The Story of a Cheat (1936)
"Le roman d'un tricheur" (original title)

Life story of a charming scoundrel, with little dialogue other than the star/director's witty narration. As a boy, only he survives a family tragedy when he's deprived of supper (poisonous ... See full summary »

Director:

Sacha Guitry

Writer:

Sacha Guitry

Stars:

Sacha Guitry, Marguerite Moreno, Jacqueline Delubac

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Sacha Guitry	...	Le tricheur / The Cheat (mature)
Marguerite Moreno	...	L'aventurière / The Countess
Jacqueline Delubac	...	Henriette
Roger Duchesne	...	Serge Abramovich
Rosine Deréan	...	La voleuse / The Jewel Thief
Elmire Vautier	...	L'aventuriere, jeune fille / The Countess (younger)
Serge Grave	...	Le tricheur, petit garçon / The Cheat, as a boy
Pauline Carton	...	Mme Morlot - la tante
Fréhel	...	La chanteuse / Redhead (singer)
Pierre Labry	...	M. Morlot
Pierre Assy	...	Le trichur, jeune homme / The Cheat (young man)
Henri Pfeifer	...	M. Charbonnier
Gaston Dupray	...	Le garçon de café / Waiter

Storyline

Life story of a charming scoundrel, with little dialogue other than the star/director's witty narration. As a boy, only he survives a family tragedy when he's deprived of supper (poisonous mushrooms!) for stealing...concluding that dishonesty pays. Through years of dabbling in crime and amusing adventures, two women appear and reappear in his life, a dazzling blonde jewel thief and a stunning brunette gambler. Finally, he meets the mysterious Charbonnier who had saved his life in World War I, leading to the surprising next phase in his career...

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Plot Keywords:

dishonesty | poisonous mushroom | honesty | title appears in writing | credits spoken | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Official Sites:

Gaumont [fr]

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

26 September 1938 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Story of a Cheat

Filming Locations:

Monte Carlo, Monaco

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cinéas

Technical Specs

Runtime:

81 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Crazy Credits

Most of the credits are not printed but spoken in the director's opening narration.

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Soundtracks

"Et v'là pourquoi"
(uncredited)
Lyrics by Sacha Guitry
Music by Adolphe Borchard
Performed by Fréhel

User Reviews

This felt like a light comedy...without much comedy.

This is not my Sacha Guitry film and I know that back in the 1930s he was a sort of auteur--directing, writing and starring in a bunch of light comedies. So, I can compare this film to several of his others and see it comes up very short. The bottom line is that the film starts off with great promise but never really pays off--and at the end it just sort of fizzles.

"The Story of a Cheat" begins with Guitry sitting at an outdoor café and writing his memoirs. This ruse is used to enable him to narrate his life story for the audience. It starts off exceptionally well--with Guitry learning a lesson when very young that being bad pays off very well! This sort of tongue-in-cheek look at evil would have been great but the film never sustained this. Instead of being a true cheat, the leading man vacillated back and forth and there was never any sort of payoff for the audience. And, instead of the ending making sense of all this, it left me very cold. A clear misfire--mostly because the script needed work. Making the leading man a complete scoundrel would have improved it immensely--such as the way Terry-Thomas behaved in a few of his films such as "School for Scoundrels" or "Too Many Crooks".