The Cheaters

This odd little film plays out like a Christmas spin on MY MAN GODFREY. The family of rich businessman Eugene Palette is in financial trouble and when they learn that an even richer uncle has died and left his fortune to a woman he didn't even know, a former child actress named Watson, they scheme to find her and keep her under wraps until the search period is over, when the money will revert to them. A homeless former actor (Joseph Schildkraut) who is staying with the family helps out with the scheme, but the dawning of Christmas Day brings some changes of heart.

The best thing about this film is its physical production; it's an A-looking movie produced by B-studio Republic Pictures. The actors are also bigger names than Republic typically used, though most of them were aging actors who had seen better days. The real problem is the writing; the screenplay could have used another draft or two, especially in character development. One daughter is built up as a kind of sly, whimsical type in contrast to the other who is more cold-blooded, but nothing is done with that potentially interesting tension. Old pros Palette and Billie Burke are fine, though their choice to underplay their underwritten parts takes some of the fun out of the proceedings. Schildkraut is good, but his character remains a cipher, not in a mysterious angel/ghost way, but in a way that suggests the writers didn't know what to do with him. There is solid support from Raymond Walborn, Norma Varden, and eternal butler Robert Grieg. TCM host Robert Osborne introduced this as "the best Christmas movie you've never heard of," and as I am familiar with almost every Christmas-themed Hollywood feature film ever made, he may be right, and I am grateful for the chance to have seen it, but it's not a gem I'll want to revisit often.

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 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.

This is a delightful movie that is rarely seen. It's a Christmas movie. A family of rich, self-absorbed people loses everything in the depression. They are visited by a mysterious stranger who helps them to find something more important than the money they have lost. Nicely done.

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.