The Cheat

The ever-mesmerizing Tallulah Bankhead plays herself - a sassy, brassy flapper who has a wonderful handsome husband who loves her, but she wants more, more, more. During the Great Depression, he can't make enough money to afford her luxurious habits. Not only that but she has gotten in way over-her-head with gambling debts - what's a girl to do? In steps Hardy Livingstone, a smooth talker who has an Oriental obsession - as his house, servants, decor and parties all illustrate. He offers to help out with the debt but at a very high price. Nothing you haven't seen before but Tallulah really elevates this to a very enjoyable level, let's face it, she could read a prayer book and make it sound dangerous and sexy. Racy pre-code fun from 1931!

The Cheat (TC) is a very melodramatic story that touches on such themes as foolish behavior of the idle rich, duplicity, revenge and ultimate redemption. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, TC's creators must have been overwhelmed by all the attention it received over the years. This1931 version of TC is the third of four, and the first one from the sound era. The initial TC was made by Cecil B. DeMille in 1915, and featured Fannie Ward, Jack Dean and a young Sessue Hayakawa as the intimidating Oriental villain. A second silent version (now lost) followed in 1923. It was directed by George Fitzmaurice and starred Pola Negri, Jack Holt and Charles de Rochefort as the now Caucasian "heavy." The third version (here under discussion)was directed by Broadway legend George Abbott, and teamed Tallaluh Bankhead with Harvey Stephens and Irving Pichel as the menacing money lender. The fourth and final chapter in the TC saga was made in France during 1937 by director Marcel L'Herbier. It starred Victor Francen, Lisa Delamare and Sessue Hayakawa---who reprised his role from the 1915 version. All four editions of TC more or less follow the basic outline of the plot summarized by previous reviewers. One is left to wonder what there was in this rather turgid tale that motivated interest in its continuing recreation over a period of some 22 years---but there it is! Perhaps if DeMille himself had remade TC with sound (as he did with The Ten Commandments), he might have found something more novel or interesting in the story than was demonstrated in its three subsequent do overs, but that was not meant to be. Some artistic endeavors just do not get better with repetition.

TC (1931) is significant today mainly because it featured Tallulah Bankhead in one of her early sound films. Then just 28 years of age and at the height of her youthful beauty, Bankhead had returned to the USA from a long and successful sojourn to England---where she had become the toast of the London stage. Paramount Studio then offered her a contract for five films at fifty thousand dollars each--and she seized the opportunity. This was during the Depression! Paramount planned to groom her as another Marlene Dietrich and to be America's newest sex symbol. The extravagant publicity that Bankhead's celebrity in England generated certainly made such expectations seem perfectly reasonable. However, her first film for Paramount (Tarnished Lady) was unsuccessful, as were the next two that followed (My Sin and TC)---both directed by George Abbott. Perhaps this result was due to the fact that these films seemed more tailored to suit Dietrich's image rather than Bankhead's. Nobody disputed the fact that Bankhead was considered to be a brilliant actress in her own right, and deserved the right to play roles that would better capture the unquestioned magic she previously demonstrated on the London stage. But this filmmaking phase of her career--lasting around a year and a half---ended unsatisfactorily. She completed her contractual obligations with Paramount, and finding movie making and Hollywood both unattractive, Bankhead headed for New York and opportunities on the Broadway stage.

While TC is not a great film and Bankhead's work in it is not particularly memorable, there is no dispute that her performance is both interesting and entertaining. We are left to ponder just what might have happened to this talented and charismatic young actress if she had been handled more creatively and appropriately at this point in her career. Unfortunately, we will never know.

This film essentially begins with a young society woman by the name of "Elsa Carlyle" (Tallulah Bankhead) enjoying herself at a party when she suddenly gets the idea to join a poker game going on in the next room. Being the rather daring gambler that she is, she decides to bet a large sum of money on a hand--only to lose all of her money. Figuring that she can quickly make up for it, she then decides to go double or nothing on the turn of a card. And once again she loses. Closely observing all of this is an extremely wealthy ladies' man by the name of "Hardy Livingstone" (Irving Pichel) who quickly senses an opportunity and decides to offer his assistance. For a price, of course. Happily married, she casually rejects his advances. However, when things continue to go bad, she then has to face a very difficult decision. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was one of those films that could have been more successful if some of the scenarios had been a bit more plausible or realistic. Likewise, the rather dated nature of the movie certainly didn't help matters either. Even so, I must admit that it kept my attention for the most part, and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

The Cheat (1931)

The plot here is wonderfully bizarre and brazen, an early pre-Code film that still has a few creaks and cracks in its production standards. And the leading woman—the "cheat" I suppose—is the wonderful Tallulah Bankhead, who is worth it alone.

Everything is pretty well contained here to keep the filming manageable, so there are lots of interior scenes that look and feel like sets, well lit and straight forward. And there are parties and flirting and the suggestion of impropriety left and right. Most of all there is that weird wealth that a few people had in the Depression as the rest of the country is sliding into ruins.

So Elsa (Bankhead) is a profligate partier and gambler, and her husband is a good guy who works too much. That leads, of course, to her finding amusement where she can. And does. But this gets her into money trouble, first, and then into a pact for sex that she doesn't quite realize she will have to follow through on.

A theme in the background, almost pasted on but with a certain amount of intrigue, is a Chinese them. One of the characters is wealthy enough and eccentric enough to live with Chinese decorations and customs. (This is not uncommon—see the bizarre Edward G. Robinson 1932 film "The Hatchet Man" and think also of the mahjong craze of the 1920s.)

Mostly this is about a woman's honor, and her realizing that her craziness has put her in an awful situation. When it comes to a dramatic climax, there is still a final courtroom scene that is pretty wild and fun. Check it all out. It's not a classic, but it's just odd enough and Bankhead just good enough to justify a close look.

I found this film quite absorbing with a showy performance by Bankhead. She plays the "out-of-control" wife of a loving and up-standing young man (Harvey Stephens). Her gambling debts get her in hock with an untrustworthy admirer (Irving Pichel). Pichel's penchant for the more bizarre aspects of Oriental culture colors his and Tallulah's relationship into multiple arms of scandal. There is a great climax court room scene wherein Bankhead hams it up wonderfully. I'll say nothing more than that "sizzling flesh" is involved here. It must be seen to be believed. The photography and direction is nicely done and for a 1931 film everything moves along quite admirably.