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.
22 Reviews
young Tallulah in a precode film
blanche-25 January 2015
Tallulah Bankhead was 29 when she made "The Cheat," in 1931, and she came to film after a successful theatrical career. Thirteen years later, she made Lifeboat and looked as if she had aged 30 years in 13.
Bankhead plays Elsa, the adored wife of Jeffrey (Harvey Stephens). She's a compulsive gambler and winds up owing $10,000 (the equivalent of $140,000 in today's money). A man who is obviously after her, Hardy Livingstone (Irving Pichel) gets her the money, but of course he wants payment -- the only kind of payment acceptable from a woman in precode! This is kind of a wild movie which could have been wilder with better casting. Tallulah's supporting cast just didn't cut it. To play the sadistic Livingstone, I would have preferred someone who had a little more bite to him, and Harvey Stephens is plain vanilla. Someone suggested Robert Montgomery for the husband and Charles Laughton for the lecher. I'm not sure she would have gone as far as she did with someone like Charles Laughton. Maybe Cyril Ritchard? Warren William? Tallulah's acting and glamor makes the film interesting to watch, and you'll love the Chinese costume Livingstone gives her to wear for a benefit.
This film was directed by the great Broadway director, George Abbott, who died in 1995 at the age of 107. He's the reason, I think, that this film moves so well, unlike many films of this era where people tend to talk more slowly and the action seems to drag as people get used to sound.
Bankhead plays Elsa, the adored wife of Jeffrey (Harvey Stephens). She's a compulsive gambler and winds up owing $10,000 (the equivalent of $140,000 in today's money). A man who is obviously after her, Hardy Livingstone (Irving Pichel) gets her the money, but of course he wants payment -- the only kind of payment acceptable from a woman in precode! This is kind of a wild movie which could have been wilder with better casting. Tallulah's supporting cast just didn't cut it. To play the sadistic Livingstone, I would have preferred someone who had a little more bite to him, and Harvey Stephens is plain vanilla. Someone suggested Robert Montgomery for the husband and Charles Laughton for the lecher. I'm not sure she would have gone as far as she did with someone like Charles Laughton. Maybe Cyril Ritchard? Warren William? Tallulah's acting and glamor makes the film interesting to watch, and you'll love the Chinese costume Livingstone gives her to wear for a benefit.
This film was directed by the great Broadway director, George Abbott, who died in 1995 at the age of 107. He's the reason, I think, that this film moves so well, unlike many films of this era where people tend to talk more slowly and the action seems to drag as people get used to sound.
A terrific Bankhead, some odd Chinese elements, and a typical decadent early 30s drama
secondtake28 February 2015
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.
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.
T B, Ingenue
GManfred25 April 2010
In this movie Tallulah Bankhead falls into the clutches of a lecherous man - honest, you can watch it yourself if think I'm fooling. But, of course, this was a movie. In real life, if we are to believe tradition and gossip, Tallulah would have eaten this stiff for lunch and not missed a round of drinks.
Anyway, she may have been lucky in love but in this picture she was unlucky at cards and ran up a huge gambling debt. The stiff in question, played by Irving Pichel in a sinister turn, offers to bankroll her - and you can guess the price of his largesse. Harvey Stephens plays her trusting doofus husband who buys any excuse she gives him.
"The Cheat" is an interesting melodrama which becomes less so toward the end. It's OK, but the best part is that it gives you a chance to see TB in a starring role and judge her talent for acting for yourself. She gives it her considerable best and chews the scenery at the appropriate intervals. Since she was primarily a stage actress she didn't make that many movies to judge, so watch it if you get a chance.
Anyway, she may have been lucky in love but in this picture she was unlucky at cards and ran up a huge gambling debt. The stiff in question, played by Irving Pichel in a sinister turn, offers to bankroll her - and you can guess the price of his largesse. Harvey Stephens plays her trusting doofus husband who buys any excuse she gives him.
"The Cheat" is an interesting melodrama which becomes less so toward the end. It's OK, but the best part is that it gives you a chance to see TB in a starring role and judge her talent for acting for yourself. She gives it her considerable best and chews the scenery at the appropriate intervals. Since she was primarily a stage actress she didn't make that many movies to judge, so watch it if you get a chance.
The Cheat and the Young Tallulah Bankhead
malvernp26 March 2022
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.
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.
Style Over Substance ...
cervantes-431 March 2014
Tallulah Bankhead made her impact on the stage, not the screen. A 'movie star' is usually the result of the fortunate soul discovered to have, besides wonderful photogenicity, a distinct look like no other, and this look sometimes complimented by an unusual manner of speech. Two out of three ain't bad; but, since the camera didn't love her, Tallulah didn't stay long in Hollywood. The camera emphasized the squareness of her head, her hooded eyes, the hardness of her mouth, images belying the many first-hand reports of her irresistible allure when young. For me the major treat in watching this movie is the over-the-top depiction of the lifestyles of the rich and famous - so prevalent in movies made in Lalaland during the Depression. For example, the villain's bachelor pad, where Frank Sinatra might blush in embarrassment, features a curio cabinet with dolls representing female conquests (there is still an empty shelf for the future) and ornate Oriental sliding doors which, when opened reveal an Oriental string quartet reaching to a crescendo.
A favorite quote from her: 'It's the good girls who keep diaries, the bad girls never have the time.'
A favorite quote from her: 'It's the good girls who keep diaries, the bad girls never have the time.'
Harvey makes it, Tallulah spends it
bkoganbing18 April 2013
Two people who did little work on the big screen and were primarily stage folks, director George Abbott and actress Tallulah Bankhead collaborated on this remake of Cecil B. DeMille's silent classic, The Cheat. It was so watered down that it could have been called The Occasionally Indiscreet.
Tallulah is married to Harvey Stephens and they're both of the upper classes and enjoy the privileges therein. It's Stephens who makes the money and Tallulah who spends it.
She loses a fortune in 1930s worth of $10,000.00 at the gaming tables. She's not able to go to her husband, the money to pay the debt comes from the wealthy Irving Pichel. And he wants to collect the debt in his own way, the same kind of indecent proposal that Robert Redford had in mind in that film.
Half of the drama of The Cheat is lost when we lose the racial component of the original DeMille film. Fannie Ward and Sessue Hayakawa played the roles that Bankhead and Pichel play here and back in the days of miscegenation laws the idea of a wealthy white woman becoming the bought for mistress of an Oriental merchant was shocking indeed in 1915. As a result this film is dependent on the skills of its players, especially Tallulah Bankhead who was certainly one unique personality.
Although Bette Davis was great and The Little Foxes is one of her top five performances in my humble opinion Tallulah who created the role of Regina Hubbard Giddens on stage would have really been special. That and so many other Bankhead performances were lost. If you want to see her at her best make sure to see Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat.
