Flesh and Fantasy / Dead of Night (Blu-ray Review)

Reviewed by: Tim Salmons
Review Date: Sep 09, 2025
Format: Blu-ray Disc

Director

Julien Duvivier/Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden, Robert Hamer

Release Date(s)

1943/1945 (May 14, 2025)

Studio(s)

Universal Pictures (Imprint Films/Via Vision Entertainment)

Film/Program Grade: See Below
Video Grade: See Below
Audio Grade: See Below
Extras Grade: B+
Overall Grade: B

viavision.com.au

Review

[Editor's Note: This is a Region-Free Australian Blu-ray import.]

Horror anthologies have been popular with genre fans for decades, solidifying in the 1970s with Amicus Productions and their releases of Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors, Tales from the Crypt, Asylum, From Beyond the Grave, and many others. Prior to that, portmanteau films were not at all common, and few were horror-based. Julien Duvivier’s Flesh and Fantasy from 1943 may not have fully birthed the authentic horror anthology, but 1945’s Dead of Night certainly did. Not only is the latter celebrated by critics and fans as one of the best horror anthologies ever produced, but it would also influence Milton Subotsky and Max J. Rosenberg of Amicus Productions.

Originally titled For All We Know prior to its final release, Flesh and Fantasy features three stories. The first takes place during Mardi Gras in New Orleans. As the festivities are underway, a crowd gathers around the drowned body of an unknown man. Among the crowd is Henrietta (Betty Field), a bitter and unhappy seamstress whom everyone is repulsed by. A stranger, sensing her longing for love, gives her a mysterious mask, intending for her to wear it during the celebration. By doing so, she meets Michael (Robert Cummings), who’s concerned with his life’s direction, doubting his own abilities. As they get to know each other over the course of the evening, they fall in love, but despite Michael’s insistence, Henrietta refuses to remove the mask.

In the second story, a palm reader, Septimus Podgers (Thomas Mitchell), is invited to a socialite party and begins making predictions that ultimately come true. Reading the hand of skeptic Marshall Tyler (Edward G. Robinson), he’s hesitant to reveal what he sees there. After warning Tyler to avoid a certain area of the city, which sees him nearly shot during a police chase, Tyler is convinced and visits Podgers at his home and begs him to disclose his findings. Podgers tells him that he will soon kill someone, leading Tyler into a downward spiral of paranoia and psychosis.

In the third and final story, the Great Paul Gaspar (Charles Boyer), a high wire artist for a traveling circus, dreams of falling during his most dangerous act, and seeing a beautiful woman in the crowd before plummeting. After failing to perform the act at his next show, his manager implores upon him to perform a less risky act, which makes him question himself. During a trip to his next destination, he meets the woman in his dreams. She turns out to be Joan Stanley (Barbara Stanwyck), a troubled woman with a suspicious past. They fall in love and Paul regains the confidence to go through with his act, despite Joan’s concern that his dream will come true.

In truth, Flesh and Fantasy isn’t really a “horror” anthology, outside of the second segment which feels closer in tone to something like the Tales from the Crypt TV series. The film was originally cut together with four segments, but was later re-edited, adding a wraparound story in which two men discuss the three tales at a private gentleman’s club. The unused fourth story was expanded and made into the feature film Destiny, though the drowned body at the beginning of the first segment is left in a limbo, acting more as a catalyst for that story to begin without much of an explanation. Still, each segment offers something of value, even if they’re not truly “horror.” The resolutions to segments one and three are rather sweet, while the second segment certainly goes more for the throat, so to speak. Flesh and Fantasy may be a little clunky, especially when you’re armed with the knowledge that it was reconstructed in editing, but it’s still enjoyable.

Dead of Night is by far the stronger of the two films. Directed by Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Robert Hamer, and Basil Dearden, the five stories that it includes, as well as the wraparound, are much more integrated with each other. In the film, an architect named Walter Craig (Mervyn Johns) arrives at an English farmhouse for a possible job. Once he settles in and meets the guests who are staying there, he realizes that he has dreamed about all of them and this entire visit before, knowing exactly what will transpire between them. As the other guests discuss whether Mr. Craig’s convictions have any validity, they share their own supernatural tales.

