![]() ![]() ![]() The Cheat has been remade several times: first in 1923, and then again in 1931 starring Tallulah Bankhead, and in 1937 by French avant-garde auteur Marcel L’Herbier. I was particularly struck by scenes of silhouetted shadowy outlines concealed behind closed screen doors, creating a mysterious, eavesdropping atmosphere. DeMilles enthralling potboiler about a New York socialite (Fannie Ward) who turns to a wealthy Asian (Sessue Hayakawa) to pay off a costly debt. Hishuru is capable of wearing the mask of a prosperous Western financier, but beneath this veneer lurks a “foreign” and “suspicious” sexually deviant masochist. Restored by HFPA Film Restoration films The Cheat Sessue Hayakawa. All racist tropes aside, The Cheat is an extraordinary study in stylized villainy. Griffith which were released around the same time. It is a pretty shocking movie today, and perhaps its themes were not too uncommon when considering the films of D.W. Naturally, the release of The Cheat caused considerable controversy upon release as a result of its racialized violence. Her husband plans to take the blame but at the last moment she confesses to the scheme and the mob seems ready to lynch Hishuru while shouting all manner of racist epithets. He then brutally brands her like an animal. Things go awry when he demands sexual payment from her, and when she refuses, she shoots Hishuru in the arm. Stars: Fannie Ward, Sessue Hayakawa, Jack Dean, James Neill, Yutaka Abe, Dana Ong. Because of the protests, and the fact that Japan was an ally at the time, his. Publication date 1915 Usage Attribution 3.0. Griffith, The Cheat is another subsequent landmark production for a couple of the talents it helped align. Thus, beyond the monumental impact of D.W. The cinema landscape was still in its utter infancy in 1915. East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet. Fannie Ward is a high society woman in need of money so, under the nose of her unsuspecting husband, she orchestrates a scheme with a Burmese businessmen named Hishuru Tori (later renamed Haka Arakau when the film was re-released in 1918). In its original 1915 release, Sessue Hayakawa played a Japanese named Tori. The Cheat (1915) and The Story of Sessue Hayakawa. The Cheat was the first big breakthrough for DeMille in Hollywood and it explores certain racial anxieties in American society at the time. It was supporting actor Sessue Hayakawa, originally from Japan, who became an overnight sensationand not only in the U.S. Students of film history will surely recognize Hayakawa, a this legendary actor with a long and storied career in Hollywood, including his brilliant portrayal as Colonel Saito in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957). Running at just under an hour, The Cheat features three main characters played by stage performer Fannie Ward, her husband Jack Dean, and the famous Sessue Hayakawa. ![]()
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