The Cheaters

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.