This sound version of The Cheat is all right, but nothing special.
Tallulah is married to Harvey Stephens and they're both of the upper classes and enjoy the privileges therein. It's Stephens who makes the money and Tallulah who spends it.
She loses a fortune in 1930s worth of $10,000.00 at the gaming tables. She's not able to go to her husband, the money to pay the debt comes from the wealthy Irving Pichel. And he wants to collect the debt in his own way, the same kind of indecent proposal that Robert Redford had in mind in that film.
Half of the drama of The Cheat is lost when we lose the racial component of the original DeMille film. Fannie Ward and Sessue Hayakawa played the roles that Bankhead and Pichel play here and back in the days of miscegenation laws the idea of a wealthy white woman becoming the bought for mistress of an Oriental merchant was shocking indeed in 1915. As a result this film is dependent on the skills of its players, especially Tallulah Bankhead who was certainly one unique personality.
Although Bette Davis was great and The Little Foxes is one of her top five performances in my humble opinion Tallulah who created the role of Regina Hubbard Giddens on stage would have really been special. That and so many other Bankhead performances were lost. If you want to see her at her best make sure to see Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat.
This sound version of The Cheat is all right, but nothing special.
Problematic but entertaining
gbill-7487730 December 2023
My favorite quote from Tallulah Bankhead, courtesy Mark Viera's Forbidden Hollywood, is this one: "When I first started to make pictures, I was said to be trying to 'do a Garbo.' A fatal thing to say about anyone. If there's anything the matter with me now, it's certainly not Hollywood's state of mind about me. The matter with me is I haven't had an affair for six months. Six months is a long, long while. I want a man!"
It was just one year after making The Cheat that Bankhead, frustrated with living in Hollywood and the studio trying to force her into the mold of Garbo, would leave Hollywood. As her credit list is so short, it was a joy to see her here, crooning "I'll see you in my dreams" in her sultry voice, and wearing shimmering gowns. She plays a woman who is in a good marriage, but who spends and gambles too much money while her husband (Harvey Stephens) is off trying to strike it rich through his business ventures. A lady's man who has returned from Asia (Irving Pichel) has his eye on her, thus setting up conflict. He's quite brazen in his approach, leading to this exchange:
"Are you in love with your husband?" "Yes. Isn't it too bad?" "Not necessarily."
Now it's not that she doesn't have sizzle with her husband, as at one point he caresses her face and says "I'm not your husband," and when she replies "Gracious!" he says "I'm your lover," then plants a long, lingering kiss on her.
Meanwhile, the other man smugly lets her see is "gallery of ghosts," which are figurines made of each of the women who were "kind" to him, meaning all the women he's bedded. He also tells her he brands all of his belongings with a Japanese character that means "I possess." Rather than fleeing from this creepy dude (who incidentally looks just like Mike Meyers), she asks to see more, wondering if he has a "head strung up in a closet" behind a door, when in fact when he slides the door open we see two musicians who immediately begin playing traditional Chinese instruments. He then tries to give her a beautiful, ornate gown that belonged to a "Siamese princess," the references coming fast and furious from all over Asia. As the film progresses, he continues to pursue her like a jungle cat stalking its prey, and when he overhears her having lost a fortune on an ill-advised stock gamble, pounces.
Unfortunately, in the pervasive feeling of superiority and exoticism of Asian cultures, there are certainly elements of racism. The telltale warning sign comes in the credits, with the "Chinese style" English writing announcing the cast and crew. Early on Pichel's character confides to another that "The Oriental woman isn't really a slave, she's simply been well-trained." Later he tells Bankhead's character that "Opium has never agreed with me, but some of us (in Asia) use it as you would cigarettes," echoing an aspect of the "Yellow peril" propaganda that also conveniently overlooked Britain's role in forcing opium on the Chinese people.
While touring his mansion, she takes one look at his statue of the Hindu-Buddhist deity Yama concealed behind a hidden door and says, "Oh, how dreadful." While he says "that depends on your point-of-view" and explains to her that it's their god of destruction, he of course doesn't explain any of the philosophical nuance, e.g. That it represents inevitable impermanence more than anything else, and we just get a tight shot of the god's rather sinister face. Later a group of affluent white people will put on an "Oriental" themed bazaar (following the previous year's Native American theme), where the cultures and dance are jumbled together for merriment, while the only real Asian people we see are servants.
The would-be lover may be white, but he's certainly a surrogate for Asians, having been corrupted by their ways, cruelly wanting to possess (and literally brand!) women, and being crafty and deviously unpredictable. The wife represents wayward, sinful women, those who don't know a good thing when they've got it, and whose morals may bend when necessary. The upright husband, the one who would much rather travel to Western Europe, thus does moralistic double duty, to defeat this "yellow menace" and to get his wife in line.
It's typical that in an era of women's progress (at this point, right after the 1920's and again during WWII, when women had gone to work), the conservative backlash would often employ a comparison of American women to the submissiveness of Asian women, a supposed element of Eastern cultures that seemed to be the only one they wanted to embrace. The fate of Bankhead's character is indeed to be cowed, branded on the chest with what might as well have been a Japanese scarlet letter, and it mirrors the "well-trained" comment the other man had made earlier. At least she's not ultimately doomed, as would probably be the case after the Production Code started being enforced, and her husband loves her instead of judges her, which felt at least a little nice.
Overall, the problems with the film made it hard to truly love, but I confess I found it entertaining, and was glad I saw it.
It was just one year after making The Cheat that Bankhead, frustrated with living in Hollywood and the studio trying to force her into the mold of Garbo, would leave Hollywood. As her credit list is so short, it was a joy to see her here, crooning "I'll see you in my dreams" in her sultry voice, and wearing shimmering gowns. She plays a woman who is in a good marriage, but who spends and gambles too much money while her husband (Harvey Stephens) is off trying to strike it rich through his business ventures. A lady's man who has returned from Asia (Irving Pichel) has his eye on her, thus setting up conflict. He's quite brazen in his approach, leading to this exchange:
"Are you in love with your husband?" "Yes. Isn't it too bad?" "Not necessarily."
Now it's not that she doesn't have sizzle with her husband, as at one point he caresses her face and says "I'm not your husband," and when she replies "Gracious!" he says "I'm your lover," then plants a long, lingering kiss on her.
Meanwhile, the other man smugly lets her see is "gallery of ghosts," which are figurines made of each of the women who were "kind" to him, meaning all the women he's bedded. He also tells her he brands all of his belongings with a Japanese character that means "I possess." Rather than fleeing from this creepy dude (who incidentally looks just like Mike Meyers), she asks to see more, wondering if he has a "head strung up in a closet" behind a door, when in fact when he slides the door open we see two musicians who immediately begin playing traditional Chinese instruments. He then tries to give her a beautiful, ornate gown that belonged to a "Siamese princess," the references coming fast and furious from all over Asia. As the film progresses, he continues to pursue her like a jungle cat stalking its prey, and when he overhears her having lost a fortune on an ill-advised stock gamble, pounces.
