User Reviews

"The Cheat" was quite daring for its time. The Cecil B. DeMille production dealt as it does with the infidelity of the wife of a Wall Street stockbroker with an Asian ivory merchant. In the initial release in 1915, the character played by Sessue Hayakawa was a Japanese American called Hishuru Tori. The Japanese American community apparently were not amused at seeing one of their own being portrayed as a nasty villain. When De Mille re-released the film in 1918, the character was changed to a Burmese and was called Haka Arakou. It is this version that appears on the DVD compilation, "Cecil B. De Mille: The Classics Collection".

Richard Hardy (Jack Dean) is a stockbroker who has invested all of his money into a sure thing stock. His wife Edith (Fanny Ward) is a social climbing spendthrift who spends Dean's money faster than he can make it. Until his investment pays off, he cautions her to ease up on her extravagances. A rich Burmese ivory king, Haka Arakau (Hayakawa) shows more than a passing interest in her.

Edith is the Treasurer of a Red Cross charity which has raised $10,000. The money is entrusted to Edith who puts it into her safe at home. Because her husband has curtailed her spending, Edith seeks a way to raise some cash. A family friend Jones (James Neill) tells her that he knows of an investment that will literally double her money overnight. She gives him the $10,000. The next night Jones informs Edith that the investment failed and that her money is lost.

With the charity ready to turn over the money the next day, Edith is forced to seek a source of funds in a hurry. Arakou offers his help but it turns out that he is not the gentle cultured friend that Edith thought him to be. He gives her the $10,000 in return for her "favors".

As luck would have it, Richard's investment pays off. Edith asks for and receives $10,000 from him without disclosing the real reason for it. She goes to pay off Arakou but he refuses to accept the money and holds her to her "bargain". The two struggle as he tries to force his intentions upon her. He "brands" her with a seal which he uses to mark his possessions. In a further struggle she shoots him wounding him seriously. After Edith flees, Richard arrives on the scene, surmises what has happened and takes the blame.

Richard is brought before the court and Arakau is content to see him go on trial but....................................................

This was Fannie Ward's first film. She had worked on the stage and looked younger than her years (She was in her 40s at the time) and would play mostly younger roles during her career. This film made Sessue Hayakawa the first Asian movie star and spawned a career that lasted on and off for the next 50 years. He is probably best remembered for his role as the camp commandant in "The Bridge On the River Kwai" (1957).

De Mille took a big chance with this film. First for the thinly disguised extra marital affair between a Caucasian woman and an Asian man as well as, for the "branding" scene and the attempted rape scene. Since there was no effective censorship at the time, film makers could push the envelope with little consequence. The only censorship would come from interest groups such as the Japanese Americans, which I described above.

An excellent film.

Studios were transitioning from sets with glass ceilings for natural lighting to closed sets with artificial lighting by the time Cecil B. DeMille made "The Cheat", one of the earliest films to feature lighting for more than clarity. DeMille and cinematographer Alvin Wyckoff extensively use chiaroscuro effects, or "Rembrandt lighting", to illuminate psychological states, for symbolism, drama and precursory shadows--for art. DeMille experimented with lighting in other films around this time, including "The Golden Chance", which he made coincident with this film. Notably, Benjamin Christensen and other Danish filmmakers had been creating interesting lighting effects, as had Russian filmmaker Yevgeni Bauer and perhaps a few others, probably influencing DeMille. "The Cheat" was popular in Paris and impressed French Impressionist filmmakers, like Abel Gance.

The story is throwaway, although the sex and racial issues, obviously, grab one's attention. How DeMille tells, or shows, the story is what's remarkable. The opening scene of the Japanese ivory king sets the tone: with no fill lights, the scene is lit by diegetic sources; shadows cover the character, and the background is darkness. In addition to other benefits, this isolates the character and his actions, focusing viewers' attention; it's a change from Billy Bitzer and D.W. Griffith's iris shots, the then established technique for such an effect. As mentioned at this website, Sessue Hayakawa's Japanese ivory king was changed to Burmese for the 1918 re-release--not the last time Hayakawa starred in a film that appeased to Japanese relations (i.e. "The Bridge on the River Kwai"). Offending the Burmese is easier to get away with, although Asians in general are stereotyped. The courtroom scene, with a racist riot nearly exploding, in addition to Hayakawa's restrained performance somewhat reconciles my objections, though.

