The Penalty (1920)

Like A Tale of Two Worlds, this Gouverneur Morris tale is not only also set in San Francisco, but has an even larger credibility gap. If it's hard enough to credit that Leatrice Joy is so mentally deficient, she never once had the slightest inkling that she was not Chinese, it's even more difficult to comprehend that even the most asinine of doctors would risk performing an amputation with absolutely no assistance whatever. And he didn't strike me as the sort of doctor like Charles Coburn in King's Row who carries a surgical saw around in his bag. We are then asked to believe that this incompetent quack who is nonetheless such an expert with the surgical saw, is joined by an equally criminal halfwit who makes a correct diagnosis but then not only covers up his colleague's error, but does nothing to remedy the patient's real problem. Instead of focusing on these criminal incompetents, however, the story takes a somewhat different tack and asks us to believe that the victim has set out to revenge himself on these quacks with an ingenious plan that utilizes only five or six thousand people and ties up only about two or three million dollars in bribes, real estate and extensive construction work. And to add insult to injury, Morris doesn't bother to tell us how the end result - namely looting the city - is to be achieved. We are given hints, but actual facts elude us, and after building up our expectations, the movie ends on a very lame note indeed. But until this disappointing fade-out, the movie certainly grips the attention - and that's mostly due to Chaney's startling performance (and gymnastics). This is his movie, and he never lets us forget it.

A deformed criminal mastermind (Lon Chaney) plans to loot the city of San Francisco as well as revenge himself on the doctor who mistakenly amputated his legs."The Penalty" was one of Chaney's breakout roles, showcasing his taste for the macabre and talent for contortion and disguise. He had previously demonstrated similar qualities in the previous year's "The Miracle Man", but "The Penalty" and "Treasure Island" secured Chaney's place as one of the greatest character actors, before moving on to his more famous roles in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" and "The Phantom of the Opera".This story is great, the acting is fine and the directing is good, too. But really, the draw of this film is Chaney -- a man who was willing to undergo extreme and permanent bodily pain in order to make his role as believable as possible. I am not entirely sure why an amputee was not hired, but if it launched Chaney to the big time, I am glad it worked out the way it did.

I do love silent films and while this isn't a horror film, though I believe Lon Chaney is probably known best today(if at all) by younger viewers for his horror film work, it still a creeper. Lon plays Mr. Blizzard, a crime kingpin who had his legs amputated at the knee when he was a child. They were mistakenly amputated by a young doctor who later made a great name for himself in the field of medicine and all the while, Blizzard, in his crippled, broken body planned a very great revenge against not only the doctor who disfigured him, but against the entire town of San Francisco. His view was that cripples like him were shunned by society, so the best place for him to be was in the criminal underworld. He rose to a place of distinction(though one wonders how since even though he is intimidating, most street hoods wouldn't have been scared of him) and his villainous tendrils stretched out into many pockets and back alley shenanigans. I enjoyed the dialogue and Chaney's facial expressions are a true marvel. No one can look like him anymore. And, more to the point, he truly suffered for this role. To be realistic, and without the aid of the all too taken-for-granted CGI, Lon rigged up a special harness to bind his legs so he could walk on his knees with his lower legs tucked up behind him, under his coat. Not only does it look like a painful device, Chaney himself commented on its torturous design. There was a single dreamlike sequence towards the end of the film where you see him with his "new" legs, but that scene was eventually cut, and I feel rightly so. As a side, I loved the second doorknob that was placed at kid-level just for him. My only complaint about the film was the occasional use of an inappropriate score, though at times spot-on, other times it was very ineffective and even distracting. Obviously, this is a modern score and not the original music.Highly recommended for Chaney fans or just silent film buffs in general.

Wow,...there is so much that is wonderful about THE PENALTY, but there's so much of the ending that undoes all the wonderful stuff in the first 90% of the film. Let's first talk about the good stuff. Lon Chaney plays an absolutely amazing role as a double-amputee. He actually bound his legs behind him and learned to walk on stumps for the role and he really looks like he's missing legs! Unlike 'Lt. Dan' from FORREST GUMP, this was not a computer trick--instead, Chaney underwent this very painful ordeal to get the part right. His character is an evil mastermind and he looks so incredibly tough and nasty. Some of this is natural (he was a far from handsome man) but part of his appearing so menacing was due to makeup and wonderful acting. The plot also was pretty creepy and exciting in a very, very dark way. As the evil criminal mastermind, Chaney did some very scary and edgy things--such as using a trap-door to make his enemies fall into a pit where they were then quickly dispatched!! As a result, the film was very exciting and weird--in a good way.However, the most grisly aspect of the plot--where Chaney had an enemy's legs chopped off and grafted onto his own stumps--was NOT done but only threatened. In what I see as a 'cop out' to make the movie less disgusting and provide a happier ending, when the surgeon is forced to do this awful procedure, he instead finds a tumor on the base of Chaney's brain that apparently made him evil! And, 'VOILA'--when the tumor was removed, Chaney was apparently another Albert Schweitzer--with a new-found love of mankind! What a disappointing turn of events--especially for what comes next in the film.So in conclusion, the film is creepy, edgy and a marvelous performance by Chaney that is ultimately severely impaired by a poor ending. Too bad, but at least Chaney's later films would capitalize on the successful aspects of this early film and also produce better, more grisly and realistic endings--such as in THE UNKNOWN or PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.