Unfortunately, in the pervasive feeling of superiority and exoticism of Asian cultures, there are certainly elements of racism. The telltale warning sign comes in the credits, with the "Chinese style" English writing announcing the cast and crew. Early on Pichel's character confides to another that "The Oriental woman isn't really a slave, she's simply been well-trained." Later he tells Bankhead's character that "Opium has never agreed with me, but some of us (in Asia) use it as you would cigarettes," echoing an aspect of the "Yellow peril" propaganda that also conveniently overlooked Britain's role in forcing opium on the Chinese people.
While touring his mansion, she takes one look at his statue of the Hindu-Buddhist deity Yama concealed behind a hidden door and says, "Oh, how dreadful." While he says "that depends on your point-of-view" and explains to her that it's their god of destruction, he of course doesn't explain any of the philosophical nuance, e.g. That it represents inevitable impermanence more than anything else, and we just get a tight shot of the god's rather sinister face. Later a group of affluent white people will put on an "Oriental" themed bazaar (following the previous year's Native American theme), where the cultures and dance are jumbled together for merriment, while the only real Asian people we see are servants.
The would-be lover may be white, but he's certainly a surrogate for Asians, having been corrupted by their ways, cruelly wanting to possess (and literally brand!) women, and being crafty and deviously unpredictable. The wife represents wayward, sinful women, those who don't know a good thing when they've got it, and whose morals may bend when necessary. The upright husband, the one who would much rather travel to Western Europe, thus does moralistic double duty, to defeat this "yellow menace" and to get his wife in line.
It's typical that in an era of women's progress (at this point, right after the 1920's and again during WWII, when women had gone to work), the conservative backlash would often employ a comparison of American women to the submissiveness of Asian women, a supposed element of Eastern cultures that seemed to be the only one they wanted to embrace. The fate of Bankhead's character is indeed to be cowed, branded on the chest with what might as well have been a Japanese scarlet letter, and it mirrors the "well-trained" comment the other man had made earlier. At least she's not ultimately doomed, as would probably be the case after the Production Code started being enforced, and her husband loves her instead of judges her, which felt at least a little nice.
Overall, the problems with the film made it hard to truly love, but I confess I found it entertaining, and was glad I saw it.
It manages something very tough--it's scandalous AND stupid!
planktonrules6 June 2011
Warning: Spoilers
In 1915, "The Cheat" debuted. It starred Fannie Ward and Sessue Hayakawa and was a very good film for its time. However, 16 years later, the plot which had once been pretty exciting was now pretty dumb--mostly because this sort of over-the-top melodrama was now passé and silly. Yet, oddly, despite a few changes, the original plot has been left intact--and makes for a very dated film.
Tallulah Bankhead, who was known mostly for her stage performances, plays the leading lady. This was tough for her, as the character was a very difficult one to put across to the audience. Why? Because she was a stupid and extremely foolish lady--and it was hard to like her or understand why her husband (Harvey Stevenson) liked her! So, when she stupidly gets into trouble and an evil lecher (Irving Pichel) comes to her 'aid', anyone with half a brain would see this would backfire--which it naturally did. However, HOW it backfires is where the plot really shows its great age!! He brands her--seriously!! She naturally didn't like it and shoots the jerk. After doing this, the characters ALL behave irrationally. She runs away (though it was clearly self-defense and she had the scars to prove it), the husband INSISTS on taking the blame and going to prison and the evil man, who survives, testifies that the husband shot him!!! Huh?! None of this made any sense and the viewer will most likely begin groaning pretty loudly near the end--the end result of having an ancient and outdated script shoved down our throats!!
While this is included in a Pre-Code collection, despite the story elements and implications, it isn't really all that salacious...just silly. It's watchable, but don't say I didn't warn you!!
Tallulah Bankhead, who was known mostly for her stage performances, plays the leading lady. This was tough for her, as the character was a very difficult one to put across to the audience. Why? Because she was a stupid and extremely foolish lady--and it was hard to like her or understand why her husband (Harvey Stevenson) liked her! So, when she stupidly gets into trouble and an evil lecher (Irving Pichel) comes to her 'aid', anyone with half a brain would see this would backfire--which it naturally did. However, HOW it backfires is where the plot really shows its great age!! He brands her--seriously!! She naturally didn't like it and shoots the jerk. After doing this, the characters ALL behave irrationally. She runs away (though it was clearly self-defense and she had the scars to prove it), the husband INSISTS on taking the blame and going to prison and the evil man, who survives, testifies that the husband shot him!!! Huh?! None of this made any sense and the viewer will most likely begin groaning pretty loudly near the end--the end result of having an ancient and outdated script shoved down our throats!!
While this is included in a Pre-Code collection, despite the story elements and implications, it isn't really all that salacious...just silly. It's watchable, but don't say I didn't warn you!!
Tallulah's "take" on an oft-told tale
melvelvit-119 October 2006
Warning: Spoilers
American Tallulah Bankhead, the sensation of the London stage, signed with Paramount Pictures in 1931 and her first talkie, TARNISHED LADY (1931), a Pre-code exposé of love among Manhattan's smart set, wasn't bad but didn't exactly set the world on fire. For her next, Paramount's front office decided to dust off the 1915 Cecil B. De Mille blockbuster THE CHEAT in the hopes that it would do for Tallulah what it did for Fannie Ward and Pola Negri. Negri made her American debut in the 1923 re-make of this Victorian-era cautionary tale of the price of deceit and the public lapped it up. Like her first, Tallulah's second film had Gotham as it's setting but was a bit darker in theme. The sexy sadism of THE CHEAT puts it in the realm of pulp fiction. A wealthy young couple, Jeffrey (Harvey Stephens) and Elsa (Tallulah Bankhead) Carlyle , are brought to the brink of ruin by the wife's selfish recklessness. While at their Long Island yacht club, Elsa is ogled by Hardy Livingstone (Irving Pichel), a lascivious roué just returned from an extended stay in the Orient. Unbeknownst to her husband, Elsa loses big at the gaming tables and wanders down to the dock where Livingstone follows and asks if she'd like to see his estate. She accepts but, incredibly, she's shocked when he makes a pass. Livingstone is hell-bent on having her and from here on her life starts to spin wildly out of control. Despite the gossip and the pleading of her trusting and blindly adoring husband, Elsa continues to tempt fate by (innocently) associating with Livingstone. Entrusted with the Milk Fund Ball's money, Elsa secretly risks it all for a sure bet on the stock market. She loses and, backed into a corner, takes money offered by Livingstone ...on the condition she come to him one night soon. On the very night the repayment is due, her husband's business acumen makes them rich and she goes to Livingstone with a check but he refuses the money. Calling her a cheat he brands her breast and she shoots and wounds him. Her husband takes the blame but during a climactic court-room scene Elsa reveals the truth and the authorities hustle Livingstone off before an angry mob can get to him. Elsa, now a changed woman, realizes the error of her ways and Jeffrey, still hopelessly in love, tells her to consider the whole thing only a bad dream.
