The Cheat

Infobox Film
name = The Cheat


caption =
director = Cecil B. DeMille (uncredited)
producer = Cecil B. DeMille
Jesse L. Lasky
writer = Hector Turnbull
Jeanie Macpherson
starring = Sessue Hayakawa
Fannie Ward
Jack Dean
music =
cinematography = Alvin Wyckoff
editing = Cecil B. DeMille
distributor = Paramount Pictures
released = 13 December 1915
runtime = 59 minutes
awards =
country = United States
language = Silent film
English intertitles
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0005078

:"This article is about a silent film. For other uses, see Cheat (disambiguation)."

"The Cheat" (1915) is a drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Fannie Ward, Sessue Hayakawa, and Jack Dean.

The film has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

Plot summary

Edith Hardy (Fannie Ward) steals charity money in order to invest it in stocks. When she loses the money, she turns to a wealthy Burmese man (Sessue Hayakawa) for a loan. He gives it to her, but when she later attempts to return it, he says the repayment he wants is herself. When she resists, he brands her and declares her his property. Edith shoots him, consequentially her husband Richard (Jack Dean) is blamed for the crime.

Originally, Hayakawa's character was described as a Japanese ivory merchant. Because Japan was an American ally at the time, and because Japanese-Americans protested the portrayal of a Japanese as a sinister sleaze, the title cards and the character's name were changed. [http://www.silentsaregolden.com/featurefolder4/cheatcommentary.html]

In real life, Dean and Ward married in January 1916, and remained married until Dean's death in 1950.

Cast

* Fannie Ward - Edith Hardy
* Sessue Hayakawa - Hishuru Tori (original release) / Haka Arakau (in 1918 re-release)
* Jack Dean - Richard Hardy
* James Neill - Jones
* Yutaka Abe - Tori's Valet
* Dana Ong - District Attorney
* Hazel Childers - Mrs. Reynolds
* Arthur H. Williams - Courtroom Judge (as Judge Arthur H. Williams)
* Raymond Hatton - Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)
* Dick La Reno - Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)
* Lucien Littlefield - Hardy's Secretary (uncredited)

Remake

The film was remade in 1931, again by Paramount Pictures, with Broadway mogul George Abbott as director and starring Tallulah Bankhead.

References

*cite web |url=http://www.kino.com/theatrical/th_item.php?film_id=63|title=The Cheat |accessdate=2007-07-30 |work=Kino Film|publisher=Kino International

External links

*