In the first, Hugh (Anthony Baird) tells of the time he spent in the hospital after crashing his racing car, falling in love with his nurse Judy (Joyce Grainger), and being haunted by a hearse driver outside his window saying “just room for one inside, sir.” In the second, young Sally (Sally Ann Howes) recalls a Christmas party at a large mansion in which her and the other children played a game of hide-and-seek, whereupon she discovered a crying young child whom she comforted. In the third, the newly-married Joan (Googie Withers) buys her husband Peter (Ralph Michael) an antique mirror for his birthday, not knowing that it has supernatural qualities and was previously owned by an adulterous murderer, subsequently having an unusual effect on Peter when he looks into it. In the fourth, Eliot (Roland Culver) recounts the story of two friends, George (Basil Radford) and Larry (Naunton Wayne), who wager over a round of golf for the hand of the beautiful Peggy (Mary Lee) in marriage. After his loss, Larry drowns himself, only to come back to comically haunt George. In the fifth and final story, psychiatrist Dr. van Straaten (Frederick Valk) remembers a case involving the ventriloquist Maxwell (Michael Redgrave) and his dummy Hugo. Fellow ventriloquist Sylvester (Hartley Power) comes to see their show, but things begin to go awry when Hugo expresses his desire to leave Maxwell for Sylvester.

While the whole of Dead of Night is very well shot and mostly works, it’s the final segment and the outcome of the framing story that truly give the film its staying power. The Christmas party and the ghostly golfer stories are the weakest of the five, with the latter going more for an overtly comedic tone than a dread-inducing one. Interestingly, both segments were nixed from the US release of the film altogether, which is a version of the film that’s now absent from physical media. Nevertheless, the strong visuals and the way that the majority of the individual stories connect to the main narrative place Dead of Night among the cream of the crop, impacting all future horror anthologies, including both the classic and the more recent, that would come in its wake.

Flesh and Fantasy was shot by cinematographers Stanley Cortez and Paul Ivano on 35mm black-and-white film, finished photochemically, and presented in the aspect ratio of 1.37:1. Imprint’s presentation of the film appears to be from the same master that was used for Vinegar Syndrome’s Blu-ray release, but with a cropped aspect ratio of 1.33:1. Both presentations carry multiple scratches and speckling with some mild instability (as the opening card that plays before the film details). The bitrate can be erratic, but it mostly sits in the 30 to 40Mbps range. Gradations are decent with moments of deep blacks and varying grays and whites, offering some nice contrast. Grain isn’t super tight, but neither detail nor clarity ever really suffer, with the presentation retaining a sharp and organic quality. Despite its lesser traits, it’s a pleasant image.

Dead of Night was shot by cinematographers Douglas Slocombe and Jack Parker on 35mm black-and-white film, finished photochemically, and presented in the aspect ratio of 1.37:1. Imprint’s presentation is the original uncut version of the film. The 2019 Kino Lorber Blu-ray contains a more problematic presentation, with mild crush, artificial sharpening, clumpy grain, density issues, and a very obvious vertical scratch in the middle of the frame for the first several minutes. The latter blemish is completely absent from Imprint’s presentation, with a bitrate sitting mostly between 30 and 40Mbps. One would assume since the same Restoration Comparison featurette included on StudioCanal’s 2014 Region B Vintage Classics Blu-ray release is present that these presentations are one and the same. Judging by screen captures, that does appear to be the case. Compared to the Kino Blu-ray, it’s more preferable, even with its own set of flaws. Scratches and speckling are still prevalent with some mild instability. Gradations are a little flat, but never blown out or crushed. Grain and detail are soft, but more even-keeled. Overall, it’s a more solid and satisfying image, with obvious room for improvement all around.

