Manslaughter / The Cheat

This double bill of Cecil B. DeMille melodramas opens with the Jazz Age tale "Manslaughter," in which sybaritic society girl Leatrice Joy accidentally kills a traffic cop and, while in jail, repents her partying ways. Scenes of "bathtub gin" bashes are mixed with vignettes of Ancient Roman debauchery to re-enforce DeMille's message. Thomas Meighan, Lois Wilson co-star. Then, the director's racy (for its time) "The Cheat" tells of a free-spending socialite who loses $10,000 in charity funds entrusted to her and turns to a Burmese ivory merchant who agrees to help her...if she will give herself to him. Fannie Ward and Sessue Hayakawa star. 159 min. total. Standard; Soundtrack: music score. Silent with music score.