Cheat

Cecil B. DeMille's enthralling potboiler about a New York socialite (Fannie Ward) who turns to a wealthy Asian (Sessue Hayakawa) to pay off a costly debt. Famous for a brutal branding scene. This silent melodrama was selected to the National Film Registry in 1993. Four decades later, Hayakawa would be nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar as the sadistic commandant in "The Bridge on the River Kwai."