The extravagant Pidgeon family is on the verge of bankruptcy but takes in a “charity case” to keep up appearances. Enter Mr. M (Joseph Schildkraut), a former actor who hurt his leg then crawled into a bottle. A rich uncle has died and left his estate to a mystery woman. If the executor cannot find her within one week, the Pidgeons will get five million dollars. So, they hatch a plan.
There is a passing similarity to 1936’s My Man Godfrey, including the patriarch being played by the rotund and raspy Eugene Pallette. Billie “Glinda” Burke is his ditsy wife. Our erudite charity case is played by Shop Around the Corner villain Joseph Schildkraut. Rather than being William Powell smart, he talks in elevated theatrical blah blah dialect and winks knowingly at people. He hides his drinking problem and acts sneaky so one wonders if he is helping the Pidgeons or has his own plan in action.
The real protagonist is mystery woman Florie Watson (Ona Munson). She is down on her luck when the Pidgeons come calling, pretending she is a long lost cousin. She doesn’t buy it but being out of options, she plays along. She is charmed by the Pidgeons while they try to scam her out of her inheritance. I wonder if the Christmas Spirit somehow plays into this at some point.
The Cheaters is amusing enough but we don’t get a good read on the players. I was expecting a Pidgeon daughter to step up to protagonist level, but that never happened. And I don't believe Mr. M's vague motivation was intentional. Same for the younger daughter. And why is the older daughter’s fiance even in the film? Also, it’s hard to rally around Florie because she is not active in her own story. She is just going along for the ride. Poor storytelling and character development keeps it from rising above mediocrity. It's not a bad film but it could have easily been much better. AMRU 3.
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