The Cheat

The Cheat, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, is a silent film starring Sessue Hayakawa, whose performance made him an overnight star and is often cited as Hollywood's first major Asian American star. Hayakawa plays a wealthy Japanese ivory trader; the character was changed to Burmese in a 1918 re-release to soften protests from the Japanese American community. Upon release, the film faced a boycott campaign led by the Los Angeles Japanese newspaper Rafu Shimpo; it is studied academically today as an example of early Hollywood's "Yellow Peril" stereotyping. Cinematographer Alvin Wyckoff's low key, single source dramatic lighting technique was a major innovation for its era. The film was added to the US Library of Congress's National Film Registry in 1993. Who it's for: anyone curious about an early Hollywood silent film that carries the racist stereotypes of its era while also pioneering a groundbreaking lighting technique in film history. Who it's not for: viewers who would be disturbed by the era's racist content, since the film is studied academically as a case example of exactly that kind of stereotyping.