Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in Chicago, plus articles, trailers and more

 

Forfaiture (1937)

Director: Marcel L'Herbier

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

A remake, in another time, another place, of Cecil B DeMille's 1915 The Cheat (written by Hector Turnbull) with Hayakawa repeating his role of the wealthy Oriental who literally puts his brand on the fair-skinned heroine - evidently a deliciously horrifying moment for WASP audiences of the day. It would be instructive, if a bit tedious, to list all the alterations the story has undergone. It's essentially a matter of tone, with the fastidious, sophisticated L'Herbier about the polar opposite of full-steam-ahead DeMille. The most significant embellishments involve a private secretary played by Jouvet on a darkly enigmatic note which does much to deflect Turnbull's compendium of unexamined prejudices.

Author: BBa

Time Out Film Guide


What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields





Features

Do overs!

Do overs!

After Race to Witch Mountain, what should Disney remake next?

Gray's anatomy

James Gray wants to push buttons—again.

The next big thing?

Gigantic Releasing tries to rethink indie distribution…without movie theaters.

Red Diva: Lyubov Orlova, First Lady of Soviet Cinema

So you think you can dance, comrade?

Puppet master

Coraline director Henry Selick takes stop-motion animation into 3-D.

Socratic method

Laurent Cantet's approach on the set matches the message of his film.

Wander woman

Kelly Reichardt's Wendy and Lucy puts a Bush-era spin on the road movie.

Oscars

Read our interviews with the nominees, our reviews of the nominated films and more.