De Mille's 1915 version of THE CHEAT could have worked in Pre-Code Hollywood. In the original, the sizzling flesh-branding was only metaphor for brutal rape and miscegenation. In 1931 Paramount could have dispensed with metaphor. They didn't, possibly because they felt the paying public wanted to see it as originally written. In the original the villain was a devilishly handsome but fiendish Oriental (Sessue Hayakawa) while here he's a jaded American who picked up a few tricks in the Far East. His incredibly ornate mansion has a statue of Yama, the God of Destruction and a curio cabinet that holds figurines made in the images of the women he's had. The socialite in the original (Fannie Ward) was played as a flighty air-head and it worked. Tallulah, too cosmopolitan for that, played Elsa as self-destructive and slightly unbalanced ...and that worked even better. At one point she admits to her husband she's mad but amends it to "mad about living". Bankhead took a role others had branded as their's and put her own spin on it, giving Elsa real depth. The emotions that flit across her face as she loses at cards and the stock-market convey a woman who has no conception of cause and effect. Pampered, sheltered and spoiled by her husband, Elsa is genuinely surprised when she finds she can't wrap Livingstone around her little finger. She flinches when she sees the statue of Yama ...as if recognizing something in herself. The branding iron scene is still potent and there's an amazing image of Elsa standing dazed with smoking gun and smoking breast. The courtroom scene is where she really gives it all she's got. Coming clean for the first time in her life and realizing the chaos she's caused, her eyes and voice convey rising hysteria. As she rips her bodice open to reveal the brand on her breast (in the 1915 version it was her back) the crowd goes crazy and riots. The ending of the original is a bit more powerful and probably should have been kept. In that one, the crowd tears the villain apart in a savage lynching, but here the police (barely) save him.
Filmed at Paramount East in Astoria, New York, THE CHEAT is opulent and extravagant despite a minimum of sets. A few mansions and the yacht club manage to convey the insulated world of the wealthy. This topic was endlessly fascinating to Depression-era audiences with the Crash of 1929 still fresh in their collective mind. The weak links here are Tallulah's co-stars. There aren't any to speak of, so perhaps Paramount felt Bankhead's name on the marquee was sufficient. Second-stringer Irving Pichel didn't (or couldn't) portray a menacing sexual sadist hiding under a cloak of respectability. This role cried out for a Charles Laughton. The young husband, Harvey Stephens, was fair-to-middling, but someone like Robert Montgomery would have given the role the naiveté and boyishness required. Bankhead actually comes through for the studio and also photographed beautifully. She's got gorgeous gams and titillates with her décolleté gowns, satin robes and slips. At one point she's outrageously garbed as a Siamese Princess for the Oriental-themed Milk Fund Ball. Tallulah would eventually star opposite Charles Laughton and Robert Mongomery respectively in her two final (and best) films before leaving Hollywood in 1932.
De Mille's 1915 version of THE CHEAT could have worked in Pre-Code Hollywood. In the original, the sizzling flesh-branding was only metaphor for brutal rape and miscegenation. In 1931 Paramount could have dispensed with metaphor. They didn't, possibly because they felt the paying public wanted to see it as originally written. In the original the villain was a devilishly handsome but fiendish Oriental (Sessue Hayakawa) while here he's a jaded American who picked up a few tricks in the Far East. His incredibly ornate mansion has a statue of Yama, the God of Destruction and a curio cabinet that holds figurines made in the images of the women he's had. The socialite in the original (Fannie Ward) was played as a flighty air-head and it worked. Tallulah, too cosmopolitan for that, played Elsa as self-destructive and slightly unbalanced ...and that worked even better. At one point she admits to her husband she's mad but amends it to "mad about living". Bankhead took a role others had branded as their's and put her own spin on it, giving Elsa real depth. The emotions that flit across her face as she loses at cards and the stock-market convey a woman who has no conception of cause and effect. Pampered, sheltered and spoiled by her husband, Elsa is genuinely surprised when she finds she can't wrap Livingstone around her little finger. She flinches when she sees the statue of Yama ...as if recognizing something in herself. The branding iron scene is still potent and there's an amazing image of Elsa standing dazed with smoking gun and smoking breast. The courtroom scene is where she really gives it all she's got. Coming clean for the first time in her life and realizing the chaos she's caused, her eyes and voice convey rising hysteria. As she rips her bodice open to reveal the brand on her breast (in the 1915 version it was her back) the crowd goes crazy and riots. The ending of the original is a bit more powerful and probably should have been kept. In that one, the crowd tears the villain apart in a savage lynching, but here the police (barely) save him.
Filmed at Paramount East in Astoria, New York, THE CHEAT is opulent and extravagant despite a minimum of sets. A few mansions and the yacht club manage to convey the insulated world of the wealthy. This topic was endlessly fascinating to Depression-era audiences with the Crash of 1929 still fresh in their collective mind. The weak links here are Tallulah's co-stars. There aren't any to speak of, so perhaps Paramount felt Bankhead's name on the marquee was sufficient. Second-stringer Irving Pichel didn't (or couldn't) portray a menacing sexual sadist hiding under a cloak of respectability. This role cried out for a Charles Laughton. The young husband, Harvey Stephens, was fair-to-middling, but someone like Robert Montgomery would have given the role the naiveté and boyishness required. Bankhead actually comes through for the studio and also photographed beautifully. She's got gorgeous gams and titillates with her décolleté gowns, satin robes and slips. At one point she's outrageously garbed as a Siamese Princess for the Oriental-themed Milk Fund Ball. Tallulah would eventually star opposite Charles Laughton and Robert Mongomery respectively in her two final (and best) films before leaving Hollywood in 1932.
Branded for who she doesn't belong to.
mark.waltz11 April 2014
Warning: Spoilers
Give Tallulah Bankhead credit for having tried her hardest to break into the mold of the many exotic actressses suffering in sable in the early 1930's. Here, she's a darling of society who spends much of her time gambling, and when she gets a little bit too in debt goes to an old flame (Irving Pichel) for financial help. He is willing to agree...for a price, and that makes her his....any time he wants her. Of course, she's in a supposedly respectable marriage to the very boring Harvey Stephens, so she refuses, and Pichel responds in the most vile way possible. As is typical in pre-code melodramas of this sort, there's always a lethal weapon, and you don't do to Tallulah what he did to her without some sort of repercussion.
