Le roman d'un tricheur

As others have mentioned here, the films of Sacha Guitry seem to have sunk into oblivion in the English speaking world, which is odd since at their best they share much of the same quality and charm as those of Ernst Lubitsch or Max Ophuls, both of whom are still spoken of with deserved reverence.

This one might be the most well known of his films, for what that's worth, and is a similar story to Lubitsch's wildly overpraised but markedly inferior 'Heaven Can Wait' - the memoirs of an old rogue's misspent youth. It's a boon that Guitry, working outside of Hollywood censorship, could be much more frank about what his rogue actually got up to - the great weakness of Lubitsch's later film.

Much of this film is in fact silent, with Guitry's witty narration being the only speech. There is an excellent performance by Serge Grave as the young Cheat. The best scene is the one where the old Guitry runs into the now elderly Countess whose younger charms he has just been fondly reminiscing over. His discomfort is hilarious.

This is not my favourite of Guitry's films - that would still be La Poison - but it's a patchy and a whimsical delight nonetheless. And really, I'm just glad to have discovered all of them.

Although Sacha Guitry acted in London in 1920 he remains practically unknown and/or forgotten here as, I would venture to guess, he is in the United States. One of the better Art Houses in Paris ran a mini season of his movies a couple of years ago but even in France he is a spent force. This is a pity because he had a great deal to offer to both stage and screen. A prolific playwright who authors close to one hundred plays and has them performed clearly has something to offer and even allowing for changes in taste and fashion it remains an impressive track record. It's difficult to find an English comparison; Gerald du Maurier was roughly contemporaneous but he only acted and never wrote a line, Peter Ustinov WAS an actor-director but began his career when Guitry was entering his final phase. The Cheat dates from 1936 and is considered in many quarters to be Guitry's finest film. I haven't seen enough titles to say yea or nay but this is certainly a charming and stylish entry. For 1936 Guitry could be said to be ahead of his time by introducing us in the very first frames not only to his cast - and even here it is far from a standard 'still' and a name; he opts for playfulness, 'where is .... ' and calling until the actor/actress emerges to take a bow - but also to his technicians from camera operator to sound recordist, composer, and film editor. At the end of all this he begins his story - in a manner later 'borrowed' in 'Kind Hearts And Coronets' - by sitting at a cafe table, producing pen and paper to which he commits his 'memoirs'. Although we cut back to Guitry at his cafe table several times his story is told largely via his narration and follows his career from the time his entire family - all eleven members - expire after eating mushrooms picked earlier that day which turned out to be toxic and from which he, as a ten-year old is forbidden to partake as a punishment for his earlier 'stealing' a few sous from the till in the family shop. The boy draws a moral lesson from this incident namely, it doesn't pay to be honest, and then he is off and running to a career of conning and cunning. It is, of course, all done with style and charm, in fact we would have to wait for Cary Grant to replicate these qualities to the same degree in the vastly overrated piece of cheese 'To Catch A Thief'. It's unlikely that film buffs in the UK or US will have the opportunity to catch this unless it appears on video/dvd one day, as they say in France, quel dommage. 7/10

Sacha Guitry was the greatest orator in movie history. Even greater than Orson Welles, in my estimation. But that does not make him the greatest filmmaker. He had real trouble in SHOWING the audience what was going on, rather than telling them. I think Story of a Cheat is the most successful of his films because he found a way of creating action--an example being the jewel thief who comes up with a novel way of stealing gems from unwitting marks. The two scenes with Marguerite Moreno in the cafe are wonderfully done, with great dialog. Otherwise the story is told through narrated flashbacks.

Cahiers du Cinema classed this as one of '100 most important films' which is high praise indeed. It is years ahead of its time and has aged like a good wine. It is the first film to use a voice-over narration and Sacha Guitry has introduced his actors and technicians on camera thereby dispensing with traditional credits. This respect for and appreciation of the talents at his disposal is evident in his subsequent films. Guitry has adapted this from his own novel and within its eighty minute length is inventive, absorbing and entertaining enough to be rightly considered one of his best films. Marguerite Moreno is great as the Countess, there is the glorious voice of chanteuse Frehel and a brief appearance by Roger Duchesne as an anarchist. He went off the radar after the War amid 'allegations' of collaboration but resurfaced in 'Bob le Flambeur'. The art direction by Henri Menessier is superlative. Guitry was essentially a man of the theatre and his films have been described as 'anti-cinematic'. There is some truth in this and the staginess, verbosity and over indulgence of his later films are inclined to test ones patience but there are also moments of genius. He was an artiste whose devotion to his craft cannot be overestimated.

The Story Of A Cheat (1936) : Brief Review -

Sacha Guiltry's immensely humourous and coolest dark comedy that does not cheat with the audience at all. This is perhaps the most entertaining crime comedy i have seen from 30s decades. Full of humour, brilliant screenwriting, interesting narration and what not, The Story Of A Cheat does not cheat anywhere to be blamed for. Among all the crime comedies i have seen so far from old Hollywood this one kept me hooked for entire 80 minutes including every single small dialogue such as Okay, Thank You and the Pauses as well. A charming scoundrel reflects on his exploits, from childhood through to manhood. In every stage of his life he discovers something new, something innovative that might just blow your head. For instance, there is scene from his childhood where all the family member dies and he alone survives and later he discovers a theory that he survived because he was a cheat and rest of the members died because they were honest. I couldn't stop laughing there and then gave it a thought and believe it or not it made a phenomenal right sense out of wrong theories. Sacha tries an innovative idea of telling the narrative though narration and belive me every single minute worths it. What a brilliant narration it was. I was glued to the screen throughout the runtime despite the fact that there were hardly 20 dialogues in 80 minutes runtime, rest it was all about crispy narration. It was a major breakthrough for him as a filmmaker. As an actor he justifies his role with an convincing act with lots of varieties. Bit of a flirt, few tricks, some gimmicks, nasty characteristics, wild Romance and meeting human values at the end, these all elements have been used in perfect order to make The Story Of A Cheat a brilliant film. Overall, exquisite. One of the most entertaining cheat job ever done.

RATING - 7.5/10*

By - #samthebestest