Having picked up a hopelessly naïve and very young Constance Cummings, professional charlatan Warren William comes in for stern rebuke by his two partners in crime. "Did you ever hear of a guy named Mann? He had an act," Allen Jenkins offers. "Yeah," seconds Clarence Muse, "and he ain't in vaudeville." Dialogue like this was typical of Warner Bros. in general and the writing team of Robert Lord and Wilson Mizner in particular and just one of the reasons the studio's little comedy-dramas possess so much appeal even today. Not that The Mind Reader is top-notch depression-era Warner Bros. -- for that, it is too reminiscent of several better films lampooning legendary fake evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson -- but the acting and direction are top-notch, the dialogue crackles and cinematographer Sol Polito is allowed to play around with intriguing camera angles, not exactly de rigueur in more portentous productions at the time.