The Cheaters

The brief review singled out on the credits page of this movie gives a completely erroneous impression of it, so let me make it clear: This picture is a COMEDY. A FUNNY comedy. Like all the comedies of the Forties, it doesn't have the dizzy, gossamer charm of the screwball pictures of the early and mid Thirties. But it has many of the same characters (the tycoon who can't manage his own family, the tart-tongued secretary, the vacuous wife, the sponging brother in law, the spoiled elder daughter, the pert younger daughter, the butler who has seen everything) and many of the same actors (Eugene Palette, Billie Burke, Raymond Walburn). The script isn't hilarious, but it is consistently amusing, with many nice little digs at greed and hypocrisy.

So banish all thought that this is about some kind of angel in human shape who shows a materialistic family The True Meaning of Christmas (blaah!). Just enjoy some good jokes, lovely ensemble acting, and deft little character studies.

One ironic thing: Joseph Schildkraut was a wonderful actor, and he is lovely in this role, but from the minute he appeared, I thought, this is obviously a role for John Barrymore. I kept imagining how he would inflect one line, or how he would tilt his head and roll his eyes on another one. Also, Schildkraut's character having been a former matinée idol who played Shakespeare sounded like a description of Barrymore, which would have had resonance with the audience. Then I looked the movie up here, and saw that the part was indeed written with Barrymore in mind, but, sadly, he died too soon to play it. However, having the far less hammy Schildkraut in the role means that the movie remains an ensemble piece and is not, like Barrymore's other movies, a one-man show with all the other actors overshadowed.

I have longed to see this film for years and although I scour the TV guides eagerly each Christmas season, it never seems to appear. This is a truly touching and delightful film. Full of amusement and drama. I can remember looking forward to it each year when I was a child. We always made sure that we saw it, since it was one of my mother's favorites. It's the story of an erudite actor who's fallen on hard times, and is taken in by a vacuous wealthy family over the holidays. He reminds them all of the true meaning of Christmas. It's full of touching sentiment that is on par with It's a Wonderful Life. Even better, I think. I would snap this one up in a second if it was available on video.

Have watched this movie at least once every Christmas for the past twenty years. Never tire of the superb acting and well-crafted script. Joseph Schildkraut is wonderful as a down and out actor and a perfect foil to Eugene Pallette's family's frivolous and seemingly naive view of life.

I had no idea until recently that this was a Christmas-related film – the title certainly hints at nothing of the sort; however, it proved one of the more pleasant surprises of the festive season as I thoroughly enjoyed the picture. A B-movie at heart (being a production of the lower-berth company Republic), this was dealt an even greater blow when shorn of some 27 minutes on being licensed to TV – getting retitled in the interim to THE CASTAWAYS, and its potential appeal as a holiday flick thus made no clearer! The central premise involves a high-society household who, in spite of financial distress, tries to maintain decorum for the sake of a daughter's visiting fiancé; with this in mind, on realizing it has been snubbed out of a fortune – a deceased eccentric relative having willed his legacy to an unwitting child actress from long ago! – the family schemes to track the woman down (who is herself trying to make ends meet at the moment) and make sure she be kept ignorant of the fact. However, to uphold a façade of respectability and flaunt their would-be generous spirit in the eyes of the world, they go so far as to invite a less privileged soul (randomly picked off the social register) to partake of their 'bounty' during the Yuletide period; he turns out to be a former thespian who contrives to instill in them a regard for basic human decency, in the process learning to achieve peace of heart through the virtue of humility! Interestingly, though, the actor is himself not shown in a completely good light (unlike typical life-altering figures): he is shown to be fond of the bottle (even having the family butler mix him a special cocktail ostensibly to cure some form of ailment!), relentlessly draws on his knack for theatricality to drive home a point (such as affecting a limp – which momentarily brushes onto the head of the family as well! – and, claiming no one will be the same after that night, proceeds to give an intense solo rendition of "A Christmas Carol") and is himself guilty of insensitivity on occasion (especially when dealing with the duped heiress); incidentally, the woman's pragmatism and perennially optimistic outlook (while admitting to having herself consciously used them as a meal-ticket) has at least as much to do with the family's ultimate repentance. Though the behind-the-scenes personnel involved were no more than modest, if undeniably efficient, the film is essentially buoyed by a splendid line-up of actors: Joseph Schildkraut (surprising but effective casting, especially through his distinctive accent and mellifluous voice, for the down-and-out but resourceful ex-star), Ona Munson as the other 'interloper' in the scenario, Billie Burke and Eugene Palette as the masters of the house (typecast but always fun to watch as scatter-brained and flustered respectively), and Raymond Walburn as an equally useless next-of-kin (in fact, Palette had hilariously suggested to use him for the apparently fashionable "charity case" to be paraded in front of guests at Christmastime!). The Yuletide atmosphere is wonderfully captured throughout (down to having children carol-singing in the snow), lending the whole the requisite warmth – this, coupled with its gentle humor and nicely-drawn characters, makes THE CHEATERS a generally delightful concoction worthy of much greater attention than it has received over the years.

My husband's family loved this movie and rank it with It's a Wonderful Life. I can't remember seeing it or I saw it and don't remember it. I am like Chris from Philadelphia and have been scouring TV listings and calling all kinds of video stores to get a copy of it. Frake8 in Libertyville has seen it every year for 20 years. I am hoping that someone like Frake8 has a copy of it. I would love to surprise my husband one year with a copy of it. If someone has a copy of it, please email me and I will pay for a copy of it. I would be forever grateful and my husband would be in 7th Heaven.