The Lovable Cheat

The Lovable Cheat is a 1949 American comedy film directed by Richard Oswald and starring Charles Ruggles, Peggy Ann Garner and Richard Ney. It is based on the 1848 play Mercadet Le Falseur by Honoré de Balzac. It was the final film of the Austrian director Oswald, who had fled into exile following the Nazi rise to power.Buster Keaton played a small supporting role in the film, as his career had seriously declined by this stage.

in France back in 1860, a gentleman by the name of Claude Mercadet lived in grandeur with his wife Pauline and his daughter Julie in a very well decorated mansion in the Bois de Bologne. Claude was one of the wealthiest men around Paris. Unfortunately he was a fraud, and he had been running up bills for quite some time, paying one creditor with the money he got from another, creating a downwards spiral of unfortune. His house was in fact not built with brick but with straw, and it was about to collapse. As it does, a bailiff calls on him to confiscate his property as security for his long overdue loan and tax payments. The bailiff starts to reclaim all of Claude's possessions, and Claude also gets a note from each of his creditors, Pierquin, Goulard and Violette, and they threaten to throw him in jail unless the debts are paid in full.

Claude tries to calm down his wife Pauline by telling her he is about to have a big reception for the Count de la Brive. The count is very much interested in marrying their daughter Julie. The count incidentally happens to be the wealthiest man in Paris. Claude calls for his butler Justin, and orders him to invite as many of his creditors as he can and the count to a reception the very next day. Since the creditors will profit from Julie's marriage to the count, Claude expects them to contribute with money to the reception. Claude's cook Virginie also promised that Claude's former partner Godeau would pay back what he owed, and took from Claude when he ran off to America.

Thérèse, the maid, is asked to entertain the bailiff, who is getting quite drunk on Claude's wine. In the meantime Claude tells Julie that they are bankrupt and that he wants her to marry, to solve this money problem. Julie is excited at first when she hears about the plans for her marriage, but when she understands that it is the count that is her intended husband, she is very disappointed. Justin returns to report that the count indeed will attend the reception the next day. The bad news is that the count brings one of his creditors, Goulard, to the reception, and he demands that his debts are settled immediately. Claude has to convince Goulard to wait a little longer, and even gets an additional loan of five hundred francs. Claude uses the money to pay off the creditors who are waiting in the kitchen.

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