Pichel is one of the most vile villains on screen, having spent much of his career playing creepy characters in movies, a la Peter Lorre. If it wasn't the possessive servant to "Dracula's Daughter", it was Fagin in a low-budget early "Oliver Twist". Here, he plays one of the most nefarious kind of characters-the type that seems civilized on the outside but is truly barbaric inside his soul. There's no remorse for what becomes of this rogue, so he does his job extremely well. Tallulah gets a great dramatic scene in court, proving that even with maudlin and sometimes offensive material, she could make it seem better than it actually was. As with another early pre-code film she starred in ("My Sin"), she was directed by George Abbott, who like Tallulah was more at home on stage where he was a legend.
The fortunate thing about a lot of these pre-code movies which when seen in historical retrospective is that while they are all very similar, many of them are relatively short, usually under 80 minutes, and wrapped up very neatly in a glamorous bundle of furs and high fashion. Tallulah may have not been successful in film (with the exception of Hitchcock's "Lifeboat"), but the legend that is Ms. Bankhead makes these films fun to capture, especially because of their rarity. Fortunately, "The Cheat" has made its way onto DVD, and hopefully her other Paramount films will follow suit.
Pichel is one of the most vile villains on screen, having spent much of his career playing creepy characters in movies, a la Peter Lorre. If it wasn't the possessive servant to "Dracula's Daughter", it was Fagin in a low-budget early "Oliver Twist". Here, he plays one of the most nefarious kind of characters-the type that seems civilized on the outside but is truly barbaric inside his soul. There's no remorse for what becomes of this rogue, so he does his job extremely well. Tallulah gets a great dramatic scene in court, proving that even with maudlin and sometimes offensive material, she could make it seem better than it actually was. As with another early pre-code film she starred in ("My Sin"), she was directed by George Abbott, who like Tallulah was more at home on stage where he was a legend.
The fortunate thing about a lot of these pre-code movies which when seen in historical retrospective is that while they are all very similar, many of them are relatively short, usually under 80 minutes, and wrapped up very neatly in a glamorous bundle of furs and high fashion. Tallulah may have not been successful in film (with the exception of Hitchcock's "Lifeboat"), but the legend that is Ms. Bankhead makes these films fun to capture, especially because of their rarity. Fortunately, "The Cheat" has made its way onto DVD, and hopefully her other Paramount films will follow suit.
Potentially shocking material diluted by overlength
gridoon202424 June 2018
Warning: Spoilers
And yes, I know that "overlength" is a strange word for a 70-minute movie, but in this case it's true: the running time should have been about 30 minutes. As it is, the first half of "The Cheat" is pretty boring, though the branding sequence IS pretty steamy (no pun intended), and the whole film is well-directed and acted (even if the husband's character is a little too good to be true). ** out of 4.
Tallulah Bankhead falls Bank-less
josephbrando20 February 2010
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!
Watch at your own risk
HotToastyRag25 June 2020
You won't be able to tell from the opening sequence, but The Cheat is a very creepy movie. I felt so uncomfortable and upset after it was finished, I had to pop in a comedy to change my mood. Unless you've got a strong stomach, you might want to skip this one. And if you take particular issue with violence against women, you'll definitely want to skip it.
Tallulah Bankhead gives a fantastic performance in a very meaty part. She's married to Harvey Stephens, and while they appear to be happy, she has a wild streak in her that can't be contained. She's a rash gambler and flirts around with strange men. When she racks up a $10,000 gambling debt, she gets herself into trouble when she borrows the money from Irving Pichel. Irving is very creepy; he has a collection of dolls in his house that mirror the women he's "possessed" in his past. He agrees to give Tallulah the money with the strict understanding that she pay him back with her body, and you can only imagine his terrible plans.
Seriously, folks, I'm giving you one last warning. Tallulah is great in this movie, but you don't have to watch it. Check her out in Faithless for another heart wrenching performance. It's still very heavy, but it's not so disturbing.
Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to due to violence and adult content, I wouldn't let my kids watch it.
Tallulah Bankhead gives a fantastic performance in a very meaty part. She's married to Harvey Stephens, and while they appear to be happy, she has a wild streak in her that can't be contained. She's a rash gambler and flirts around with strange men. When she racks up a $10,000 gambling debt, she gets herself into trouble when she borrows the money from Irving Pichel. Irving is very creepy; he has a collection of dolls in his house that mirror the women he's "possessed" in his past. He agrees to give Tallulah the money with the strict understanding that she pay him back with her body, and you can only imagine his terrible plans.
Seriously, folks, I'm giving you one last warning. Tallulah is great in this movie, but you don't have to watch it. Check her out in Faithless for another heart wrenching performance. It's still very heavy, but it's not so disturbing.
Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to due to violence and adult content, I wouldn't let my kids watch it.
Utterly depressing
writtenbymkm-583-90209714 December 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Another reviewer, writing as "HotToastyRag," stated that she felt so uncomfortable and upset after it was finished, she had to pop in a comedy to change her mood. I absolutely agree. The same thing happened to me. As soon as it ended, I popped in one of my favorite Simpsons DVDs to cheer myself up. I reserve one star for movies I can't even finish watching, so I gave this one two stars because I persevered to the bitter end to find out how it ended. SPOILER ALERT RIGHT HERE -- there is what amounts to torture in this movie, a woman branded on her bare skin. If that sounds upsetting to you, then take my advice and forget this movie. Even without that scene (which admittedly only takes about three or four seconds), it's a terribly dark and depressing movie. It redeems itself at the very end, or tries to, and I applaud them for that, but otherwise I'd recommend staying as far away from this as possible. You've been warned.
The world of the decadent rich during the depression
michael_chaplan2 August 2009
Warning: Spoilers
For once, a remake that is superior to the original! Cecil B. Demille's 1915 version of the same story was campy and boring, although Sessue Hayakawa was a fascinating presence.
In this film, the motivations of all the characters make more sense. While the husband in the first movie was a sap, the husband in this one is a man who loves his wife and is willing to sacrifice himself for her. The wife in the first film is somebody who loves her self respect, and finally throws it out the window in a grand sacrifice, but the wife in this film is a woman of the world, who wanted to tell the truth from the beginning. The villain in the first film was an inscrutable Oriental. He simply plays by different rules. However, the villain in this one is a lustful, decadent monster, who is also a liar.
George Abbott knows how to move the camera... and gives a fascinating view of the world of the rich... with the decadence just under the surface.
They really don't make 'em like they used to... The closest I have come to the perversion in this film has been David Lynch's Blue Velvet.
