The Cheat
| The Cheat | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | Cecil B. DeMille (uncredited) |
| Produced by | Cecil B. DeMille Jesse L. Lasky |
| Written by | Hector Turnbull Jeanie Macpherson |
| Starring | Sessue Hayakawa Fannie Ward Jack Dean |
| Cinematography | Alvin Wyckoff |
| Editing by | Cecil B. DeMille |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | 13 December 1915 |
| Running time | 59 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | Silent film English intertitles |
- This article is about the 1915 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, Ward's real-life husband. The film has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
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[edit] Plot
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 her. When she resists, he brands her and declares her his property. Edith shoots him. Her husband Richard (Jack Dean) takes the blame for the crime.
[edit] Production
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 sinister, the title cards and the character's name were changed.[1] The film cost $16,540 to make, and grossed $137,364.[2]
Leading actors Ward and Dean (1874-1950) married in January 1916 and remained married until Dean's death in 1950.
[edit] 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)
[edit] Remake
The film was remade in 1923 with George Fitzmaurice as director and Pola Negri and Jack Holt starring. This version is now lost. In 1931 Paramount again remade The Cheat, with Broadway mogul George Abbott as director and starring Tallulah Bankhead.
The Cheat was also remade in France as Forfaiture (1937) directed by Marcel L'Herbier. This version, however, makes significant changes to the original story even though Hayakawa was cast once again as the sexually predatory Asian man.
[edit] Notes
- "The Cheat". Kino Film. Kino International. http://www.kino.com/theatrical/th_item.php?film_id=63. Retrieved 2007-07-30.
[edit] References
- ^ Silents Are Golden website entry
- ^ Robert S. Birchard, Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood (Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky, 2004) p. 19, ISBN 0-8131-2324-0
[edit] External links
- The Cheat at the Internet Movie Database
- The Cheat is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]
- The Cheat at Silentera.com
- DVD listings of The Cheat at silentera.com
