Brightlyme i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.

Dorathen Better Late Then Never

GarnettTeenage The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

ChampDavSlim The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

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.

sol1218 ***SPOILERS*** Story of a depression era con artist who tries to make a living off other peoples problems. Many in fact which he himself creates.Calling himself "Chandra the Magnifient" Warren Williams' mind reading act has become the talk of the town in any town that he stays in. That's until his act is exposed and he's run out, on a rail, of it. One of those whom William empresses with his "mind reading" powers is the very naive Sylvia Roberts who's friends pocketbook he had swiped by Frank Franklin who, together with "Sam the Music Man", is part of William's "mind reading" act. With William finding the pocketbook, with his "mind reading" powers, a very impressionable Sylvia falls heads over heels for him. It's only later that Sylvia gets second thoughts about "Chandra" when one of his clients Jenny confronts him at his office in how he destroyed hers as well as her boyfriends lives with his totally inaccurate predictions in them not being suited for each other!This lead Jenny to marry someone else who treated her like dirt and had her boyfriend deeply depressed in Jenny leaving him for another man kill himself! With nothing left to live for and feeling like a fool in listening to this double-talking charlatan Jenny then did the only thing left for her to do: Walk out of William's office and jump down an empty elevator shaft killing herself! With Sylvia now threatening to leave him William decides to go straight as a Garrow Brush door to door salesman only to get back in the mind reading racket at the urging of his friend and partner in the mind rereading business Frank Franklin who's now a limousine driver in NYC.William now calling himself Dr. Munro opens up a private detective office in downtown Manhattan where he uses his "brain power" to find out if his clients, mostly wealthy women, husbands are cheating on them. Off course William or Dr. Munro gets a little help from his friend Frank Franklin. It's Franklin who gets the inside dope, on his job as a driver for the rich and famous, about William's clients husbands knowing exactly when their not at home and then having William use that to fool their wives in telling them that they were out partying with other women.This leads one of William's, or Dr. Munro, women clients Ann Holman to believe that her loyal husband Don is cheating on her due to the false information that he gave her about him. It just happened that Ann is a good friend of William's wife Sylvia who has no idea that he's in fact Dr. Munro. Syliva then goes to Dr. Munro's office to have it out with him in what he did in destroying her friends-Ann-marriage.***SPOILERS*** As things turned out it was Mr. Holman who beat Syliva to Dr. Munro's office and in a violent confrontation with him he ended up getting shot and killed by William who made his escape through the back door without his wife Sylvia ever seeing him! On the lam, in Juarez Mexico, with his wife Sylvia left holding the bag in not telling the police about his whereabouts, which she has no knowledge of, a very distraught and guilt ridden William for the first time in his life gets an attack of guilty consciences and decides to turn himself into the police, back in NYC, and face the music. William ends up receiving a 2 to 10 year sentence on a conviction of involuntarily homicide-or self defense-in Mr. Holman's death. The worst thing in all this is that as William was sent to spend at least the next two years behind bars Prohibition was repealed! Something he's been waiting for almost 15 years to happen.

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!