gridoon2018 The premise of Warren William as a "supernatural" con man, with the gorgeous Constance Cummings by his side, looks tantalizing on paper, but the script of "The Mind Reader" is not particularly well-thought-out. The continuity is abrupt, and the story raises all sorts of little questions, like why is Cummings asking for forgiveness (!) when she discovers William's trickery or how can the skeptic sheriff turn into a believer so easily or why do they arrest Cummings for murder with absolutely no evidence against her, and so on. Director Roy Del Ruth does his best with this script; the tilted camera angles are interesting to see. ** out of 4.

mark.waltz Of course, most (if not all) mind readers are phony, and that is definitely the case with Warren William here, playing one of his most notorious scoundrels. He's a second-rate carny medicine man salesman who sees a mind reader at work and decides to get in on the scam. At first doing a tacky mind reading act, he's soon the toast of women's society, finding out the scoop on various men cheating on their wives and this leads to a confrontation by one of the husbands and a struggle for a gun that leads to the man's death. Constance Cummings, cast as his naive wife, happens to be a friend of one of the socialites with a cheating spouse, and arrives at William's office, unaware that the notorious society psychic is in fact her own husband. She's held for his murder as William disappears, but when his conscience takes over and she lies ailing in a prison hospital, he must make a life-changing decision that could bring on either atonement or damnation.One of the premiere scoundrels of the pre-code era of Hollywood cinema, Warren William was the George Sanders of his day. He played either likable, dashing schnooks or borderline criminals, all on the take, all after women (married or not) and all morally reprehensible. His right-hand man (Frank McHugh) stands by him through thick and thin, and he even has a black assistant (Clarence Muse) who arranges for allegedly burnt questions from the audience to flow down a tube to McHugh who then reads them into a small microphone which only William can here. There's a very haunting scene featuring Mayo Methot (at one time the wife of Humphrey Bogart) as a victim of William's phony mind reading who tells him off then takes drastic measures to deal with the fall-out of his incorrect advice. Natalie Moorehead has one great scene as one of the society women William utilizes in his schemes to rise to the top of his racket.Somewhat disturbing due to the lack of scruples of the leading character, this is still fascinating because of the no-holds barred way it reveals his rise, fall and come-uppance. McHugh gets a hysterical line in the final scene which pretty much sums up the irreverent way in which the characters liked to live their heinous lifestyles. Some great art direction and a truly snappy screenplay are aided with the direction of Roy Del Ruth. In spite the implausibility of how Cummings comes to discover her husband's betrayal and her ridiculous naiveté over it all, this is pre-code drama at its finest. William shows that he's more than just dashing window dressing for the great ladies of Warner Brothers' golden age (Bette Davis, Kay Francis, Joan Blondell to mention a few) and that with the right part, he was truly one outstanding actor.

Michael_Elliott Mind Reader, The (1933) *** (out of 4) Excellent performances highlight this Warner drama about a con man (Warren William) and his assistant (Allen Jenkins) who travel town to town with a circus doing various acts to bring in money. They then notice that the mind reader gag will bring in the most and soon the alias "Chandra" starts pulling people in but there's going to be a price to pay. I had heard so many positive things about this movie that it quickly became one that I searched out and thankfully got to see due to a recent TCM showing. Fans of classic cinema should certainly keep their eyes open for this one as it lives up to its reputation and also delivers some incredible performances. The film is pretty much divided into two halves with the first one dealing with various cons being performed by William. I found all of these games to be incredibly entertaining due in large part to William being able to push them over. It's very important that we believe these cons could actually be pushed over on people and William is so good here that it's never a problem. He slides into this role and never looks back and there's no a single frame in the film where we don't believe what he's doing and saying. Constance Cummings plays the woman he eventually falls in love with and the two share some great moments together and really make their love story believable. The underrated Jenkins does a very good job as well as he has several nice comic moments. The biggest surprise comes from future Bogart wife Mayo Methot who nearly steals the film as a young woman who is given bad advice and comes to let William know about it. I won't spoil what happens but it's pretty unforgettable and she really nails the part. I think the film begins to lose some of its power during the final twenty-five minutes with the last scam starts to be too big and of course there's going to be a moral lesson to pay. Up until then the film is extremely fast, fun and most important features some terrific acting. This film certainly deserves to be better known and hopefully TCM will start to show it more often.

David (Handlinghandel) Warren William turns in a superb performance. Allen Jenkins, always fun if a bit tedious in later comic gangster tales, does fine. The fine black actor Clarence Muse is given a meaty role and does beautifully by it. And Constance Cummings, whom I saw several decades after this in a magnificent performance on Broadway, is excellent.This is a dark, twisting tale. William is a grifter who's tried a few rackets before he hits on mind reading. He and Jenkins pull some shady business in Cummings's hometown (emphasis on town) but she falls for him. She thinks he's the real thing, for a while, and he tries hard to go straight for her.There is no wrong move. It's taut and disturbing. Roy del Ruth was a sensationally good director at this time, though this is darker than what he generally worked with.No happy Hollywood ending is slapped on. William is seen about to pay for his evil ways but it sure doesn't look as if he is going to get a last-minute reprieve, nor does he seem particularly changed in his soul.Keep an eye out for this one!