Initially banned in several states, The Cheat was not particularly successful in the U.S., but was the object of no little adoration if not unanimous critical acclaim in Paris due to its shocking subject matter. A society lady (Fanny Ward) gambles away Red Cross funds and borrows from a wealthy Japanese man (Sessue Hayakawa) on the implied promise of becoming his mistress. This she refuses, and he brands her with a red-hot iron from his collection. He is killed by the woman's husband, who then faces trial for murder. The husband is acquitted only when his wife bares her brand in court.

“The Cheat was powerfully directed by De Mille, a man trained in the theater who knew how to depict lurid and sensational scenes (such as that in which Hayakawa marks the naked shoulder of Fanny Ward...) and great spectacle (the trial and acquittal, a large charity fête). On the other hand, De Mille owed much to his art director and to the cameraman Alvin Wyckoff, who created an expressive visual style known as ‘Lasky lighting' with chiaroscuro effects that were as famous then as were those of Citizen Kane 25 years later.”