I found Alan's performance thoroughly unconvincing throughout, except for the scene where he was trying comfort the grieving lady... where he suddenly seem to nail it as "the habitual con man hesitantly exercising a rare moment of genuine compassion" (which of course turns out to be just as fake as everything else).

I think perhaps he didn't get the memo about acting and dramatic conventions having moved on a bit since the 1970s, and that what is supposed to invisible to the other characters in a scene should therefore not be bleedin' obvious to the viewers at home (unless the specific shot or the context of other scenes cleverly reveals it to us while concealing it from the other characters).

A shame. With the right material, he can do a sterling job, but he doesn't have a great range of characters open to him unless he makes some kind of breakthrough in stepping outside his "comfort zone" of vocal and physical mannerisms.