THE CHEATERS - MIFF 2018

One of the great joys of attending film festivals like MIFF is to be able to view beautiful restorations of older or classic films on the big screen again, the way they were always meant to be seen. This joy is increased ten fold (for me, at least) when it is a silent film that has been restored and screened. This year MIFF presented a one off screening of the 1929 Australian silent film “The Cheaters” that had been lovingly and painstakingly restored by the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia. Before the announcement of this screening, I must admit that I had never heard of the film. While I have a passion for silent film, until my screening of “The Cheaters”, I am embarrassed to say that I had never seen one from my home country of Australia. I was not going to let this opportunity to do so slip through my fingers either, and I must say that I was suitably impressed by the quality of film making on display.

The film opens with a man being caught stealing from his workplace by his boss. The man, Richard Marsh, pleads that the money is for his sick wife who needs medicine to continue to live. While he knows he has done wrong, his cause is just, and he begs his boss to show mercy. However his boss, John Travers, is the kind of man who believes stealing is stealing, no matter how just the cause may be and sends his employee to jail. An anger immediately builds within Richard, and he declares that he will have his revenge! Cut to twenty years later, and Richard is now the head of the biggest criminal organisation in Sydney, specialising in theft. After such a long time, Richard decides now is the time to fulfil his promise and to get his revenge by stealing everything from his former boss, leaving him destitute and bankrupt. While the plan is simple enough, a spanner is thrown into the works when Richard's best thief (and daughter) Paula, ends up falling in love with John's handsome and dashing son, Lee. Richard has to decide what is more important, his revenge or his daughter's happiness?

This was a super fun silent film with a very entertaining crime plot. Not only that but it is also a love story as well. The most amazing thing about “The Cheaters” though is the people behind its making. This is a film that was produced by The McDonagh sisters; three sisters who together made a series of self financed films during the 1920s and 30s. In a time now where women's voices in film are finally starting to be heard and noticed, it is somewhat astounding that these pioneering sisters were doing the same thing almost one hundred years earlier. Paulette McDonagh was the writer and director of these films, Phyllis was the producer, and Isobel, considered the family beauty, was the on screen talent and star of the films they made, under the more exotic name of Marie Lorraine. “The Cheaters” was their third film and it is a very impressive achievement. While you could say that the plot of the film is derivative of the kind of films being made in that time in both Germany and the US, and that would be true. The film isn't very deep, emotionally speaking and content wise, but what is undeniable is the girl's talent at presenting this kind of story in a very visual way, all of their own.

While the film does not have the visual bravura of the late era German films, “The Cheaters” is miles ahead of the point and shoot approach of the silent films of the previous decade, which is what I was expecting (as unfair as that is). Instead we are treated to the expert use of dissolves, double exposures, long tracking shots, and close-ups which have been magnificently edited together in a manner that gives the story some punch. The visual splendour doesn't end there though, as the film's costumes are sublime (this is the 1920's though, a decade known for its excess in fashion) as are the locations and décor within. An amusing, but visually unforgettable, moment is when Richard goes to his wall safe, which is more like a vault as opposed to your traditional safe, complete with retractable stairs that appear when the door is opened.

However, this is not the only “moment” in the film as there is also an impressive jewellery store heist that is well staged and multi layered. It is essentially the centre piece of the film, and takes place towards the front half, which unfortunately the rest of the film tries to match. While I do not want to give away all of the film's secrets, I must say that I was very surprised by a late twist that I never saw coming. In fairness to myself, it is a twist that has never been hinted at previous so the chances of working it out before its reveal are almost nought, but I liked that it was included and it upped the fun and ante of the ending.

Another thing that I was impressed with was the quality of acting in “The Cheaters”. While I feel that those unfamiliar with silent films think that they are all overly dramatic, this just isn't the case. Still the performances here were of a very high quality and very naturalistic. Ok, so Arthur Greenaway is a little hammy as Richard, the master criminal, but that kind of goes with the role. The rest of the cast are quite fantastic with Marie Lorraine simply charming as the confused and stuck in the middle, Paula, while Josef Bambach is admirable as her romantic partner. I also really liked John Faulkner in the role of John Travers, as a man who has great morals who is unfairly targeted by Richard.

“The Cheaters” was presented with a live piano and percussion score that was simply beautiful and of the era. I am ashamed that I did not take note of the musicians who played this score to give them their proper credit in this review but their music elevated an already great movie. Before they began playing, I was nervous that it was going to be a kind of modern style score that would not fit the film at all, but within seconds I knew that they had got it right and respected both the film and era it was produced. The music matched perfectly the action and emotions on screen and I couldn't have been happier with it.

The only thing I was disappointed in with my screening of “The Cheaters” was that it was not a heavily attended screening. Do not get me wrong, there was still a lot of people in the cinema but this is the kind of special screening that I would love to see sold out. The film is a large part of Australian film history, playing at one of the biggest Australian film festivals, with a live score playing over the top of it.......I was disappointed that more film lovers didn't come and be part of this rare screening of a rare film from a lost era. After such a beautiful digital restoration, “The Cheaters” deserves to be seen more, and I hope that someone will release this fine film on blu ray in the very near future. When this was announced in the MIFF program, it was one of my most anticipated sessions of the film festival and I am happy to say that it did not let me down.

3.5 Stars