December 5: The Cheaters (1945)
The Pidgeon's of NYC were wealthy, but father James has had so many reverses lately that they are almost at zero reserves. Sharing the Fifth Avenue home is a family including an irritating brother-in-law Willy, a snobby older daughter and her new serious boyfriend, her ditzy mother, a cynical younger daughter, and the little whipper-snapper who's been at school at Stanford. Father will keep up appearances till it breaks him.
It's the older daughter's idea to adopt a "charity case," not out of a sense of goodwill, but to impress the family she wants to marry into.
The charity will send Mr. M - Anthony Marchand to the Pidgeon's for the Holidays, telling him that this time will be the last time the charity will help him. The instant respect he recieves from the chauffer and the butler MacFarland sets about a sea change in Mr. Marchand immediately. They see his tippling as part of his coping for his health problems and forgive him his theraputic use of alcohol. The generous attitudes and forgiving natures are contagious.
Then, a distant uncle in Colorado dies and the Pidgeon's find out he left his multi-million dollar estate to woman who, as a child, played Little Eva in Uncle Tom's Cabin decades earlier. James hatches a scheme to cheat the estate away from this "Little Eva" - and Mr. Marchand suggests he knows how to find her. A plan is put into place to find her and keep her in the dark about the windfall that may not befall her, until the dealine for claiming the money is past.
You cheer for Anthony Marchand; Joseph Schildkraut steals the scenes each time comes in. Sensitive, cultured, and with a sense of bearing that sells his demeanor as a "character with character", Mr. Marchand wins us all.
Look for a good transfer copy, it has been in the public domain for some time.
Reprinted from December 2017