Audio for both films in presented in English 2.0 mono LPCM with optional subtitles in English SDH (both were DTS-HD Master Audio tracks on their respective US Blu-ray releases). The track for Flesh and Fantasy has some mild hiss, but some clean up appears to have been applied as it mostly makes itself known during rises in the audio. There are no issues with sibilance, though there’s a little too much push in the score. It’s not totally identical to the Vinegar Syndrome release, which has more obvious hiss and an occasional slight imbalance. Clearly, Imprint has the edge here, if only by a hair. The track included for Dead of Night offers mild hiss and some minor instability, but dialogue and score both have plenty of aural presence to them. It’s a cleaner track, though limited in some capacity.

FLESH AND FANTASY (FILM/VIDEO/AUDIO): C+/B-/B-
DEAD OF NIGHT (FILM/VIDEO/AUDIO): B/B/B

Imprint Films presents Flesh and Fantasy and Dead of Night on separate dual-layered BD-50 discs in separate clear Amaray cases, both with an insert featuring their respective original theatrical artworks on the front and stills from each film on the reverse. They’re packaged in Limited Edition hardbox packaging that opens from the top. The following extras are included on each disc, all in HD:

DISC ONE: FLESH AND FANTASY

Audio Commentary with Rodney Barnett and Dr. Adrian Smith
Fear and Fantasy: The Thematic Layers of Julien Duvivier’s Flesh and Fantasy (14:21)
Tales of Terror! Flesh and Fantasy and the Horror Anthology Films (8:22)

The audio commentary with film historians Rodney Barnett and Dr. Adrian Smith is an excellent back and forth between the two men as they discuss the production history and its cast and crew, giving their opinions on specific segments, and placing the film in its proper historical context. Fear and Fantasy is a video essay by film scholar Joseph Dwyer about the thematic material in the film and how it relates to other films of the era. Tales of Terror! features an interview with author and film critic Jon Towlson speaking about the history of horror anthology films and the importance of Flesh and Fantasy. Not carried over from the Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray is an audio commentary with film historians and critics Barry Forshaw and Kim Newman, Fate News or The Dark World of Julien Duvivier: A Presentation by French Film Director Christophe Gans, a stills gallery, and a low resolution video trailer.

DISC TWO: DEAD OF NIGHT

Audio Commentary with Pamela Hutchinson
Short Sharp Screams: Dead of Night and the British Horror Anthology (41:27)
Scoring the Night: David Huckvale on Georges Auric and Dead of Night (48:26)
Remembering Dead of Night (75:36)
Restoration Comparison (3:31)

Film critic and historian Pamela Hutchinson offers an excellent audio commentary, which is much more reactionary, but mixes analysis with knowledge of the film’s production, its cast and crew, and many asides related to the film. There are some brief pauses, but it’s nonetheless an interesting track. In Short Sharp Screams, author John Llewelyn Probert details the history of horror anthologies in the literary form before delving into the stories used in Dead of Night, as well as other film-based horror anthologies. In Scoring the Night, author Dr. David Huckvale speaks about the work and career of composer Georges Auric while playing selections from it, before analyzing the score for Dead of Night. Remembering Dead of Night is a 2014 documentary about the film with senior lecturer in film and television at the University of East Anglia Keith M. Johnston, film critic and novelist Danny Leigh, novelist and critic Kim Newman, film critic and author Matthew Sweet, actor and writer Reece Shearsmith, critic Jonathan Romney, and director John Landis. Last is a Restoration Comparison. There are also several extras that haven’t carried over. The Kino Lorber Studio Classics Blu-ray release contains an excelent audio commentary by Tim Lucas; the 2003 Anchor Bay DVD release features a pair of still galleries; and the 2002 StudioCanal Region 2 DVD includes an introduction by writer Jean-Pierre Dionnet, an interview with author Philippe Haudiquet, a still gallery, and production notes.

Pairing up Flesh and Fantasy with Dead of Night gives one an interesting perspective on what anthology films from this era were, and how far removed they are (or not) from what would come later. They both offer their own set of charms, packed together with very fine presentations and extras.

- Tim Salmons

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