Low-key lighting makes for other memorable moments, including scenes where DeMille and Wyckoff make great use of Wilfred Buckland's minimalist sets, creating silhouettes behind rice paper. In another scene, the husband's shadow is seen over the bodies of his wife and Hayakawa before he physically enters the frame. Darkness follows Edith for most of her "cheating" deeds, including the branding scene. The lighting distinguishes this film, and it has had a lasting influence on film-making. Watch "The Whispering Chorus" next; perhaps, DeMille's last hurrah at art.

The most astounding element, I think, of 'The Cheat (1915)' is that director Cecil B. DeMille was actually able to cast a real Asian actor in such a prominent Hollywood role. Four years later, when D.W. Griffith produced his powerful 'Broken Blossoms or the Yellow Man and the Girl (1919),' he had to resort to (unconvincingly) making-up American Richard Barthelmess as Chinese immigrant Cheng Huan. In DeMille's film, Japanese ivory trader Hishuru Tori is played shrewdly by Sessue Hayakawa, whom most audiences will recognise from his unforgettable performance in David Lean's 'The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)' {though I didn't make the connection until afterwards}. The Japanese Association of Southern California subsequently kicked up a storm over the unsympathetic portrayal – Hishuru is depicted as a sleazy, arrogant, woman-hoarding fiend. For the 1918 re-release, the studio responded by choosing a country that wouldn't complain, and so Hishuru Tori suddenly became Burmese trader Haka Arakau. Whether this change somehow lessens the racial connotations of the film is highly debatable, but the nationality itself isn't all that important.

Edith Hardy (Fannie Ward) is not the sort of woman with whom we immediately sympathise. While her noble husband Richard (Jack Dean) works long hours to provide for her extravagances, Edith refuses to limit her excessive spending, constantly insisting on the latest fashions. She maintains a borderline-adulterous relationship with wealthy "Burmese ivory trader" Haka Arakau {the 1918 re-issue is the only version that remains today}, played by Sessue Hayakawa. Arakau is initially a rather congenial character, a polished and sensual companion, but when the selfish Edith embezzles and loses $10,000 in charity funding, he seizes the opportunity to exploit Edith's money difficulties for (it is strongly suggested) sexual favours. Throughout the 1910s, DeMille was continually challenging what was acceptable to show on film, and here he presents us with many events that would certainly have appeared daring in their day – an attempted rape, a shocking "human branding," a rather graphic (non-fatal) shooting and a courtroom episode in which Fannie Ward half removes her dress to reveal the ghastly ownership seal of her attacker.

Despite a brief running time of only 59 minutes, 'The Cheat' does tend to drag on occasion, though the dramatic sequences – particularly the shooting and the subsequent court trial – are put together very well. The film was photographed by Alvin Wyckoff, whose use of lighting and shadows is very impressive for 1915. His technique of keeping characters in darkness, but for a single source of lighting to one side, deftly communicates the alienating sexual undertones of the story, and proved so influential that it was later dubbed "Lasky lighting" {after the production company that produced the film}. Also worth mentioning is Wyckoff's use of human silhouettes through rice paper, perhaps indicative of the perceived barrier between the two races, the reason why East and West "never shall meet." One may spend hours harping on the possible racial issues of DeMille's film, and the dubious stance that an angry mob should take matters into their own hands – even while court is still in session – but I find the film-making itself to be of much greater interest. 'The Cheat' is not a masterpiece, but it's nonetheless a solid and daring early entry into the cinematic canon.

A silent movie directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Sessue Hayakawa, we get to see avarice, lust, and rampant racism at their glorious best. Worst. Whatever.

Hayakawa is excellent in this movie. DeMille lights him as if he were the female star, and he gives a great performance in mime. The version I saw was the 1918 re-release, and the main character had been changed from Japanese to Burmese after a prolonged protest from the Japanese-American community. (This was very simple for a silent film - they just changed a few title cards and the character's name.)

