radio show). It alone is worth the rental, combining the worst of sharecropper-Rastus-Here-Come-de-Lawd ethnic parody with a chance for Robeson to speak the Communist ideal at its highest and most hopeful, never more to be heard and powerful to hear from someone who believed it. Probably this was the only condition under which Robeson would consent to appear in an appalling stereotype skit.

The photography is great. THE LIGHTING is worth a year of film school. (Too bad the director went back to France after the war.) This movie has everything. As Hollywood Nostalgia, it's the tops.

Another variation of the same theme was used by writer Charles

Beaumont on Rod Serling's TWILIGHT ZONE. That story was

entitled DEAD MAN'S SHOES. In the TV drama, the shoes are

taken by a derelict and his life becomes that of the deceased man

from whom he took them.

The only problem with this film is that it was made in 1942, when

the American film studios were asked to show support for

Communist Russia. The concluding sermon by Paul Robeson is

more Marxist then Pro-Soviet, but its message will still haunt those

who were blacklisted for their support of Royalist Spain, or made

the mistake of attending Communist meetings in the early 1940's.

I still rank it as a must see, and I hope that the VHS edition will

become available as a DVD.

I expected an early 40's cheer me up type of film but got a really entertaining look into how a Tops and Tails coat effects the lives of everyone it comes into contact with.

I could go into each of the 6 stories but it would take too long. A coat is designed by a tailor and his best sewer decides to quit and throws a curse on the coat. After this, we get 6 really interesting stories on how the coat will effect each one. With loads of star power from Charles Boyer to Edward G. Robinson and Ginger Rogers. There are just bags full of great actors in this and they all do a very good job for each of their stories. Some are funny and some are uplifting. If I were to pick one of the bunch that I really liked it would be the one with Edward G. Robinson. Watch a master at work. He's just a superb actor and in his section of this fine film, he shows you why he's so well regarded.

Not a lot to say about a film with so much to see. Just trust me. Give it a watch and see a lot of familiar faces give you 2 hours of entertainment you won't forget.

This exceedingly uneven film, starts out with quite a bit of promise then like a bad night in a house of ill repute, goes downhill speedily.It is, however full of spritely moments, that you have to stick around for, for at least the first half of the film. The rest is blahsville, with the last segment just downright stupid. However, the first half is still better than almost any film being made these days. As some of the viewers here have stated, or at least one, the best segment is the Edward G. Robinson. He turns in his usual impeccable performance. Just an amazing actor. And Gleason and George Saunders are also top notch in theirs. The first tale is not badly done, with a very measured performance by Thomas Mitchell. Boyer and Hayworth are up to snuff as well. Though near the end of the segment its gets more than a shade unbelievable, too bad too, because it was building to something nice. The section with Fonda, Romero, and Ginger Rogers was pretty lame, handled differently could have been great screwball comedy. One thing, however, Duvivier has a pretty darn good eye. For something that was probably churned out quickly, a very good journeyman director. But the real prize in this whole thing was the bits by Victor Francen. Every moment the camera is on him is magic. The only other performance in all cinema that matches his take on a famous conductor is the one by Claude Rains in Deception. Both miracles of acting. Francen played opposite Zachary Scott in Mask of Dimitrios, was also very good in that, though Scott delivered such a powerful punch in that, that Francen had to take a back seat to him for the story, but here he can play the thing with all the stops pulled out and he is amazing. So do yourself a favor and don't miss the music segment, and the one with Robinson, and the first bit with Hayworth, and bits of the one with Ginger Rogers, and give up, don't mess with the second half. It begins to not only nose dive but starts taking a very weird turn not unlike the Terrentino Vampire film many years later that you don't know is a vampire film until you are halfway in. Although Tales, of course, has nothing to do with vampires, its just gets more unbelievable and weirder as it goes along. Too bad.