The Cheat (Cecil B. Demille, 1915)
Rating: 6.0
Edith Hardy (Fannie Ward) uses charity funds for Wall Street investments in hopes of doubling her money. When the money is lost, she turns to an Oriental Ivory trader (Sessue Hayakawa) for help, but instead in return for the favor he wants ownership of her rather than his money back. Edith ends up shooting Arakau, but her loving husband takes the blame. During the ensuing trial, Edith confesses the truth, a riot begins and everything conveniently turns out OK. The This was one of the early feature films, and the subject was pretty racy for the times. Unfortunatley Hayakawa, the best actor in the film in my opinion is stereotyped as a typical evil Oriental villain, and there weren't many prominent roles for him during this era. The ending was pretty much ridiculous, but concurrent with my expectations of early silent film.
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