Fanny Ward plays Edith, spendthrift wife of Richard Hardy, young stockbroker. He's got all his money invested in a company and is waiting for the payoff. She insists on continuing to spend thousands of dollars on frocks and lingerie; at one point another man convinces her that Richard has made an error in judgment, so she gives the guy $10,000 from the Red Cross Fund to double her money in the morning. Naturally, it's all lost, and the Red Cross directors ask her to send the ten grand to the Belgians that day.

Edith has been seeing rather a lot of Haka Arakau (Hishuru Tori in the first release), an ivory merchant who is quite wealthy. Although she is not at all in love with him, she is amused by him while her husband spends all his time on investments. Arakau, though, is smitten with Edith. He offers to lend her money, which she at first refuses; she has no way out, though, when the fund she's lost is requested. She agrees to let Arakau lend her the money, but he makes it clear that he requires sexual favors (without ever saying it, of course) in exchange. She agrees rather than face social disgrace (worse in her status than the theft).

Richard is aware of Arakau seeing his wife, he knows there is nothing going on really, but he's disturbed by it. Hayakawa is very good at being very attentive without being over attentive, and Arakau a very handsome, very wealthy man. When Arakau lends her the money, she's saved from exposure; his demands, though, are instant. He demands her presence that night. Richard's money comes in, and she asks for $10,000, so of course he writes her a check (I can't imagine what $10,000 was worth in 1915).

She takes it with her to her rendezvous with Arakau, but he insists on his interest in addition to the money. She fights him, and he picks a hot seal (a chop, in Japanese, I think) from his container of embers (don't we all have a container of embers on our desk?), rips her bodice from her back, and brands her on her left shoulder blade. This is a remarkable scene for its violence and his avarice and lust. Their struggle is completely believable. DeMille lights Hayakawa's face just as he might have lighted Brooks or Dietrich.

Edith shoots Hayakawa in the shoulder, wounding him. Richard, discovering Edith has left home, follows his suspicions to Arakau's home, discovers that his wife has shot the man, and claims to have done the deed himself when the police arrive. Edith visits Richard in jail, and again DeMille uses lighting dramatically to emphasize Richard's wrongful imprisonment and her wrongful freedom.

At the trial, Arakau knows that imprisoning Richard will hurt Edith worse than telling the truth, so he lies and says Richard shot him. Richard takes that stand and confesses. I'm sorry to say that these few minutes tried my credulity: why have a trial when Richard confessed from the beginning? The jury goes out, considers, and returns, and Edith is shown wringing her hands in tension over what in the world the verdict could be. Let me see, the victim says Richard shot him, Richard says he shot him - what could the jury fine? Guilty! Big surprise. Edith then goes into hysterics, bares her shoulder to the whole court and says she shot Arakau because of what he did to her. The courtroom erupts in lynching mode, but calms down. The judge sets aside the verdict and the prosecutor sets aside the indictment, and Richard and Edith walk out of the room surrounded by spectators as if at their wedding.

This is a good movie notwithstanding it is silent. Hayakawa shows his talent even this early, but he had to wait for his role in "Bridge On the River Kwai" in 1957 to get his Oscar nomination as Colonel Saito, the sadistic camp commander. DeMille also does very well with his cast of upper crust New Yorkers. The costumes are fascinating. Contrast these clothes with "The Mating Call," which is set in that same time but costumed in the contemporary clothing of the Twenties when it was filmed.

Silent movies get short shrift in America, but "The Cheat" is worth watching for a number of reasons, the best of which is Sessue Hayakawa.

