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The Cheat


Nutshell Review:  The Cheat (1932)
Director:  George Abbott
Starring:  Tallulah Bankhead, Harvey Stephens, Irving Richel
Studio:  Paramount

Viewing: DVD Pre-Code Hollywood Collection. Universal Home Entertainment

Plot:  Jeffrey Carlyle (Stephens) is a milquetoast stock broker madly in love with his gambling addicted wife Elsa (Bankhead).  After significant gambling losses at their posh club, Elsa must embezzle $10,000 from her women’s charity in order to meet part of her debt (she also loses $10k on a get rich quick stock bet that goes bust).  Mysterious millionaire Hardy Livingstone, fresh from 2 years in the Orient and clearly smitten with Elsa, offers a potential way out, but she must prove herself to him first.  She agrees to go to his home, discovering his obsession with all things Japanese, including a collection of dolls that are branded with the character  "I possess", fighting off his clumsy advances.  Livingstone's request of her,  dripping with menace, is to wear a beaded gown & headdress to a charity ball he is hosting, appropriately themed in an Asian motif.  Convincing her puppy dog husband that Livingstone only means to help raise money takes a little bit of doing, as Jeffrey is slightly concerned that Livingstone’s intentions may not be pure, which they clearly are not!
At the party Livingstone ogles Elsa, finally luring her to his office to offer her the $10,000 to cover her remaining debt…only if she “treats him nicer”  and to return to his home at a later date to express her “gratitude”.  She reluctantly accepts, desperate to avoid personal humiliation and her husband’s public disgrace.  As luck would have it the following morning Jeffry strikes it rich and money is no longer a problem for the couple.  He even pays off her gambling debt and agrees to give her more if she needs it.  Unfortunately, having already taken Livingstone’s money, she must return to his house than evening…
Once there (with Jeffery tailing her) she offers to give Livingstone his money back, but he’s already branded an Elsa look-a-like doll with the possessive symbol, signifying ownership.  When she denies him the “favors” he has paid for he insists on branding her as his own!  Pulling the red hot brand from the smoldering coals, he burns the initials on her upper chest and proclaims her as his own.  Stumbling across the room, Elsa grabs a gun and shoots Livingstone, fleeing the house in a panic, just as Jeffry arrives on the scene.  Seeing Livingstone on the floor with the gun beside him, Jeffry wipes it clean just as servants open the door.  Jeffry proclaims his guilt as Livingstone struggles to speak, uttering only 2 words, “your wife.”
 
In Court Jeffry is ready to take the fall, convinced no court will convict him, a love sick puppy to a fault. As things are clearly going against him, Elsa races to the stand, proclaims Jeffry’s innocence & bears the branding that Livingstone has burned into her flesh!  The court erupts, Jeffry is freed and the couple are allowed to live happily ever after, with Elsa proclaiming “no more betting!”  How the scar on her breast is dealt with is never addressed because  Jeffry insists on staring deeply into his wife’s eyes only.
Thoughts: 
To say that a film where a human being is branded is salacious is a bit of an understatement.  It’s crazy to watch, however, because the idea of it is planted in an earlier scene (when he shows the dolls to Elsa) and the initial reaction has to be that it can’t really happen.  When Richel, in a wonderfully twisted performance, brands the Elsa doll, it initially placates the viewer’s expectations.  It’s creepy enough that he views sexual conquests through possession, but to inflict physical disfigurement into the equation really kicks it up a notch.  By couching his proclivities in the “other”, by making him an Asia-phile, for instance, removes the question of insanity and into the realm of cultural prejudice.  His party serves merely to reflect & exploit every gross American idea of Asian Stereotypes. It's an odd underlying motif to be sure. 

The courtwroom scene at the conclusion has all the trappings of 1930's melodrama, but after the verdict is rendered an "all hell breaks loose" mania comes over the crown as they leap at Livingstone, pummelling him into submission.  Perhaps the sight of the uppper breat of a lovely lady, albeit one who has just admitted infidelity, is enough to drive the men crazy!
Category:  Pre-Code
See Also:  Bitter Tea of General Yen, A Free Soul
Random Notes & Quotes:  
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  • Home
  • Top 10 Lists
    • My Top 10 Favorite Movies
    • Top 10 Heist Movies
    • Director Top 10's >
      • Top 10 Film Noir Directors
      • Top 10 Coen Brothers Films
      • Top 10 John Ford Films
      • Top 10 Samuel Fuller Films
      • Top 10 John Huston Films
      • Top 10 Ernst Lubitsch Films
      • Top 10 Jean-Pierre Melville Films
      • Top 10 Nicholas Ray Films
      • Top 10 Preston Sturges Films
      • Top 10 Robert Siodmak Films
      • Top 10 William Wellman Films
      • Top 10 Billy Wilder Films
    • Actor/Actress Top 10's >
      • Top 10 Joan Blondell Movies
      • Top 10 Clark Gable Movies
      • Top 10 Gloria Grahame Films
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    • Top 10 Noir Films (Classic Era)
    • Top 10 Pre-Code Films
    • Top 10 Actresses of the 1930's
  • Reviews
    • Quick Hits: Short Takes on Recent Viewing >
      • Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blache
      • Elevator to the Gallows ('58)
      • Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
      • Incindies (2010)
      • In the Mood For Love (2000)
      • Le Silence De La Mer ('49)
      • Jaws Intro
      • The Princess Bride ('87) Intro
      • Pulp Fiction ('94) Intro
    • The 1910's >
      • The Lubitsch German Silents
    • The 1920's >
      • Wild Orchids ('29)
    • The 1930's >
      • Blonde Crazy
      • Bombshell ('33)
      • The Cheat
      • The Conquerors
      • The Crowd Roars
      • The Divorcee
      • Heroes for Sale
      • L'Atalante (1934)
      • Let Us Be Gay
      • My Man Godfrey
      • No Man of Her Own (1932)
      • Platinum Blonde ('31)
      • Reckless ('35)
      • True Confession ('37)
      • Virtue ('32)
      • The Women
    • The 1940's >
      • Criss Cross (1949)
      • The Maltese Falcon Intro
      • My Gal Sal (1942)
      • Pursued (1947)
      • The Red Shoes (1948)
      • Remember the Night ('40)
      • The Set-Up ('49)
      • The Third Man
    • The 1950's >
      • Cat on a Hot Tin Roof ('58) Intro
      • In a Lonely Place
      • Mogambo ('53)
      • The Night of The Hunter ('55)
      • Red Dust ('32 vs Mogambo ('53)
      • The Searchers ('56)
      • Some Like It Hot ('59)
    • The 1960's >
      • Cape Fear ('62)
      • Cool Hand Luke (1967) Intro
      • The Hustler ('61) Intro
      • The Misfits ('61)
    • The 1980's >
      • Blood Simple ('84)
  • Artists
    • Actors/Actresses >
      • Joan Blondell
      • The Noir Villainy of Dan Duryea
      • Clark Gable Bio
      • Jean Harlow Bio
      • Norma Shearer
    • Directors/Producers >
      • William Wellman
    • Studio
  • Resources
    • Books >
      • Book Reviews >
        • Book Review: Clark Gable by D. Bret
      • Pre-Code
      • Actor Bios
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      • Hollywood History
    • Hollywood History >
      • Production Code
      • Film Noir
  • Blog
  • Pushover Noir City