The Cheat (1931) Review: Tallulah Bankhead is a Total Mess

You should definitely watch this if you're in the mood for some early 30s Pre-Code chaos and want to see Tallulah Bankhead be absolutely dramatic. It’s perfect for people who like watching characters make the worst possible decisions for sixty minutes straight. 🍸

If you prefer your movies to have 'relatable' heroes or a plot that doesn't rely on someone being incredibly reckless with money, you'll probably hate it. It's a bit of a car crash in slow motion, but the car is made of velvet and expensive cigarettes.

Tallulah Bankhead plays Elsa Carlyle, and she is just... mesmerizing. Her voice sounds like it’s been cured in a smokehouse for a decade, and I mean that as a compliment. 🚬

She starts the movie by losing a bunch of money at a gambling house. Then, instead of just telling her husband, she takes money from a charity she’s supposed to be running. It's the kind of logic that only makes sense in a high-stakes melodrama.

She puts all that charity cash into a stock tip she got from some guy at a party. Its honestly painful to watch her think this is a good idea. Elsa is the kind of person who thinks she can fix a hole in the floor by digging another hole next to it.

Then we meet Hardy Livingstone, played by Irving Pichel. He’s a wealthy 'collector' who is basically a walking red flag. 🚩

He has this look in his eyes that makes you want to check if your front door is actually locked. He speaks really slowly, like he's tasting every single word before he spits it out at you. It’s much more unsettling than the villains you see in The Gun Runners.

Hardy’s house is full of weird statues and dark corners. It looks like a museum that hasn't seen a vacuum cleaner since 1920. The lighting in these scenes is great—lots of deep shadows that make Elsa look even more trapped than she already is.

When the stock tip fails, Elsa goes to Hardy for the money. He agrees to give it to her, but he wants something in return. I think we all know where this is going, but the way it plays out is still pretty shocking for 1931.

The famous branding scene is what everyone talks about, and for good reason. It’s visceral. You don't see much, but the sound and the smoke and Tallulah’s reaction are just... yikes. 😬

It makes the drama in A Branded Soul look like a polite tea party. There is a real sense of cruelty here that you don't always get in old movies.

I noticed that there is almost no background music during the intense parts. You just hear the floorboards creaking and Elsa’s heavy breathing. It’s way more effective then having some loud orchestra telling you how to feel.

The pacing is a bit weird, though. The movie is barely over an hour long, so everything happens really fast. One minute they are at a fancy party, and the next, she’s in a dark room facing a branding iron. ⏳

It feels a bit rushed compared to something like The Eyes of the World. But maybe that’s for the best because Elsa’s bad choices would be too much to handle for two hours.

Some things I noticed:

• Tallulah Bankhead’s hair is perfectly coiffed even when she’s fuming.
• The way she holds her cigarette is basically a masterclass in screen presence.
• Harvey Stephens, who plays the husband, is about as observant as a bag of flour.
• The courtroom at the end is a total circus with people shouting and fainting.
• Irving Pichel’s character has a really weird doll on his desk that I couldn't stop looking at.

The courtroom scene is actually pretty funny if you don't take it too seriously. It has that high-energy chaos that reminds me of Tempest Cody Rides Wild, but with more silk dresses. Everyone is reacting so loudly to everything Elsa says.

There is one extra in the back of the courtroom who looks like he’s falling asleep. I don't blame him; it was probably a long day of filming. I love finding little human moments like that in the background of these 'grand' dramas.

Some of the sets look like they could of been borrowed from All Wool or maybe The Bride's Relations. They have that specific early-30s Paramount look that is both expensive and a bit dusty.

Is the plot a bit thin? Yeah, definitely. Elsa could of just told the truth at any point and saved everyone a lot of trouble. But then we wouldn't have a movie, would we?

It’s a very human movie because Elsa is so flawed. She’s not a 'bad' person, she’s just incredibly shortsighted and desperate. Tallulah makes you feel for her, even when you want to shake her by the shoulders. 🤷‍♀️

The ending is a bit of a 'wait, what?' moment. It wraps up so quickly that you barely have time to process what just happened. It’s not as emotionally heavy as Body and Soul, but it sticks with you.

I also kept thinking about Martha while watching the domestic scenes. There's this tension between what women were expected to be and what they actually did when they were in trouble.

Anyway, if you have an hour to spare, give it a look. It’s a fascinating relic of a time when movies were still figuring out how to talk but already knew how to shock. Just don't expect it to be 'nice.' It's a movie about being trapped by your own mistakes. 🕸️

The way the camera lingers on Elsa's face in the final shot is just... its a bit much, but it works. It’s a very Pre-Code ending for a very Pre-Code movie.