In this film, the motivations of all the characters make more sense. While the husband in the first movie was a sap, the husband in this one is a man who loves his wife and is willing to sacrifice himself for her. The wife in the first film is somebody who loves her self respect, and finally throws it out the window in a grand sacrifice, but the wife in this film is a woman of the world, who wanted to tell the truth from the beginning. The villain in the first film was an inscrutable Oriental. He simply plays by different rules. However, the villain in this one is a lustful, decadent monster, who is also a liar.
George Abbott knows how to move the camera... and gives a fascinating view of the world of the rich... with the decadence just under the surface.
They really don't make 'em like they used to... The closest I have come to the perversion in this film has been David Lynch's Blue Velvet.
The Cheat rips off.
st-shot30 April 2022
Tallulah Bankhead hams it up to the hilt in this laughable tale of gambling addiction and sadism. At 29 and already showing the ravages of a dissolute life style, Lu has a hard time convincing she's a sensitive innocent with a gambling problem as she continuously rasps "Oh, Jeffrey" to a clueless husband after each faux pas.
Compulsive gambler, wanna be socialite Elsa Carlyle (Bankhead) drops a bundle at a casino and then doubles down by ripping off a charity milk fund and losing it in a stock deal. With debtors on her door step she accepts the help of a wealthy, tasteful gentleman (Irving Pichel) with a sinister side. He bails her out but when he demands repayment and she rebuffs, he brutalizes her. She returns the favor by shooting him.
Bankhead's stridency is overwrought as she projects for the balcony audience as if in a play. Her halting utterances and feigned naiveté are more laughable than heartfelt as she frets with a wretched lack of conviction. The perverse Pichel character leers throughout while the rest of a forgettable cast looks on aghast and disapproving in this lurid potboiler that never reaches lukewarm.
Compulsive gambler, wanna be socialite Elsa Carlyle (Bankhead) drops a bundle at a casino and then doubles down by ripping off a charity milk fund and losing it in a stock deal. With debtors on her door step she accepts the help of a wealthy, tasteful gentleman (Irving Pichel) with a sinister side. He bails her out but when he demands repayment and she rebuffs, he brutalizes her. She returns the favor by shooting him.
Bankhead's stridency is overwrought as she projects for the balcony audience as if in a play. Her halting utterances and feigned naiveté are more laughable than heartfelt as she frets with a wretched lack of conviction. The perverse Pichel character leers throughout while the rest of a forgettable cast looks on aghast and disapproving in this lurid potboiler that never reaches lukewarm.
Even Sexy Talullah Doesn't Do Much for This One
evanston_dad12 August 2014
"The Cheat" is a forgettable pre-Code film starring Talullah Bankhead as a woman who makes a "deal" with a rich rascal after her gambling problem lands her in serious money trouble (and potentially even bigger trouble with her husband), kills him in ambiguous circumstances and gets away with it. From a pre-Code aspect, her getting away with her crime is probably the most notable thing about the movie; the rest is maybe a little racy but fairly tame even compared to other pre-Code films of its time.
Actually, the most notable thing about the film is that it appears on DVD as a double feature with "Merrily We Go to Hell," an excellent movie and one that is anything but forgettable. If you're going to get that film (and you should), you might as well watch this one while you're at it. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother seeking this one out on its own merits.
Grade: C
Actually, the most notable thing about the film is that it appears on DVD as a double feature with "Merrily We Go to Hell," an excellent movie and one that is anything but forgettable. If you're going to get that film (and you should), you might as well watch this one while you're at it. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother seeking this one out on its own merits.
Grade: C
Stunner
JasparLamarCrabb28 December 2021
Warning: Spoilers
A stunner for sure. Directed in 1931 by stage maestro George Abbott, THE CHEAT stars Tallulah Bankhead as a society girl who gets in way over head with an investment she cannot afford. She takes a loan from wealthy Irving Pichel and plenty of pre-code unsavoriness ensues. Bankhead, who gives one of her finest film performances, is great and she's well matched with Harvey Stephens as her husband. Stephens has the perfect blandness that the impossibly colorful Bankhead had a field day with. At 75 minutes, it's never dull and given the relatively small list of films that Bankhead appeared in, it's very worthwhile. Abbott and Bankhead also teamed for the equally melodramatic MY SIN the same year.
Please Head to Lot B Tallulah
view_and_review5 August 2022
Warning: Spoilers
This was my third Tallulah Bankhead movie and I can barely distinguish one character from the next. She spoke the same, dressed the same, and behaved virtually the same in all three films, and since they were all released in 1931 she may have simply walked off of one set and on to another.
In "The Cheat" Tallulah plays Elsa Carlyle, the spoiled wife of Jeffrey Carlyle (Harvey Stephens), a man trying to stay ahead of his wife's spending habits. She was a gambler and a fairly morally loose woman who definitely pushed the limits of her marriage. She boldly and carelessly went to the home of a strange man after meeting him at a Long Island casino. The man, Hardy Livingstone (Irving Pichel), wanted more than her pleasant conversation, but she coyly rebuffed him as though she had no idea he invited her over for something more intimate than talking.
Once Livingstone got a taste of her flirtatious ways he was hooked. He was determined to conquer her even if her husband was fully aware.
Her husband, not wanting to seem jealous or as though he didn't trust her, reluctantly capitulated to her befriending Livingstone. Maybe that's a high society trait: pretending you're not bothered by your wife befriending strange single men. Jeffrey was more worried about the optics of their relationship than the potential of a romance.
Hardy kept up a hard press on Elsa until he got the break he was looking for.
Elsa owed the casino $10,000. She lost a $10,000 bet on a whimsical gamble against the house of who could draw the highest card. To get out of that debt she "borrowed" some charity funds she was in charge of and invested it in a "guaranteed" stock that was supposed to double in a week. Naturally, it collapsed. So now she owed the casino $10,000 and she owed her booster club $10,000.
In steps Livingstone.
He said he'd give her $10,000 as long as she agreed to meet him at his house on a given evening. It was an indecent proposal. Elsa knew full well what that meant, but she was desperate, and why should she make a good decision now after she's made so many bad ones?
She agreed to meet with Livingstone and then an unlikely thing happened: her husband struck a million dollar deal. Now, all she had to do is sheepishly ask her husband for the $10,000 to give back to Livingstone so she didn't have to be his love slave.
She got the 10k from her husband without explaining exactly what it was for. When she offered the money to Livingstone as a means of breaking their deal, he did want any part of it. As far as he was concerned, he paid for her and he wasn't looking for a refund. When Elsa insisted that the deal was off, Livingstone branded her on her chest and she shot him. At this time her husband was on Livingstone's property as well. He tailed his wife there to find out what she really needed the money for. After he heard the shot, he ran to the room to find Livingstone on the floor wounded and his wife gone. In predictable chivalrous fashion Jeffrey took the blame for the shooting.
