A Con Man knows a fool and his money are soon parted, but a fool and his conscience are not so easily separated. Warren William is excellent as the Side-Show Grifter “Chandra” who finds his new racket in faking fortune telling readings for the faceless crowds until one face in particular stands out! The direction by Roy Del Ruth is superb, allowing just the right amount of tension to build and release through the various schemes and subterfuges. DP Sol Polito captures the dramaturgy in all its inglorious beauty often utilizing Dutch Angles to skew audience perception.
Warren William begins the film as a sideshow hack as he and his cohort Frank (wonderfully portrayed by Allen Jenkins) barely make ends meet during the Great Depression. They soon realize a way to fake a Fortune Telling routine and Williams takes the name of his alter-ego from a box of Chandra cookies. Through an elaborate (for 1933) ruse involving a hidden microphone they steal the show...and copious amounts of cash! But love rears it beautiful visage in the guise of Sylvia (an endearing Constance Cummings) and Williams is soon living a double-life as he attempts to conceal the cheat from her yet keep her on as his secretary. But Sylvia is no fool and soon discovers the racket. Trading her morals for love, she follows along until a young lady, who received advice from Chandra, commits suicide by jumping down an elevator shaft. If you need proof beyond the fucked-up morality and vertiginous reasoning of our protagonist, then actually seeing this traumatized lady break-down and jump to her death should let you know this is Pre-Code!
Sylvia finally regains her senses and leaves her paramour unless he cleans up his act. Which he does, quite literally by selling cleaning brushes! Sylvia is poor yet happy. But he still yearns to make decent dough so he begins another masquerade as a Fortune Teller for the wives of rich businessmen, telling them where their husbands are and whom they’re sleeping with! Of course, his sidekick Frank is back in the picture as a chauffeur and is feeding him the information. And as one would expect from Pre-Code movies this leads to murder. But Sylvia is innocently caught up in the racket and accused of the crime while Williams goes on the lam. It’s not until he reads about her breakdown at trial that he then turns himself in to the DA. In a lovely scene he and Cummings embrace on her hospital bed and she professes her undying love for him, her faith in his humanity, in his very being, and he is led away for his 2-10 year jaunt for manslaughter. He has learned the most important lesson of all: the hardest grift is getting one over on yourself.
Final Grade: (B+)
