blanche-2 Warren William is "The Mind Reader" in this pre-code film also starring Constance Cummings and Allen Jenkins.William is a snake oil salesman (a con artist) during the Depression, using his skills of persuasion to sell products. One day, his associate, Frank (Jenkins) is reading about mind readers and thinks it might be a great profession, so William becomes Chandra. He is very successful. When he meets the beautiful Sylvia (Cummings), he falls in love. After an unfortunate incident, he promises her that if she'll stay with him, he'll quit. But the con and the money are seductive.This is an early talkie and very well directed by Roy del Ruth. Unlike some early talkies, it's not stagy and the actors don't have trouble with the dialogue rhythm. Often in these early films, there are big pauses in between lines, but not here.Warren William is one of my favorites. He played these dark characters in silents and the early years of sound, and then we were able to hear his wonderful laugh and see his humor in films like the Perry Mason series (though he and the scripts weren't Erle Stanley Gardner's idea of Perry Mason), Satan Met a Lady, The Lone Wolf series, and others.Constance Cummings was both beautiful and amazing, and she does a lovely job here. She deserved to be a bigger star, but she left Hollywood early on and moved with her husband to England, where she made some films and appeared in her husband's (Benn Levy) plays. When she was around 70, she appeared on Broadway in a play about a stroke victim, Wings, for which she won a Tony Award. This was a great opportunity to see her on film.Interesting film, kind of a forerunner to "Nightmare Alley" in a way - those movie fortunetellers are always fakes.

John Seal The ever affable Warren William stars as the title character, a traveling carny who engages in crooked confidence scams with his colleagues Frank and Sam (Allen Jenkins and Clarence Muse). He falls for one of his victims, a charming young thing played by the beautiful Constance Cummings, who gets her man back on the straight and narrow--only to find him falling off the wagon when a new job hawking brushes door-to-door doesn't quite pan out. Thanks to Stephen Sondheim, this classic 'B' feature returned to television recently, and it's quite a revelation. Filled with pre-Code flavor, including references to the Mann Act, drug abuse, and oodles of adultery, The Mind Reader is far from being a one-trick pony: it also features a well developed screenplay by Robert Lord and Wilson Mizner, impressive expressionistic photography by the reliable Sol Polito, and some stunning art deco set design by Robert Haas. It all comes together beautifully thanks to director Roy Del Ruth, but the real revelation for me was the acting of Ms. Cummings--still with us as I write this! Besides looking radiant, she delivers a tour-de-force performance as the put upon Sylvia, whose innocence soon turns to anger and resignation when she realizes the true nature of her husband's work. As would be expected, William and Jenkins are both excellent, and Muse gets a sizable and generally dignified role as well. For any number of reasons, this is a wonderful relic of 1930s cinema that needs to get a DVD release. Happily, TCM's print has been well preserved and looks as good or better than any big budget classic from the period.

Neil Doyle WARREN WILLIAMS stars as a man who is a charlatan mind reader, eventually redeemed by the good woman who becomes his wife--and who remains loyal to him even after she learns that he has returned to his old ways while making her believe he has a respectable job. Constance Cummings does a nice job as his love interest.It's a sort of time capsule for the way things were back in 1933. Allan Jenkins does a standout job as the charlatan's foil, closing the film with a line delivered in tough Jenkins style: "Too bad you're going to the slammer just when drinkin' is okay again." A fast moving little programmer, easy to watch and just as easy to forget.Trivia: Watch for Humphrey Bogart's first wife, Mayo Methot, as an overwrought young woman who lashes out at the charlatan before jumping into an open elevator shaft.Another point of interest for me: The romantic theme played beneath much of the tender dialog between Constance Cummings and Warren Williams is the dance theme used years later in TO EACH HIS OWN ('46). I always thought Victor Young was the creator of that dance theme, but apparently not. The score here is listed by IMDb as an original one.

clemd William Warren plays a fraud who must choose between his girl and his fraudulent - but lucrative - profession. Interesting use of crooked camera angles to depict crooked dealings. Warren displays a wider acting range than in other movies.