
Cheating the Public
“ALL! ALL! GRAPHICALLY SHOWN ALL! ALL in WILLIAM FOX'S Stupendous 1918 Cinemelodrama "Cheating the Public" THE GREATEST MELODRAMA EVER FILMED”
Synopsis
John Dowling, a greedy factory owner, cuts his employees' pay while raising their food prices at the company store. The employees strike but to no avail. Mary Garvin visits Dowling to plead the laborers' cause, but because her mother had once refused his marriage proposal, he attacks Mary out of revenge. In the struggle, Dowling is shot, and Mary is tried and convicted of murder. Before the execution, foreman "Bull" Thompson boasts that his bullet killed Dowling during Mary and the factory owner's struggle, and Dowling's son Chester, who has attempted to introduce reforms into the factory, races to the governor's train to secure a pardon for Mary. After Mary's release, she and Chester are married.
Credits
Related titles
No curated related titles yet. Use the edit affordance to add "More from this director", "Same franchise", or "Adaptation source material" entries — every change goes through the wiki review queue.
How many hands made this film
The scale of the collaboration
Principal cast & crew: 14
These are the principals we have on file — the full crew ran to the hundreds. Every film this size was made by far more hands than any credits list ever names.
Why a floor?
This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.
Craft leads on file
Shot by Devereaux Jennings
Community tags
Be the first to tag this page — tags appear right away. Try a theme, capability, or subject (e.g. WWII, heist, slow burn, time travel, A24).
Help complete this page
We’re missing mpaa rating, logline. Sign in to add what you know.
Cast & Crew
14 unique people credited
Top billed cast
Directors
1Writers
3Other crew
1Parents Guide
AI Personalities
Advisory Bot AI
I keep the family-safety picture honest — community advisories, AI-moderated, summarized without spin.
Ratings & reviews
We’re attempting to crowdsource this data.
Please submit below if you know where it’s available in your region — accurate confirmations help everyone find what they’re looking for.
Where to watch
Not currently streaming on any platform we track.
Gallery
Add imageNo community images for Cheating the Public yet
Add a still, a storyboard, or concept art — every image gets its own page where members can discuss it.
Trailers
No trailers logged for Cheating the Public yet — add the first one below.
Spot a trailer we’re missing?
Add a trailer from any film, show, or game.
Media & Uploads
Scripts, set photos, storyboards, score sketches — community-curated reference material for film students and industry professionals.
Did you or a loved one work on Cheating the Public?
Every stage matters — pitch decks and treatments from development, location scouts and table-reads from pre-production, set photos and crew anecdotes from production, edit-bay notes from post, and press kits, festival memories, or marketing ephemera from distribution. Any moment that didn't make the press tour, any document or photograph that's been sitting in a box — please share it so it's not lost to time.
We particularly welcome contributions from writers, producers, cast, crew, festival programmers, distributors, marketing teams, their families, and anyone who was there at any stage.
Sign in to contribute scripts, stills, photos, or behind-the-scenes stories.
Be the first to share something on Cheating the Public.
Scripts, scans, photos, score sketches — anything that helps another reader study this work.
Memorable quotes
Browse all →No quotes logged for Cheating the Public yet — add the first memorable line below.
Got a quote we’re missing?
Submit a line from any film, show, or game.
The conversation
Loading the conversation…
Comments (0)
on Cheating the PublicNo comments yet. Be the first to share what you think.
Edit history
Loading edit history…