To me, that was a step further than I would've gone. I do love my wife, but if she got herself into hot water with a man that she had a lascivious contract with because of her own missteps, the last thing I'm doing is going to jail for her. In this case, you made your bed now you lie in it. If it wasn't bad enough she was racking up $10,000 debts from gambling and wantonly hanging with another man, it certainly was bad enough that she shot him after breaking their passion pact. That's a fall I'd happily let her take. But no, Jeffrey was ever the doting and loving husband willing to suffer his wife's hedonistic antics just to bask in her presence.
In very Hollywood, yet not the least bit realistic style, Elsa admitted to the shooting in a passionate speech in front of the court which absolved Jeffrey and made public sentiment turn on Livingstone. It was one of those dramatic displays where Jeffrey was on the witness stand, yet Elsa jumped up and yelled, "I did it," and continued to tearily say why she'd shot Livingstone.
In the end, Jeffrey was free, Elsa learned her lesson and had a brand as a reminder, and Livingstone was a social pariah. How everyone lives happily-ever-after after such an affair is beyond me. But, Hollywood has taught me that winning freedom, winning money, or winning love are all that's needed to make a person happy and whole.
Free on YouTube.
In "The Cheat" Tallulah plays Elsa Carlyle, the spoiled wife of Jeffrey Carlyle (Harvey Stephens), a man trying to stay ahead of his wife's spending habits. She was a gambler and a fairly morally loose woman who definitely pushed the limits of her marriage. She boldly and carelessly went to the home of a strange man after meeting him at a Long Island casino. The man, Hardy Livingstone (Irving Pichel), wanted more than her pleasant conversation, but she coyly rebuffed him as though she had no idea he invited her over for something more intimate than talking.
Once Livingstone got a taste of her flirtatious ways he was hooked. He was determined to conquer her even if her husband was fully aware.
Her husband, not wanting to seem jealous or as though he didn't trust her, reluctantly capitulated to her befriending Livingstone. Maybe that's a high society trait: pretending you're not bothered by your wife befriending strange single men. Jeffrey was more worried about the optics of their relationship than the potential of a romance.
Hardy kept up a hard press on Elsa until he got the break he was looking for.
Elsa owed the casino $10,000. She lost a $10,000 bet on a whimsical gamble against the house of who could draw the highest card. To get out of that debt she "borrowed" some charity funds she was in charge of and invested it in a "guaranteed" stock that was supposed to double in a week. Naturally, it collapsed. So now she owed the casino $10,000 and she owed her booster club $10,000.
In steps Livingstone.
He said he'd give her $10,000 as long as she agreed to meet him at his house on a given evening. It was an indecent proposal. Elsa knew full well what that meant, but she was desperate, and why should she make a good decision now after she's made so many bad ones?
She agreed to meet with Livingstone and then an unlikely thing happened: her husband struck a million dollar deal. Now, all she had to do is sheepishly ask her husband for the $10,000 to give back to Livingstone so she didn't have to be his love slave.
She got the 10k from her husband without explaining exactly what it was for. When she offered the money to Livingstone as a means of breaking their deal, he did want any part of it. As far as he was concerned, he paid for her and he wasn't looking for a refund. When Elsa insisted that the deal was off, Livingstone branded her on her chest and she shot him. At this time her husband was on Livingstone's property as well. He tailed his wife there to find out what she really needed the money for. After he heard the shot, he ran to the room to find Livingstone on the floor wounded and his wife gone. In predictable chivalrous fashion Jeffrey took the blame for the shooting.
To me, that was a step further than I would've gone. I do love my wife, but if she got herself into hot water with a man that she had a lascivious contract with because of her own missteps, the last thing I'm doing is going to jail for her. In this case, you made your bed now you lie in it. If it wasn't bad enough she was racking up $10,000 debts from gambling and wantonly hanging with another man, it certainly was bad enough that she shot him after breaking their passion pact. That's a fall I'd happily let her take. But no, Jeffrey was ever the doting and loving husband willing to suffer his wife's hedonistic antics just to bask in her presence.
In very Hollywood, yet not the least bit realistic style, Elsa admitted to the shooting in a passionate speech in front of the court which absolved Jeffrey and made public sentiment turn on Livingstone. It was one of those dramatic displays where Jeffrey was on the witness stand, yet Elsa jumped up and yelled, "I did it," and continued to tearily say why she'd shot Livingstone.
In the end, Jeffrey was free, Elsa learned her lesson and had a brand as a reminder, and Livingstone was a social pariah. How everyone lives happily-ever-after after such an affair is beyond me. But, Hollywood has taught me that winning freedom, winning money, or winning love are all that's needed to make a person happy and whole.
Free on YouTube.
I am now a big fan of Tallulah Bankhead. She doe a great job here.
ronrobinson318 October 2023
In my journeys through the films of 1931, I have come across several films with Tallulah Bankhead. I was not really impressed. She was always a wise cracking caricature of the part she was playing and not that likeable.
But now I have just watched "The Cheat". First of all, Tallulah Bankhead never looked so good on camera as she does in this film. I thought she was the epitome of what a Hollywood Diva should look like.
Second, Bankhead does a GREAT job playing the role. She is real. She is vulnerable. She is in love. She is in trouble. She won me over. I know some critics, when the film came out, panned the film and her performance, but I thought she did great. And I would watch it again.
The film is pre-code so there is a bit of "racy" theme but it is mild compared to today's standards.
Bankhead has an addiction to gambling and spending money. That is not a good combination of traits to have! She gets in debt but does not want her husband to know. He is working very hard to attain a deal in business that will make them wealthy but all the money is going to his work. Along comes a cad played by Irving Pichel, who is really sleazy, and he has a crush on Bankhead. He offers her all the money she needs if she will give him sex. She turns him down because she truly loves her husband.
Desperate, she finally agrees to take the money and to meet Pichel for a rendezvous. But, before they meet, her husband announces they are now super rich. She goes to Pichel to give him back all the money he gave her and tries to walk out. Pichel says that Bankhead belongs to him and, to prove it, holds her down and fire brands her chest with his initials!!
I won't go further. I want you to see how it turns out. But in the publicity photos they used for the film, they show the brand being put on her back. They even show the court room scene where Bankhead shows the court the brand - but it is on her back. However, in the film, the brand is right on her chest. I guess having a woman pull her top down to expose a partial breast was just too much for the publicity photos!! (Though it might have gotten more folks to come see the film!!)
Check this out. Tallulah Bankhead is stunning. And she really does a good job in this film. I am now a big fan of hers!! I think she may have a future career!! ;-)
Classy Bankhead in a Classy Classic!
