The Cheat (1931)

Director:

George Abbott

Writers:

Harry Hervey
Hector Turnbull (silent film script)

Release Date:

28 November 1931 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Love, lust, possession, money, social standing, and addiction. Elsa Carlyle is impulsive and a gambler; though loved by her husband Jeff...

Plot Keywords:

Gamble | Punched In The Face | Long Island New York | Tuxedo | Yacht Club

Cast

Tallulah Bankhead	...	Elsa Carlyle
Harvey Stephens	...	Jeffrey Carlyle
Irving Pichel	...	Hardy Livingstone
Jay Fassett	...	Terrell
Ann Andrews	...	Mrs. Albright
William Ingersoll	...	Croupier
Hanaki Yoshiwara	...	Japanese Servant
Willard Dashiell	...	Judge
Edward Keane	...	Defense Attorney
Robert Strange	...	District Attorney
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jimmy Granato	...	Orchestra Musician (uncredited)
Porter Hall	...	Leslie (uncredited)
Arthur Hohl	...	Defense Attorney (uncredited)
Millard Mitchell	...	Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)
Henry Warwick	...	Butler (uncredited)

Directed by
George Abbott

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Harry Hervey
Hector Turnbull		silent film script

Cinematography by
George J. Folsey		(as George Folsey)

Film Editing by
Emma Hill		(uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Frank Heath	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Fred Scheld	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Ernest Zatorsky	....	sound recording engineer (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Edward Hyland	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
Joseph Ruttenberg	....	second camera operator (uncredited)
Charles Salerno Jr.	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
Frank Serjack	....	still photographer (uncredited)

Other crew
Ruth St. Denis	....	choreographer (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Paramount Pictures

Distributors

• Paramount Pictures (1931) (USA) (theatrical)
• MCA/Universal Pictures (1958) (USA) (TV)
• Universal Studios Home Entertainment (2009) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

74 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.

Quotes:

Jeffrey Carlyle:I love you. I didn't marry you because I thought you could spell or add, but because of who you are.

Movie Connections:

Remake of The Cheat (1915)

Harvey makes it, Tallulah spends it

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.