AustLit

The film was originally made as a silent feature. Later, with a view to submitting the film to the 1930 Commonwealth Film Prize, sound was added to limited sections. The result was not entirely successful, according to contemporary newspaper reports:

'With some part of £9000 in prize-money as a goal, the girls spent thousands more than they would have done under ordinary circumstances. 'The Cheaters' was planned nearly a year ago. To meet the screen's suddenly changed conditions, the girls had to snap from silence into speech after most of the film had been shot, and most of their money spent. They had to use such recording equipment as was available; they had to 'mike-it-on-the-rush' in order to get their entry in before the closing date, which the Commonwealth refused to extend even though one or two months' delay would have enabled not only the M'Donaghs but all Australian producers to re-shoot their talking sequences and come closer to perfection.'

Source

Gayne Dexter, 'Close Ups: Screen Gossip', Evening News, 2 June 1930, p.11.

The Cheaters was one of four films entered for the 1930s Commonwealth Film Prize: the others were Fellers (a World War I comedy film), Tiger Island (another crime drama), and The Nation of Tomorrow (about which no other information exists). The judges deemed that only Fellers reached competition standard, and awarded it third prize: first and second prize were not awarded, to some controversy.