![]() on the condition she come to him one night soon. She loses and, backed into a corner, takes money offered by Livingstone. Entrusted with the Milk Fund Ball's money, Elsa secretly risks it all for a sure bet on the stock market. Despite the gossip and the pleading of her trusting and blindly adoring husband, Elsa continues to tempt fate by (innocently) associating with Livingstone. ![]() Livingstone is hell-bent on having her and from here on her life starts to spin wildly out of control. She accepts but, incredibly, she's shocked when he makes a pass. Unbeknownst to her husband, Elsa loses big at the gaming tables and wanders down to the dock where Livingstone follows and asks if she'd like to see his estate. While at their Long Island yacht club, Elsa is ogled by Hardy Livingstone (Irving Pichel), a lascivious roué just returned from an extended stay in the Orient. A wealthy young couple, Jeffrey (Harvey Stephens) and Elsa (Tallulah Bankhead) Carlyle, are brought to the brink of ruin by the wife's selfish recklessness. The sexy sadism of THE CHEAT puts it in the realm of pulp fiction. Like her first, Tallulah's second film had Gotham as it's setting but was a bit darker in theme. Negri made her American debut in the 1923 re-make of this Victorian-era cautionary tale of the price of deceit and the public lapped it up. ![]() De Mille blockbuster THE CHEAT in the hopes that it would do for Tallulah what it did for Fannie Ward and Pola Negri. For her next, Paramount's front office decided to dust off the 1915 Cecil B. Reviewed by melvelvit-1 8 / 10 Tallulah's "take" on an oft-told taleĪmerican Tallulah Bankhead, the sensation of the London stage, signed with Paramount Pictures in 1931 and her first talkie, TARNISHED LADY (1931), a Pre-code exposé of love among Manhattan's smart set, wasn't bad but didn't exactly set the world on fire. Elsa dallies with Hardy, but soon, his insistence and her dire financial affairs seem destined to lead to adultery. Hardy Livingston, a wealthy Casanova just back from the Orient, makes a play for her. One night, on a hunch, she bets and loses big at a casino, then she doubles her problems with more impulsive decisions. Meanwhile, Jeff wants to keep a lid on spending while he completes business deals that could make them rich. Elsa Carlyle is impulsive and a gambler though loved by her husband Jeff, she's spoiled and selfish, concerned with social standing. Love, lust, possession, money, social standing, and addiction.
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