The Cheat (1915) on Netflix
Edith Hardy's husband has his money tied up in a stock speculation, so her bills go unpaid while she keeps buying clothes. She is treasurer of a Red Cross fund holding $10,000.
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- Netflix3.9/5
- IMDb6.5/103,100 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes90%
Plot summary
Richard Hardy has put his money into a stock speculation and tells his wife Edith that her bills must wait, yet she keeps buying expensive clothes. Edith is the treasurer of a Red Cross drive that has raised $10,000 for Belgian refugees, and the gala dance is held at the house of Hishuru Tori, a wealthy ivory merchant who shows Edith his treasures and marks one with a branding iron. A friend of the couple advises Edith that Richard's speculation will pay nothing and promises to double the money within a day, so she takes the $10,000 from the safe in her bedroom and gives it to him.
Cast
- Yutaka Abeas Tori's Valet
- Dana Ongas District Attorney
- Hazel Childersas Mrs. Reynolds
- Arthur H. Williamsas Courtroom Judge(Judge Arthur H. Williams)
- Dick La Renoas Courtroom Spectator(uncredited)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Cheat (1915)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- When The Cheat was re-released in 1918, its Japanese villain Hishuru Tori was renamed "Haka Arakau" and called a "Burmese ivory king" because Japan was then an American ally. Despite this, the film was banned in the United Kingdom and was never released in Japan.
- Japanese Americans protested The Cheat for portraying a Japanese person as sinister, and the Japanese newspaper Rafu Shimpo in Los Angeles waged a campaign against the film, heavily criticizing Sessue Hayakawa's appearance.
- An opera adaptation, La Forfaiture, with music by Camille Erlanger and a libretto by André de Lorde and Paul Milliet, premiered at the Opéra-Comique in 1921 as the first opera based on a film scenario. It played only three times.
- The Cheat inspired French film critics to coin the term photogenie for cinema's medium-specific qualities, and its innovative use of lighting helped raise awareness of film as a serious art form.
