User Reviews

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.

The Cheaters (also known as The Castaway0 is something of an unknown Christmas movie to the younger cinephile. Or perhaps because it came out of the low-budget Republic Pictures? It's simply just a forgotten one. So much so you will be hard pushed to see it mentioned on any Christmas film lists that flourish around the yuletide season. The film is based around an original story written by Frances Hyland and Albert Ray and concerns a sophisticated family inviting a washed up actor to their home for Christmas. As things progress we learn that this family are using the holiday season to secure a rich uncle's inheritance, but naturally all is not going to be plain sailing.

Heading the cast list is Joseph Schildkraut (The Shop Around the Corner), Billie Burke (The Wizard of Oz) and Eugene Palette (The Ghost Goes West). It's directed by Republic house jobber Joseph Kane, with photography and scoring coming from Reggie Lanning & Walter Scharf respectively.

So is the film any good though? Well it's safe to say that anyone looking for another old Christmas movie to boost the crimble spirit can safely add this one to their rota. It's very much in the mold of the likes of The Bishops Wife, which of course is no bad thing at all as a point of reference. My chief irk with the picture is that it flatters to deceive. By the midpoint the film has all options open to it, even threatening to be darker and perhaps leaning towards an ending of some surprise. But sadly, and without me crying out for any Pottersville type misery here, the film reverts to type and settles for a warm mince pie and a glass of mulled wine. Again, that's no bad thing at the season we choose to watch it in, but really it promised to be something more.

Still, it's a comfortable recommendation for the heart warming seeker. 6/10

The Cheaters is one of the best, yet largely unseen, Christmas movies of all time. A winning combination of comedy and drama, it features stellar performances by two of the great character actors of the Forties, Joseph Schildkraut and Eugene Pallette. It delivers a positive message about the holiday, while also offering a cynical edge.

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.

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.

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.

Joseph SCHILDKRAUT is a wonderful actor and the main reason for maintaining whatever interest I had in THE CHEATERS. He's got the central role as the mysterious "Mr. M", a drifter who happens to spend his Christmas with a greedy family. The story has it that all of these people undergo a gradual transformation from cunning and mean-spirited to happy do gooders who want to be together for the holidays next year by the final reel.

It's all crafted so that the viewer will have a good feeling about holiday spirit by the time the tale is over. But there are too many weaknesses in the script and the cast to make it a perennial favorite, as Robert Osborne seemed to think it ought to be.

It's impressively mounted with production details that make it seem much too sumptuous to be a Republic picture--that much is true. And the cast is an amiable one, peopled by character actors such as RAYMOND WALBURN, BILLIE BURKE and ONA MUNSON ("Belle Watling" from "Gone with the Wind"). But the ANN GILLIS character of the spoiled daughter is a bit much and her transformation is as phony as can be.

The whole story is odd with Schildkraut's character never behaving in a way that is truly understandable, shifting from cunning and a bit treacherous to an angel of mercy and goodness in his final scene.

Whatever values the story has are buried by too many clichéd moments of screenwriter manipulation.

Summing up: Have to give this a mixed review. A nice try for the Christmas feeling, but not entirely successful.

I used to watch this movie every year on WGN (Chicago TV station) as a child. As an adult, I think this movie is more pertinent today than when I was a child. It's the story about a self obsessed family that through greed finds the "true" Christmas spirit.

It's too bad that whatever studio owns the rights to this movie has not chosen to release it on DVD. I know that two companies are offering for sale, one on DVD and the other on VHS tape. I don't know about the quality of the transfer of the DVD but it was supposedly made from a VHS tape master. I bought a copy of the VHS tape which comes in a yellow colored sleeve and found the quality to be sorely lacking from the copy I had made from a WGN broadcast. Unfortunately, that copy got overwritten.

I would like to know what company owns this film. I have read that it was originally distributed by Republic pictures. I understand that Artisan Home Entertainment has the rights. A search on the internet for Artisan takes me to Lions Gate Entertainment where I found a reference stating the Lions Gate was once Artisan. I have also read that Paramount controls the rights.

I would love to know if anyone else has a copy they made from the WGN broadcast. Please email me if you do. It seems ashame to see this great movie fade into oblivion!

Typical Maine wintry weather encourages sitting at home, searching for a cinema equivalent of "comfort food". "The Cheaters" turned out to be a pleasant surprise-an unexpected gift for the season.

The cast is a "who's who" of great character actors--Burke, Palette, Schildkraut, etc., and the writing allows the cast to perform in very human ways. Particularly effective is Ms. Watson, the motivating force for the plot. Her natural tone, her thoughtful manner, combine to make this otherwise implausible tale, believable and moving.

Schildkraut assumes a host of character types, from a suave Claude Rains to a besotted but magnetic John Barrymore, and ultimately, Clarence, reminding everyone that it is indeed a wonderful life.We'll look forward to this charmer becoming a staple of our Christmas viewing.

