The Cheat
1915 | 59m | English
Popularity: 0.5 (history)
| Director: | Cecil B. DeMille |
|---|---|
| Writer: | Hector Turnbull, Jeanie Macpherson |
| Staring: |
| A venal, spoiled stockbroker's wife impulsively embezzles $10,000 from the charity she chairs and desperately turns to a Burmese ivory trader to replace the stolen money. | |
| Release Date: | Dec 13, 1915 |
|---|---|
| Director: | Cecil B. DeMille |
| Writer: | Hector Turnbull, Jeanie Macpherson |
| Genres: | Drama |
| Keywords | self-defense, deceived husband, gambling debt, stolen money, attempted rape, embezzlement, branding, spoiled women, rape revenge, flirtation, faithful husband, gunplay, courtroom drama, branded, indecent proposal, branding iron, secretive wife, lost money, ivory, asian man, private loan, loan due, stock broker, illegal transfers of funds, spoiled socialite, gamble, ruthless man, ivory merchant |
| Production Companies | Paramount Pictures, Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company |
| Box Office |
Revenue: $137,365
Budget: $17,311 |
| Updates |
Updated: Jan 29, 2026 Entered: Apr 25, 2024 |
| Name | Character |
|---|---|
| Fannie Ward | Edith Hardy |
| Sessue Hayakawa | Hishuru Tori [Haka Arakau] |
| 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 |
| Dick La Reno | Courtroom Spectator (uncredited) |
| Lucien Littlefield | Hardy's Secretary (uncredited) |
| Raymond Hatton | Courtroom Spectator (uncredited) |
| Name | Job |
|---|---|
| Hector Turnbull | Screenplay |
| Wilfred Buckland | Art Direction |
| Cecil B. DeMille | Editor, Director |
| Alvin Wyckoff | Director of Photography |
| Jeanie Macpherson | Writer, Scenario Writer |
| Name | Title |
|---|---|
| Jesse L. Lasky | Executive Producer |
| Cecil B. DeMille | Producer |
| Organization | Category | Person |
|---|
Popularity History
| Year | Month | Avg | Max | Min |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 4 | 6 | 9 | 3 |
| 2024 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 5 |
| 2024 | 6 | 8 | 25 | 3 |
| 2024 | 7 | 6 | 11 | 3 |
| 2024 | 8 | 6 | 16 | 2 |
| 2024 | 9 | 4 | 7 | 3 |
| 2024 | 10 | 5 | 13 | 2 |
| 2024 | 11 | 4 | 9 | 3 |
| 2024 | 12 | 5 | 10 | 3 |
| 2025 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 3 |
| 2025 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 2 |
| 2025 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| 2025 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 2025 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| 2025 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 2025 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 2025 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 2025 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2025 | 10 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| 2025 | 11 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| 2025 | 12 | 3 | 6 | 1 |
| 2026 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 0 |
| 2026 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Trending Position
Vaudevillian Fannie Ward made her cinematic debut here as "Edith", a rather shallow woman married to Jack Dean ("Richard"), a stockbroker. She lives for life's fripperies, and when he starts bemoaning the amounts of money she is frittering away on luxuries, she decides to procure some cash of her ow ... n by embezzling $10,000 from a charity she runs. Desperate to return the money, she turns to the distinctly shady Burmese ivory trader "Hishiru Tori" (Sessue Hayakawa) who offers her a deal - but at an horrible price... It has a very theatrical style to it, this production, but that's not a bad thing. It helps us to focus on the characters - with Ward, and particularly the sinister "Tori" - working well to create the atmospheric, shadowy - almost menacing, look of the film. The use of light and shade is also used to good effect for that purpose too, and although the ending runs a bit to melodrama, this story of avarice and repentance is certainly worth an hour of anyone's time.