A stunner for sure. Directed in 1931 by stage maestro George Abbott, THE CHEAT stars Tallulah Bankhead as a society girl who gets in way over head with an investment she cannot afford. She takes a loan from wealthy Irving Pichel and plenty of pre-code unsavoriness ensues. Bankhead, who gives one of her finest film performances, is great and she's well matched with Harvey Stephens as her husband. Stephens has the perfect blandness that the impossibly colorful Bankhead had a field day with. At 75 minutes, it's never dull and given the relatively small list of films that Bankhead appeared in, it's very worthwhile. Abbott and Bankhead also teamed for the equally melodramatic MY SIN the same year.