THE CHEAT (1915) is the story of a flighty, wealthy socialite whose appetite for the latest fashions and the approval of her peers leads her to make disastrous decisions. Her husband will not allow her to spend more of his money before a crucial return on his investment comes through. In her impatience, she embezzles money from her charity with the hope of making a sizable return on a dubious investment. When she (rather predictably) loses the money, she turns to a Burmese ivory trader for a loan, but his terms are not for money, but for romance. When she tries to pay him back the money, and he refuses it, things go dreadfully wrong
SCRIPT: I should preface this by saying that THE CHEAT is one of the most highly acclaimed silent movies. However, I really couldn't see much justification for this. The script is mostly to blame. To these eyes it appeared as little more than a lurid melodrama filled with unsympathetic characters, predicable outcomes, and implausible decisions written just to ratchet up the tension until the rather exaggerated climax (which I won't spoil in case you actually DO want to see this movie). Its much praised treatment of the Burmese trader really shows the racism of the time, as his character could provide favors and be regarded as an exotic foreigner, but could never really be part of the society of that time. The "heroine" in particular aroused no sympathy in me whatsoever – she's nothing more than stupid, selfish, grasping and childish. The climactic ending is absurd, insensitive, and insulting. SCORE: 3/10
ACTING: The acting in some cases does help the melodrama to go down a little easier, particularly in the case of Sessue Hayakawa, for whom this was a star-making performance. For all of its faults, this movie is interesting in that it allows us modern-day viewers to see a contrast between the "past" (stagy histrionics and exaggerated mannerisms) and the "future" (more subtle and nuanced, naturalistic acting). Hayakawa's performance (and to some extent, that of Jack Dean as the husband) show the latter, but Fannie Ward was very clearly the former. A veteran Broadway actress, she was chosen to play the main character. While she does display charm in some of her more subdued moments, her arm-flailing, hand-wringing histrionics are hard to take today. Granted, this was the performance style of theater at the time, but the movies were already moving past this style of acting and her performance really sticks out here like a sore thumb. Given that she is the lead, this becomes a drag on the movie, especially during the ending scenes. SCORE: 6/10
CINEMATOGRAPHY/PRODUCTION: The cinematography in this movie is fairly well done. It appears to have been edited well, and the scenes generally don't go on for too long in static shots. There isn't much camera movement, but this was 1915 so that's not a knock on the camera work. There are some interesting uses of shadow and high contrast to establish mood, particularly in the scenes where Hayakawa is featured. In this aspect the movie is well made for its time, although not really outstanding. SCORE: 7/10
SUMMARY: THE CHEAT proved to be a tough movie for me to love. This is one case where I have to disagree with critical consensus. I found the story ridiculous and implausible, the lead character extremely unsympathetic, and the acting of variable quality. Sorry if you're a fan of this movie, but that's how I feel. Won't be going back to this one anytime soon. MOVIE SCORE: 5/10
SCRIPT: I should preface this by saying that THE CHEAT is one of the most highly acclaimed silent movies. However, I really couldn't see much justification for this. The script is mostly to blame. To these eyes it appeared as little more than a lurid melodrama filled with unsympathetic characters, predicable outcomes, and implausible decisions written just to ratchet up the tension until the rather exaggerated climax (which I won't spoil in case you actually DO want to see this movie). Its much praised treatment of the Burmese trader really shows the racism of the time, as his character could provide favors and be regarded as an exotic foreigner, but could never really be part of the society of that time. The "heroine" in particular aroused no sympathy in me whatsoever – she's nothing more than stupid, selfish, grasping and childish. The climactic ending is absurd, insensitive, and insulting. SCORE: 3/10
ACTING: The acting in some cases does help the melodrama to go down a little easier, particularly in the case of Sessue Hayakawa, for whom this was a star-making performance. For all of its faults, this movie is interesting in that it allows us modern-day viewers to see a contrast between the "past" (stagy histrionics and exaggerated mannerisms) and the "future" (more subtle and nuanced, naturalistic acting). Hayakawa's performance (and to some extent, that of Jack Dean as the husband) show the latter, but Fannie Ward was very clearly the former. A veteran Broadway actress, she was chosen to play the main character. While she does display charm in some of her more subdued moments, her arm-flailing, hand-wringing histrionics are hard to take today. Granted, this was the performance style of theater at the time, but the movies were already moving past this style of acting and her performance really sticks out here like a sore thumb. Given that she is the lead, this becomes a drag on the movie, especially during the ending scenes. SCORE: 6/10
CINEMATOGRAPHY/PRODUCTION: The cinematography in this movie is fairly well done. It appears to have been edited well, and the scenes generally don't go on for too long in static shots. There isn't much camera movement, but this was 1915 so that's not a knock on the camera work. There are some interesting uses of shadow and high contrast to establish mood, particularly in the scenes where Hayakawa is featured. In this aspect the movie is well made for its time, although not really outstanding. SCORE: 7/10
SUMMARY: THE CHEAT proved to be a tough movie for me to love. This is one case where I have to disagree with critical consensus. I found the story ridiculous and implausible, the lead character extremely unsympathetic, and the acting of variable quality. Sorry if you're a fan of this movie, but that's how I feel. Won't be going back to this one anytime soon. MOVIE SCORE: 5/10