The Cheat

Director: George Abbott George Abbott

Overview

This Depression-era melodrama chronicles the travails of a wealthy family that is nearly destroyed by a wife's compulsive gambling. The trouble begins when the Long Island housewife loses 10-grand while gambling in a club. Trying hard to conceal this enormous loss from her hubby, she embezzles from a charity fund and tries to win back the fortune by playing the market. Unfortunately, it fails and she is forced to take money from a wealthy fellow who has just come back from Asia. When her husband finds out, he pays the money to the cad, but he wants the wife instead. When he insists, the wife shoots him dead. A trial ensues, and there, the devoted husband sacrifices himself by taking the rap until his wife bursts in and admits her wrongdoing.

Product Details

Release Date:	03/17/2015
UPC:	0025192263019
Original Release:	1931
Source:	ALLIED VAUGHN
Language:	English
Time:	1:08:00
Sales rank:	55,500

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Tallulah Bankhead	Elsa Carlyle
Harvey Stephens	Jeffrey Carlyle
Irving Pichel	Hardy Livingstone
Ann Andrews	Mrs. Albright
Jay Fassett	Terrell
Willard Dashiell	Judge
Arthur Hohl	Defense Attorney
Robert Strange	District Attorney

Technical Credits

Harry Hervey

George Abbott	Director
Harry Hervey	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

Although it's sheer trash, The Cheat is an amusing film to watch for camp lovers, especially as it contains a wonderfully over the top turn from the one and only Tallulah Bankhead. Cheat is a wallow through and through, a melodrama that exists only to degrade. Theoretically, Cheat is a cautionary tale about the dangers of gambling, but it's really just a chance to ogle at the rich misbehaving, to see some salacious skullduggery by a rich pervert, and to witness said pervert get his just desserts after physically branding Bankhead for refusing his advances. Harry Hervey's screenplay is hogwash and trollop, but it does provide plenty of unintentional laugha. George Abbott's direction is slushy, but he does have fun when he gets to highlight the seamier aspects of the story. The physical production itself is quite good, with Paramount having clearly given the project a more than decent budget. Bankhead is a riot; she certainly is trying hard, and her commitment shows that in the right project, she really would be capable of turning in a stunning project. But this is far from the right project, and her full-throttle approach doesn't survive the tripe.

All Movie Guide - Craig Butler