Film: Pre-Code Hollywood Festival: "The Cheat"

(1931-68 min.). In 1915, audiences were shocked when Japanese businessman Sessue Hayakawa placed his burning brand upon the breast of his debtor, socialite Fanny Ward, in Cecil B. DeMille’s silent melodram, The Cheat. In George Abbott’s talkie remake, Tallulah Bankhead plays Elsa Carlyle, who tries to hide her debts from husband Jeffrey (Harvey Stephens) by borrowing from depraved businessman Hardy Livingstone (Irving Pichel).