Joseph SCHILDKRAUT is a wonderful actor and the main reason for maintaining whatever interest I had in THE CHEATERS. He's got the central role as the mysterious "Mr. M", a drifter who happens to spend his Christmas with a greedy family. The story has it that all of these people undergo a gradual transformation from cunning and mean-spirited to happy do gooders who want to be together for the holidays next year by the final reel.
It's all crafted so that the viewer will have a good feeling about holiday spirit by the time the tale is over. But there are too many weaknesses in the script and the cast to make it a perennial favorite, as Robert Osborne seemed to think it ought to be.
It's impressively mounted with production details that make it seem much too sumptuous to be a Republic picture--that much is true. And the cast is an amiable one, peopled by character actors such as RAYMOND WALBURN, BILLIE BURKE and ONA MUNSON ("Belle Watling" from "Gone with the Wind"). But the ANN GILLIS character of the spoiled daughter is a bit much and her transformation is as phony as can be.
The whole story is odd with Schildkraut's character never behaving in a way that is truly understandable, shifting from cunning and a bit treacherous to an angel of mercy and goodness in his final scene.
Whatever values the story has are buried by too many clichéd moments of screenwriter manipulation.
Summing up: Have to give this a mixed review. A nice try for the Christmas feeling, but not entirely successful.
It's all crafted so that the viewer will have a good feeling about holiday spirit by the time the tale is over. But there are too many weaknesses in the script and the cast to make it a perennial favorite, as Robert Osborne seemed to think it ought to be.
It's impressively mounted with production details that make it seem much too sumptuous to be a Republic picture--that much is true. And the cast is an amiable one, peopled by character actors such as RAYMOND WALBURN, BILLIE BURKE and ONA MUNSON ("Belle Watling" from "Gone with the Wind"). But the ANN GILLIS character of the spoiled daughter is a bit much and her transformation is as phony as can be.
The whole story is odd with Schildkraut's character never behaving in a way that is truly understandable, shifting from cunning and a bit treacherous to an angel of mercy and goodness in his final scene.
Whatever values the story has are buried by too many clichéd moments of screenwriter manipulation.
Summing up: Have to give this a mixed review. A nice try for the Christmas feeling, but not entirely successful.