The Cheat (1915, the 1918 re-release)

The Cheat (1915, the 1918 re-release)

„The Cheat“ is a 1915 silent drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille and is based on a scenario by Hector Turnbull and Jeanie Macpherson.

Edith Hardy is a venal spoiled society woman who continues to buy expensive clothes even when her stockbroker husband, Richard Hardy, tells her all his money is sunk into a stock speculation and he can’t pay her bills until the stock goes up. She even delays paying her maid her wages, and the embarrassed Richard must do so. Edith is also the treasurer of the local Red Cross fund drive for Belgian refugees, which holds a gala dance at the home of Haka Arakau, a rich Burmese ivory merchant. He is an elegant, dangerously sexy man, to whom Edith seems somewhat drawn. He shows her his roomful of treasures, and stamps one of them with a heated brand to show that it belongs to him.

A society friend of the Hardy’s tells Edith that Richard’s speculation will not be profitable and he knows a better one, and offers to double her money in one day if she gives it to him to invest in the suggested enterprise. Edith, wanting to live lavishly and unwilling to wait for Richard to realize his speculation, takes the $10,000 the Red Cross has raised from her bedroom safe and gives it to the society friend.

The next day, however, her horrified friend tells Edith his tip was worthless and her money is completely lost. The Red Cross ladies have scheduled the handover of the money to the refugee fund for the day after that. Edith goes to Arakau to beg for a loan, and he agrees to write her a check in return for her sexual favors the next day. She reluctantly agrees to this, takes his check and is able to give the money to the Red Cross. Then Richard announces elatedly that his investments have paid off and they are very rich. Edith asks him for $10,000, saying it is for a bridge debt, and he writes her a check for the amount with no disapproval.

Edith takes it to Arakau, but he says she can’t buy her way out of their bargain. She struggles against his advances. He takes his heated brand used to mark his possessions and brands her with it on the shoulder. In their struggle, Edith finds a gun and shoots him. She runs away just as Richard bursts into the house. He finds the check he wrote to his wife. Arakau is only wounded in the shoulder, not killed. His servants call the police, Richard declares that he shot him, and Arakau does not dispute this.

Edith pleads with Arakau not to press charges, but he refuses to spare Richard. She visits Richard in his jail cell and confesses everything, and he orders her not to tell anyone else and let him take the blame. At the crowded trial, both he and Arakau testify that Richard was the shooter. The jury finds Richard guilty.

This is too much for Edith, and she rushes to the witness stand and shouts that she shot Arakau „and this is my defense“. She bares her shoulder and shows everyone in the courtroom the brand on her shoulder. The male spectators are infuriated and rush to the front, clearly intending to lynch Arakau. The judge sets aside the verdict, and the prosecutor withdraws the charges. Richard lovingly and protectively leads the chastened Edith from the courtroom.

A 1915 American Black & White silent drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, produced by DeMille and Jesse L. Lasky, written by Hector Turnbull and Jeanie MacPherson, cinematography by Alvin Wyckoff, starring Fannie Ward, Sessue Hayakawa, Jack Dean, James Neill, Yutaka Abe, Dana Ong, Hazel Childers, Arthur H. Williams, and Lucien Littlefield.

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
• Raymond Hatton – Courtroom Spectator
• Dick La Reno – Courtroom Spectator
• Lucien Littlefield – Hardy’s Secretary

„Der Betrug“ (The Cheat) ist ein Stummfilm-Drama von 1915 unter der Regie von Cecil B. DeMille und basiert auf einem Drehbuch von Hector Turnbull und Jeanie Macpherson.

Edith Hardy ist eine käufliche, verwöhnte Dame der Gesellschaft, die auch dann noch teure Kleider kauft, als ihr Ehemann, der Börsenmakler Richard Hardy, ihr mitteilt, dass sein gesamtes Geld in eine Aktienspekulation geflossen ist und er ihre Rechnungen erst bezahlen kann, wenn die Aktienkurse gestiegen sind. Sie verzögert sogar die Auszahlung des Lohns für ihr Dienstmädchen, und der verlegene Richard muss dies tun. Edith ist auch Schatzmeisterin der örtlichen Rot-Kreuz-Spendenaktion für belgische Flüchtlinge, die im Haus von Haka Arakau, einem reichen burmesischen Elfenbeinhändler, einen Gala-Tanz veranstaltet. Er ist ein eleganter, gefährlich sexy Mann, zu dem sich Edith irgendwie hingezogen fühlt. Er zeigt ihr sein Zimmer voller Schätze und stempelt einen davon mit einem Brandzeichen, um zu zeigen, dass er ihm gehört.