The Cheat (1915 film)
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"Exotic interiors and mysterious screen doors abound in Cecil B. DeMille’s taut classic, which envisions the nascent medium of cinema as a shadowplay of morality. Bringing a seductive aura to his villainous role, Sessue Hayakawa shot to fame as one the first major Asian stars of the silent era."
— MUBI’s take
The Cheat (1915 film)
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This film has been preserved in the National Film Registry in 1993.
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The Cheat is a 1915 American silent drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Fannie Ward, Sessue Hayakawa, and Jack Dean, Ward's real-life husband.
Why It Rocks
- It's one of the films that showcases Cecil B. DeMille's talent of craft through melodramas, before he became the "king of spectacle". DeMille was able to charge modest situations with life-or-death implications. The premise of this film is simple enough: husband Dick Hardy is on the verge of a major deal but his finances are stretched. His flighty wife Edith insists on overspending to maintain her social status. She invests charity money on a harebrained get-rich-quick scheme, then turns to unctuous art collector Hishuru Tori for a loan when the deal falls through.
- It employs some of the silent era's most potent plot twists, with the biggest one during the climax staged very carefully. First, Tori's shown branding objects d'art with his personal seal. DeMille would return to the seal twice more, telegraphing his big moment fearlessly, aware that viewers were waiting for it. This material would be shot was a dexterity missing from the rest of the film -- which is just as static and flat as most movies of the period. The particular moment would reveal film's potential and just how complex and mature the medium could be.
- The courtroom trial that follows the big climax is on many levels sillier than anything that came before (packed with spectators resembling the mob clamoring at Pilate for blood), but again, Cecil's decisions would indicate the future of movies and inspire a whole generation of filmmakers.
- Wilfred Buckland provides the film some advanced production design. It was shot during a period when the industry changed from shooting from in sunlight to shooting on roofed, interior sets with artificial light. While Buckland's sets worked in sunlight, they were just as effective in what became known as "Lasky lighting", with strong shadows used for dramatic effect (such as Hishuru Tori's introduction scene at his desk) and the camera often being moved.
- A central reason this silent film has endured even all these decades later is thanks to Sessue Hayakawa's performance, which features a subtle yet menacing mix which made him a cinema star. Hayakawa brought to the screen a technique of restraint and a pride in his Japanese heritage. His acting style was attributed to his samurai background.
- Fannie Ward was also cast in possibly her biggest screen role (although this is only her second film). Here, her technique is broad at first, but she scales back her performance once her scenes with Hayakawa take place