The Cheat is a very interesting movie from the silent era. Unlike other films during the time, that rarely show minorities actors in leading men big roles. The cheat, allows a Japanese and American Issei actor name Sessue Hayakawa to become one of the biggest Asian American actors of all time. Not only did this movie, made him into a big star, but also a romantic idol to the female movie-going public due to his handsome heartthrob facial expressing and his use of body language. During the 1930s, his career began to suffer from the rise of talkies film, as well as a growing anti-Japanese sentiment. World War 2 only brought more discriminatory stereotypes roles for Asian actors playing them as dumb-writ under sex, savages. The desexualization of Asian men in American films, even continues in Modern Hollywood.It wasn't until years later, Hayakawa received another big role. This time, as Colonel Saito in his Academy Award Best Supporting Actor nomination role in the 1957's film, The Bridge on the River Kwai. It was too bad, that he was often typecast as a sinister villain with sexual dominance. In this movie directed by Cecil B. DeMille, 'The Cheat', Sessue Hayakawa stars as Hishituru Tori/Haka Arakau, a wealthy Japanese admirer/a Burmese ivory king whom is interested in getting romantic with Socialite Edith Hardy (Fannie Ward). Edith has extravagant tastes and kept using all of her stockbroker husband Richard (Jack Dean), money. In a bad investment, she lost all the money that Richard was saving for the Red Cross. Tori overhears that the money is gone and offers her a loan, if she is willing to pay the price of her virtue by having sex with him. The story is an interesting erotic drama that would obviously, grab one's attention. How DeMille was able to shows the story is what's remarkable. This movie was made before the strict movie codes, and it wasn't shown in a hardcore pornography way like most erotic films of today. This silent melodrama help made Cecil B. DeMille into one of the greatest directors of all time. The film set the standards in its innovative camera techniques such as lighting, frame composition, the use of long pan on the jury members in the trial scene, the rapid alternation of shots, from wide shots to close ups, allows a very dynamic narrative. A good example of lighting is the opening scene of Tori. There is no fill lights, and only lit by diegetic sources. This allows the character to be shade by shadows, silhouettes and darkness. DeMille and the film cinematographer Alvin Wyckoff use 'Rembrandt lighting' AKA chiaroscuro effects, to paint a picture of psychological states. Remind me of the German Expressionist movement without too much of the Gothic overtones. The branding scene was pretty extreme in its days and I'm surprise it was put into film. You can rarely get away with that, even with today's standards. The acting is pretty OK. People who rent or view films from this time period should realize that, almost without exception, dramas are going to be Victorian in their acting. They should also expect that the acting will be over-acting with a lot of body languages, and outlandish facial expressions. I found Fannie Ward's acting really mediocre due to comical over-emoting. She does use way too much stereotypical stage gestures silent films actress are known for. It's been said that she wasn't acting too much, as the arrogant socialite character kinda mirror her life. DeMille chose Fannie Ward as his star after studying her at a party where she put her charm to good use. Anyways her character was pretty unlikable. An irresponsible cheating, stealing, socialite wife is hard to cheer for. It really hurt women rights at the time. Yet, the film says, forget about that. Let's lynch the Yellow Man for branding her. Fannie Ward's real husband Dean play her husband in the film. He is a little better, but he doesn't stand out. Sessue Hayakawa does stand out for all the actors in this movie. He had this zen method acting going on in this film. While, the movie might seem slow, dated and boring at times. For one hour, it goes pretty fast. The characters are a bit of a caricature: the frivolous woman, the greedy and gentleman-like stoke-broker, and the evil Japanese/Burmese, calculating and ruthless are a bit cheesy. Even the original music that plays with it was a bit racist. A lot of modern critics would look down on this film, due to its racism portrayal of Asians. Let's remember, that this was the year that even D.W Griffith 'Birth of a Nation' was popular. Still, not all people were fans of the movie at the time During World War I, when Japan was an ally of the U.S, the Cheat so offended to the members of the Japanese government that Tori's nationality was changed to Burmese and his name became Haka Arakau in the 1918 re-release. I don't think the Burmese people were happy for this. This typecasting was the reason Hayakawa established his own production company in 1918, near the height of his US fame because these movies were giving people a wrong idea of Asians. Hayakawa desperately sought to show a more balanced and fair portrait of Asians. East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet is such horse crap. The Cheat, which was remade several times but never to greater effect. This film was accompanied by a short called A Girl's Folly. There is no correlation between this short and the subject of The Cheat, but it is highly entertaining. The movie now is mostly show with a copy of the 1922's film, Manslaughter in DVDs copies. You probably can find the movie on the internet, as it's in the public domain now. Most video transfer are pretty good with few scratches and speckling. Worth checking out for any silent era fan.