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

My wife and I just watched this movie at 4AM Christmas Day for the first time. It was very enjoyable. I liked how Mr. M. worked "A Chritmas Story" into the situation. We thought we recognized the old farm house as the same house/set used in "Bringing Up Baby" with Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn. Was Baby a tiger or leopard? Always nice to see Billie Burke. Can't imagine anyone else as the Glinda the Good Witch. I laughed when she said "..and we ALL have to do this next year!..". Anyone else saying it and it would have fallen "flat". Not surprised that Connecticut is the location for the characters change of heart. Hollywood has been sending rich New Yorkers here for years to mend there mendacious ways.

With a cast like "The Cheaters" had, you'd sure expect it to be better. Instead, this comedy is pretty dreary and, most importantly, not at all funny. It's hard to imagine a dopey family like this (headed by Eugene Palette from "My Man Godfrey" and Billy Burke, from countless films LIKE "My Man Godfrey") not being funny or kooky...but somehow the writers seem to have missed the mark in so many ways with this film.

When the film begin, the family matriarch (Burke) has taken in another stray person (something Burke has done in quite a few films, actually). The man is an alcoholic out of work actor (Joseph Schildkraut) and he overhears the family concocting a plot. It seems that their lives of luxury and privilege are about to change, as the money they were counting on in a will is NOT going to them after all...but to a stranger who has no idea she's an heiress. So the family concocts a scheme to cheat the lady out of what is rightfully hers so that they can continue living as they have.

The film never seems real and the characters never particularly believable or likable. Because of this, when they all inexplicably have a change of heart at the end, it seems bizarre and contrived. Not a horrible picture...but also one that could have used a re- write before filming began, as it's very talky, dull and didn't make a lot of sense.

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.

Any chance you can see this solid list of character players in a film and without any stars fpr box office than change your channel and sit down and watch The Cheaters. These folks are the movie and that's always good.

Eugene Pallette and Billie Burke essentially play the same parts as Pallette and Alice Brady did in My Man Godfrey. The indulgent and harrassed father and his airhead wife. Like the Bullochs of Godfrey they have two daughter, Ann Gillis and Ruth Terry, and an added son David Holt.

It's Christmas time and in the spirit of charity the family brings in has been actor Joseph Schilddkraut for the holidays. They also brinmg in Ona Munson a chorus girl that Pallette's late uncle left a big fortune to but she doesn't know it. The idea is to make sure she doesn't find out before the family can claim the legacy.

Without going any further let's say that Schildkraut and Munson bring a drastic change in their lives.

The Cheaters is a highly unrealistic but nice holiday classic that is relatively unknown. At least to me since I hadn't heard of it until recently. It came from Republic which made its bread and butter in B westerns. In fact one of their cowboy stars Robert Livingston makes an appearance as the soldier boyfriend of one of the daughters.

Joseph Kane who directed all the Republic cowboys at one time or another leaves the sagebrush to direct this. Add Robert Grieg one of Hollywood's efficient butlers and Raymond Walburn at his bloviating best.

With this list of character players don't pass The Cheaters up.

I haven't seen this movie in 20 years, but it makes a good statement about class differences and compassion. There are well known actors such as Billie Burke and Josef Schildkraut and it is a good comedy as well. I hope that it isn't lost from the film archives.

James C. Pidgeon (Eugene Pallette) is not good with money and the ostentatious family is threatened with bankruptcy. Each member of the family is spending money like there is no tomorrow. Luckily, rich uncle Henry is on his death bed and they could be in line for a large inheritance. Then he leaves it all to showgirl Florie Watson (Ona Munson). J. C. Schemes to get the inheritance by tricking Florie, but others discover it.

This opens with a family of annoying upper crust people and it's hard to care about any of them. Marchand is interesting, but I couldn't care about him either. It's meant to be a screwball comedy. I just couldn't laugh at them. As the chaos is unleashed, it becomes a lot of nonsense about people I don't care about. I get what the comedy is trying to do, but it's not working on me.

This movie was on every Christmas Eve in Chicago and my family never missed it! I am so disappointed that it is never shown anymore. It had a great cast - Billie Burke as the hopelessly scatterbrained mother, Eugene Palette as the hen pecked father, a really funny, useless, sponger brother in law and 3 spoiled kids. A terrific story - this group has gone through their own substantial fortune and are now trying to chisel their way into an inheritance. I guess it is because it wasn't from a major studio that it was not preserved, but it should have been. Luckily, I was able to buy a copy on VHS a few years ago from Movies Unlimited,but I noticed today that they no longer carry. A shame!

Great cast. I once had the movie on tape, but taped over it by mistake. It was at one time shown on what was called On TV channel 32 in Chicago. Wish that I could find another copy. The movie is up there with Its a Wonderful Life, and most recent The Christmas Story.

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