Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Humbersi The first must-see film of the year.

Adeel Hail Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Tobias Burrows It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

MissSimonetta Unlike other reviewers, I do not think any of the three stories presented here would do much good on their own as feature productions. "The Jealous Lover" is especially anemic plot-wise (and a little too close to The Red Shoes (1948) for its own good) and "Equilibrium" wanders on far too long.In spite of these shortcomings, The Story of Three Loves is a lovely melodramatic anthology, shot beautifully in Technicolor. "The Jealous Lover" is the most visually stunning of the three. Though it utilizes the love at first sight trope so mocked by contemporary audiences, Moira Shearer and James Mason share great chemistry and make the brief love between their characters poignant, masking how thin the plot really is."Mademoiselle" is a charming precursor to Tom Hanks' Big (1988), with Farley Granger as a child in a grown man's body who comes to fall for his French governess, Leslie Caron, whom he had previously bullied and deemed too "mushy" for his respect. This segment is perhaps the best of the three: it has both a good story and good pacing."Equilibrium" has the strongest love story of the three, with Kirk Douglas and Pier Angeli as two lonely people who find a chance to come to terms with their tragic pasts after he rescues her from a botched suicide attempt. As I mentioned previously, it does run on too long, but Douglas and Angeli make sure it is never unbearable.Overall, not a bad way to spend time if you love melodrama or any of the actors involved.

moonspinner55 Trio of stories--a popular movie gimmick in the 1950s--linked by an ocean-liner and three disparate characters on-board. James Mason is intense and snarling as a demanding ballet impresario who falls for ill-fated ballerina Moira Shearer, who, unbeknownst to him, is suffering from a bad ticker; Leslie Caron plays governess to ungrateful brat Ricky Nelson, both magically touched by the powers of Ethel Barrymore, reputed to be a witch; Kirk Douglas (as Pierre!) is a former star of the trapeze who trains suicidal Pier Angeli to be his new partner under the Big Top. The first two episodes are hurt by a weak narrative (the protagonists appear to recall information they should not be privy to), while the last chapter is hurt by miscasting (neither Douglas nor Angeli looks quite comfortable doing these gymnastic moves). However, the M-G-M production gloss is in peak form, and the picture looks good enough to eat. After a lengthy credits sequence (illustrated with the silhouette of a tree branch!), the color visuals take over, as if in a dream, and the effect is hypnotic. Not so the dialogue, which is heavy on the melodramatic flourish (Agnes Moorehead to the doctor: "Paula must dance or she will die!", to which the doctor replies gravely, "If she does...she will!"). Douglas is so mercurial in his angst that he's amusing unintentionally, while sullen Angeli is made up to look like a corpse in a silent movie. Still, one is drawn into this sumptuous bag of tricks almost against his will, and the overall results are fun for '50s connoisseurs. *** from ****

ellenburr This is one of the few movies that I've watched repeatedly or when I need an attitude boost. (Others are Harold & Maude and What a Wonderful Life.) I walk away with renewed sense of empowerment, purpose and determination. In addition to that, I enjoyed: 1) the timing--the movie consists of three shorts and I appreciate the order in which the three are presented; 2) sense of humor--the second short is quite charming and I thought well written from a child's point of view--it avoids being an adult pretending to be a child; 3) long dance scenes--there must be several three minute scenes with no editing cuts (the music is so strong that whenever I hear a piece by Faure, if it's not the piece in this one scene it reminds me of it, that I must stop a few seconds because the memory is so alive); 4) the deep exploration of "what is right" --I not only appreciate the presentation of the two sides of every decision presented in all of the shorts, but also that a quick Hollywood solution is resisted; and finally 5) a young Kirk Douglas--which is the old fashioned manly-man. My only wish is that is would be shown on the big screen more often.

blloyd-4 A fellow movie buff wanted the name of a movie which he could not find anywhere. He gave me the clues of many great old stars and something about a Paganini piece, trapeze aerialist, ballet, suicide and Farley Granger. He had caught some fleeting scenes at a distant TV movie presentation and wanted to find the film for purchase if at all possible. First, I searched for a ballet theme, but found too many movies to consider. Then, I tried films about violinists, no luck there. For some reason, when I searched Farley Granger's filmography, I could not find the right combination. At length, I had to rely on my memory and thought of Bert Lancanster and Kirk Douglas in a film concerning circus performers. Nothing under Bert Lancaster, but when I looked at Kirk Douglas' list in this data base; voilà, I found this film. I was very pleased to tell him the name.