But now I have just watched "The Cheat". First of all, Tallulah Bankhead never looked so good on camera as she does in this film. I thought she was the epitome of what a Hollywood Diva should look like.
Second, Bankhead does a GREAT job playing the role. She is real. She is vulnerable. She is in love. She is in trouble. She won me over. I know some critics, when the film came out, panned the film and her performance, but I thought she did great. And I would watch it again.
The film is pre-code so there is a bit of "racy" theme but it is mild compared to today's standards.
Bankhead has an addiction to gambling and spending money. That is not a good combination of traits to have! She gets in debt but does not want her husband to know. He is working very hard to attain a deal in business that will make them wealthy but all the money is going to his work. Along comes a cad played by Irving Pichel, who is really sleazy, and he has a crush on Bankhead. He offers her all the money she needs if she will give him sex. She turns him down because she truly loves her husband.
Desperate, she finally agrees to take the money and to meet Pichel for a rendezvous. But, before they meet, her husband announces they are now super rich. She goes to Pichel to give him back all the money he gave her and tries to walk out. Pichel says that Bankhead belongs to him and, to prove it, holds her down and fire brands her chest with his initials!!
I won't go further. I want you to see how it turns out. But in the publicity photos they used for the film, they show the brand being put on her back. They even show the court room scene where Bankhead shows the court the brand - but it is on her back. However, in the film, the brand is right on her chest. I guess having a woman pull her top down to expose a partial breast was just too much for the publicity photos!! (Though it might have gotten more folks to come see the film!!)
Check this out. Tallulah Bankhead is stunning. And she really does a good job in this film. I am now a big fan of hers!! I think she may have a future career!! ;-)
Classy Bankhead in a Classy Classic!
Tallulah Bankhead is branded a bad girl
jarrodmcdonald-14 January 2024
Warning: Spoilers
During the early 1930s Tallulah Bankhead, known for her illustrious stage career and scandalous personal life, was under contract to Paramount. She appeared in a series of notable precode dramas, often playing women who weren't too unlike her real-life self. She would return to the stage and come back to moviemaking after a decade's hiatus. Then try her hand at a few roles on TV. After all was said and done, she left behind performances on screen that give us a glimpse into the type of actress and woman she was.
THE CHEAT, one of the better examples of her acting style, was a remake of an earlier picture made in 1915 by Cecil B. DeMille. The DeMille version starred Fannie Ward, who was somewhat older, in her early 40s, playing a woman whose husband overlooks many of her ongoing indiscretions. One such indiscretion involves gambling and keeping company with shady people. The 1931 version, directed by George Abbott, uses the template of the first film, though the shady folks are more ethnically defined.
In the 1931 version, Tallulah Bankhead runs up a considerable sum at a gaming table, then signs an IOU to be held against her until she can square the debt. Normally, she would go to her husband (Harvey Stephens) but he's over extended himself, financing a new venture that hasn't gotten off the ground yet. There is a subplot where she is involved with high-class women raising funds for the Red Cross. She's entrusted to put it in her private safe; though if they knew how corruptible she was, they'd find someone else to hold on to the proceeds.
At this point, another person has learned about the money in the safe, and they convince our troubled heroine to loan it to them for an investment that is sure to pay off handsomely. She goes along with it, because she not only needs the amount she owes the casino; she needs to return what she took from the Red Cross fund. However, the friend invests the money on a bad stock tip, and now she is without any money at all!
What's a gal to do? If you are Tallulah Bankhead's character, you find the most evil man (Irving Pichel) who's been making eyes at you. Then agree to perform sexual favors, to raise the desperately needed cash. But since this is a sordid precode, just merely prostituting herself isn't scandalous enough. When she's with Pichel, he acts a bit extreme and after she won't go through with what he has in mind, he brands her with a hot iron. Ouch!
This leads to a confrontation with Pichel. Soon Pichel ends up dead, and the husband (Stephens) takes the blame since it's the honorable thing to do. Out leading lady's conscience gets the better of her; yes, she does have a conscience. When it looks like Stephens is about to be convicted by a jury, she stops the trial and makes a bold confession that she's the killer. Then she pulls part of her blouse down so they can all see that shocking tattoo.
One critic called the film high-end trash. But I'd say it's not much different from the silent version made by DeMille, except the dialogue is audible and the visuals have a glossier sheen. It's still a story about a naughty wife plagued by a series of problems, who ultimately has a scarlet letter sort of moment in a public setting. We can't help but feel moved by her plight, even she has brought most of it on herself.
THE CHEAT, one of the better examples of her acting style, was a remake of an earlier picture made in 1915 by Cecil B. DeMille. The DeMille version starred Fannie Ward, who was somewhat older, in her early 40s, playing a woman whose husband overlooks many of her ongoing indiscretions. One such indiscretion involves gambling and keeping company with shady people. The 1931 version, directed by George Abbott, uses the template of the first film, though the shady folks are more ethnically defined.
In the 1931 version, Tallulah Bankhead runs up a considerable sum at a gaming table, then signs an IOU to be held against her until she can square the debt. Normally, she would go to her husband (Harvey Stephens) but he's over extended himself, financing a new venture that hasn't gotten off the ground yet. There is a subplot where she is involved with high-class women raising funds for the Red Cross. She's entrusted to put it in her private safe; though if they knew how corruptible she was, they'd find someone else to hold on to the proceeds.
At this point, another person has learned about the money in the safe, and they convince our troubled heroine to loan it to them for an investment that is sure to pay off handsomely. She goes along with it, because she not only needs the amount she owes the casino; she needs to return what she took from the Red Cross fund. However, the friend invests the money on a bad stock tip, and now she is without any money at all!
What's a gal to do? If you are Tallulah Bankhead's character, you find the most evil man (Irving Pichel) who's been making eyes at you. Then agree to perform sexual favors, to raise the desperately needed cash. But since this is a sordid precode, just merely prostituting herself isn't scandalous enough. When she's with Pichel, he acts a bit extreme and after she won't go through with what he has in mind, he brands her with a hot iron. Ouch!
This leads to a confrontation with Pichel. Soon Pichel ends up dead, and the husband (Stephens) takes the blame since it's the honorable thing to do. Out leading lady's conscience gets the better of her; yes, she does have a conscience. When it looks like Stephens is about to be convicted by a jury, she stops the trial and makes a bold confession that she's the killer. Then she pulls part of her blouse down so they can all see that shocking tattoo.
One critic called the film high-end trash. But I'd say it's not much different from the silent version made by DeMille, except the dialogue is audible and the visuals have a glossier sheen. It's still a story about a naughty wife plagued by a series of problems, who ultimately has a scarlet letter sort of moment in a public setting. We can't help but feel moved by her plight, even she has brought most of it on herself.
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