The Cheat

THE CHEAT-1921-Cecil B. DeMile directed this silent drama that was a big hit in its time.

It tells the story of a society woman Edith Hardy (Fannie Ward) who's high living is interrupted by her husband's financial investing. When a friend tells her of a sure fire stock she embezzles 10 thousand dollars (from a Red Cross fund of which she was the treasurer) to invest in it but the stock goes blooey and she loses everything.

A Burmese businessman Hara Arakau (Sessue Hayakawa) agrees to lend her the money on the condition that they become lovers. When the her husband Richard (Jack Dean) strikes it rich with his investments he gives Edith  $10,000 (she says she lost it playing bridge!) and wants to renege on her deal with Arakau but he'll have none of it. They have an intense struggle which ends with Arakau branding Edith (he does this with all of his "property"). She then shoots Arakau in the shoulder and flees. However Richard had followed and learns of his wife's deception. He winds up taking the rap for Edith. It all ends in a courtroom where Richard is found guilty of the shooting but Edith throws herself at the mercy of the judge, admitting she actually did the shooting and shows the brand on her back. A near riot ensues as angry spectators try to get their hands on Arakau. The judge sets aside the verdict and all charges are dropped and the couple leave happily.

In the original 1915 release Hayakawa's character was a Japanese ivory merchant which brought about protests from Japanese Americans who objected to the cruel lead. A 1918 re-release changed him to a Burmese. Hayakawa was the first Asian star in American films and was popular and successful until the advent of sound. He returned to Japan (after making a remake of THE CHEAT in France). He was nominated for a best supporting Oscar in 1957 for THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI.

THE CHEAT also features another Japanese actor Yutaka Abe who made several appearances in Hollywood films and later became a successful director in his native country.

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Oblivious

SANDS OF OBLIVION (2007) is a pretty crappy TV movie that debuted on SYFY channel. It's actually based on a real event when Cecil B. DeMille finished making THE TEN COMMANDMENTS in 1923. The obsessed director had created a huge "city of the Pharaohs" in The Guadalupe desert around 170 miles north of L.A.  When filming was over he had the whole thing bulldozed and buried beneath the sand. Eventually artifacts began to appear and the place became known as "the lost city of DeMille". This boring production proposes that DeMille (played here briefly by THE SIMPSONS' Don Castellaneta) was a Mason and he buried some lost relic, (an "inverted pyramid") in the sands and some kind of jackal monster kills people. A giant cobra made of sand, an attack of locusts and a dune buggy car chase are the highlights and Academy Award winner George Kennedy has a small role as the guy kind of responsible for the mayhem. The initial plot is good but as usual it's undermined by bad acting, long stretches of talk and mediocre SFX. Director David Flores also made BOA VS. PYTHON and LAKE PLACID 2.

Two of the stars Adam Baldwin (as an archaeologist who overacts ("The Master has come for us!")) and  Morena Baccarin (as his ex-wife, also an archaeologist) had starred in the 2002 series FIREFLY. A TV actor Victor Webster is the hero who says things like "weapon up" and "walking meat puppet" and has to fight cardboard cutout ancient Egyptians!

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Late Silent

THE GODLESS GIRL-1929-This interesting social drama is sometimes called director Cecil B. Demile's last silent film and first talkie! However the version I saw didn't have the sound part.

Judy, (Lina Basquette) the leader of "The Godless Society", an atheist group spreading across a local school is partially responsible for a huge riot (an excellent sequence) in which a woman is killed. Judy, would be convert boyfriend Bob (Tom Keene using his real name George Duryea) and comic relief atheist Bozo (Eddie Quillan) all go to jail where the men are at the mercy of The Brute (Noah Beery), the sadistic head guard. Ill fated Marie Prevost plays Mame a fellow inmate who befriends Judy. Eventually Judy and Bob escape for a while, declare their love for each other and then are recaptured.

The incredible climax takes place in the burning prison where Judy is trapped and Bob fights The Brute to save her. In the end faith in God and love win out. Many of the cast and crew were burned during the fire sequence.

Star Lina Basquette (widow of Sam Warner) should have been more famous but her career was marred by 9 marriages, legal troubles and 2 attempted suicides. She retired in 1943 but many years later appeared in one last film, Daniel Boyd's PARADISE PARK. Tom Keene became a low budget western star and also appeared in films (sometimes un-credited) under the name Richard Powers. Of course his last film appearance was in a something called PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE.

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Three Very Fast

Three short reviews tonight:


THERE WAS A FATHER-1942-(CHICHI ANIKI)-A poignant film from the great Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu that details the long relationship between a kindly sacrificing father (Chishu Ryu) and his devoted successful son (Shuji Sano). It’s up to the viewer to decide whether the father made the right decisions or not. A beautifully made film that fans of Ozu seem to go out of their way to criticize.



THE DELINQUENTS-1957-This serious look at juvenile delinquency was one of the first feature films by director Robert Altman. Future Billy Jack star Tom Laughlin is Scotty a seemingly decent guy but for some reason his girlfriend’s parents won’t let them go steady. He winds up getting involved with a guy named Cholly (Peter Miller) and his gang of punks (featuring perennial snot nosed greaser Richard Bakalyan). They have an illegal party and get busted by the cops and later they get Scot drunk and pin a gas station hold up on him but eventually Scotty gets tough.



MANSLAUGHTER-1922-Cecil B. DeMile directed this highly moral melodrama about a self possessed high society woman (Leatrice Joy) who accidentally kills a policeman with her car. Her own fiancée (Thomas Meighan) prosecutes her and she’s found guilty and sent to prison. DeMile moves the story along fairly fast and the acting (especially by Joy) is highly dramatic.

At the time Joy was married to John Gilbert and would work in several more DeMile projects including THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. Her great grandson is low budget film making David Prior. Lead actor Meighan was a major star at this time but unfortunately is forgotten today.


"It takes a great man to be a good listener"-Calvin Coolidge

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