The Cheat is a 1915 American silent drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Fannie Ward, Sessue Hayakawa, and Jack Dean (1874-1950), Ward's real-life husband.
In 1993, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
Socialite Edith Hardy (Ward) has extravagant tastes. Her stockbroker husband Richard (Dean), with all of his money tied up in a very promising investment, insists she send back an expensive dress she has just bought. When she asks an acquaintance what he could do with $10,000, he assures her he could double it overnight. She gives him the Red Cross funds entrusted to her as the charity's treasurer.
The next day, however, he reports that the money is gone. Hishituru Tori (Hayakawa), a wealthy Japanese admirer (changed in the film's 1918 re-release to a Burmese ivory king named "Haka Arakau"), overhears and offers her a loan, if she is willing to pay the price of her virtue.
The same day, her husband is jubilant that his gamble has paid off. She asks him for $10,000, which she explains is to cover her losses playing bridge. She visits Tori and tries to pay him back, but he refuses to cancel their bargain. She threatens to kill herself, but he is so confident that she is bluffing that he hands her a pistol. When she continues to resist his advances, he subdues her and brands her on the back of the shoulder with the seal with which he marks all of his property. Edith grabs the gun and shoots him in the shoulder, then flees. Richard, having followed her after she left their home, finds Tori and picks up the gun. He is held for the police by Tori's servants. When questioned, he confesses to the crime to protect his wife.
A cheat is someone who engages in cheating.
Cheat may also refer to:
The Cheat (1923) is a silent film produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures, and is a remake of Cecil B. DeMille's 1915 hit feature using the same script by Hector Turnbull and Jeanie MacPherson. This version stars Pola Negri and was directed by George Fitzmaurice.
This film is now considered a lost film.
Frown down upon the days
When I was someone's puppet
Hear the sound of cries that weighed
So heavy as I suffered
A master plan for killing off
All we take for granted
Haunting ones who would not believe
In what you wanted
To find a friend, to free you from
The clutch of your black halo
Seem to find all the comfort
Knowing no tomorrow
Someone tell me just what have we become
Master of nothing, slave to the numb
Leaving a trace, you've seen the scars
Of all that we've been through
How many times has it fallen apart
Reminding me of you
You wanted it, you wanted it
A power plan, to feel alive
To save a soul, have control
But knowing no tomorrow
Someone tell me just what we have become