The Spellbinder

Original title: The Spieler

1928
1h 2m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Cleo inherits a carnival and announces in the newspapers that her show will be operated free of all grifters, dips, three-shell men, confidence artists, and hookers. Flash and Luke, a couple... Read allCleo inherits a carnival and announces in the newspapers that her show will be operated free of all grifters, dips, three-shell men, confidence artists, and hookers. Flash and Luke, a couple of dips, see in this policy their big chance and, passing themselves off as honest men, f... Read allCleo inherits a carnival and announces in the newspapers that her show will be operated free of all grifters, dips, three-shell men, confidence artists, and hookers. Flash and Luke, a couple of dips, see in this policy their big chance and, passing themselves off as honest men, find work in Cleo's show. Flash is greatly attracted to Cleo, but she rebuffs him when he t... Read all

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.5/10

YOUR RATING

5User reviews

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win total

Photos21

+ 15

Top cast16

Edit

Alan Hale

Flash

Clyde Cook

Luke aka 'Perfesser' McIntosh

Renée Adorée

Cleo d'Alzelle

Fred Kohler

Red Moon

Fred Warren

The Barker

James Quinn

The Rabbit

Kewpie Morgan

Butch

Billie Latimer

Bearded Lady

Alfred Adeline

Bit Part
(uncredited)

Ed Brady

One of Red's Men
(uncredited)

Sterling Campbell

Last Pickpocket Victim
(uncredited)

Sidney D'Albrook

One of Red's Men
(uncredited)

Jimmy Dime

One of Red's Men
(uncredited)

Bob Perry

One of Red's Men
(uncredited)

Jack Perry

One of Red's Men
(uncredited)

Frederick Peters

Undetermined Secondary Role
(uncredited)

User reviews5

6.573

Featured reviews

7planktonrules

From Grifter to hero...

When the story begins, Flash (Alan Hale) and the Perfessor (Clyde Cook) are in jail. They apparently are crooked carnies and have been caught doing something illegal once again. When they learn that a lady is looking for HONEST carnies, Flash insists they go...figuring the woman must be easy to fool. However, what they don't realize is that Flash learns to care about Cleo (Renée Adorée)...but this will result in Red Moon (the baddie in the story) unleashing his full fury on him and the Perfessor.

This is a very good late silent film. Aside from a few badly used sound effects, it's a silent....among the last ones Hollywood made. But it's also well polished, well acted and enjoyable from start to finish.

7AlsExGal

It's certainly worth the discovery

This has ex-jailbirds Alan Hale and Clyde Cook joining Renee Adoree's carnival in the hope of nice pickings. Unfortunately there's trouble in the form of Fred Kohler, an old pal of Hale's, who will stop at nothing to run things in his own crooked way.

It's a shame this copy of a once very rare film is too dark at times, sometimes making the titles hard to read. And what starts in a comic vein becomes very grim, though once again Mr Hale is a-courting, and things don't always go very smoothly for the poor fellow. Though sometimes the music is a bit much (and it's what you might term a naturalistic score), THE SPIELER is certainly worth the discovery, having a rich atmosphere to it and an enjoyable, if now-familiar series of incidents. And Adoree makes for a good, feisty heroine who doesn't take any nonsense from anyone.

7JoeytheBrit

The Spieler review

Perennial supporting man Alan Hale gets a rare starring role as the title character in this engaging Tay Garnett picture set amongst the grifters and pick-pockets plying their trade in Rene Adoree's carnival. It's Fred Kohler as the chief villain who provides the sparks, however.

More like this

6.2

Power

5.2

The Flying Fool

Storyline

Edit

Did you know

Edit

Trivia
Was filmed mostly silent but included a few talking sequences using the RCA Photophone System. These sequences are missing from existing prints. NY Times critic Mordaunt Hall thought the talkie parts were unnecessary but found Renée Adorée's French accent "quite captivating".