The Cheat / The Campus Carmen

THE CHEAT (1915) THE CAMPUS CARMEN (1928) THE CHEAT starring Fannie Ward, Sessue Hayakawa and Jack Dean. Directed by Cecil B. Demille. In a fit of greed, Mrs. Hardy steals $10,000.00 intended for the Red Cross and invests it in stock. She hopes to make a quick profit to buy herself some new gowns. When the stock fails, she is forced to replace the money with a loan from the evil, lecherous Hara Arakua, a wealthy ivory merchant. The debt is to be repaid not with money, but with Mrs. Hardy's virtue. When Arakua is found shot, the innocent Mr. Hardy is jailed for the crime. A landmark in silent film, THE CHEAT was definitely intended for an adult audience. It includes the famous scene in which the villain marks his victim with a hot branding iron! THE CAMPUS CARMEN starring Carole Lombard and Daphne Pollard. Directed by Alf Goulding. A Mack Sennett production. Featuring an early screen appearance by the wonderful Carole Lombard, this short comedy gem takes us to the campus of Sunnydale Girl's School where the girls, after a disastrous dorm room pillow fight, are forbidden to stage "Carmen" at the school. Rather than give in to defeat, they decide to put on the show in a rented theater. Needless to say, the performance does not go as planned. Original piano scores composed and performed by Stuart Oderman.