This was Lon Chaney's first starring film after wowing everyone in "The Miracle Man".
I watched "The Penalty" at night and it really scared me. Even though people are dismissive of the ending - that it is too "comfortable" - I needed that ending - I would have found it difficult to get to sleep otherwise.
Lon Chaney plays Blizzard, the insane crime lord of the San Francisco underworld. As a child he was the victim of a botched operation which left him a double amputee. He overhears the doctors talking about how the operation was unnecessary and grows up bitter and twisted in his mind.
Chaney's performance is outstanding - he endured great pain by strap- ping his legs up at the knees in a specially made harness. Not only that but he perfected the walk until he actually walked like he had always been an amputee. Jumping onto tables, climbing up ladders, sliding down poles - all landing on his knees!!!
He runs a millinery where he terrorizes the factory girls by jumping on the table and grabbing their hair. If one happens to catch his fancy - she becomes his personal slave - and is forced to use her hands as pedals when he plays the piano as he has no legs!!!
He is surrounded by an evil henchman - Frisco Pete - who will stop at nothing to keep in Blizzard's good books - even to killing one of the girls, Barbary Nell who has left the factory to make out on her own.
Litchenstein head of the secret police wants one of his agents, Rose (Ethel Grey Terry) to go undercover to get evidence to destroy Blizzard. Blizzard has a plan to take over the city and seek revenge on the doctor that operated on him as a boy.
The doctor, now a famous surgeon, has a daughter who is a sculptor but wants to do a worthwhile piece of art before she marries. She places an advertisement in the paper for models that look like Satan. Blizzard is hired!!!!
Meanwhile Rose has been working undercover and found nothing. When Blizzard is out she finds an underground passage - complete with an operating theatre. He plans to form an army of disgruntled foreigners who will loot the city. Blizzard, by this time will have had an operation on his legs to make him able bodied and the legs he is looking at belong to Wilmot, the doctor's assistant. There is an operation but not the one he demands!!!
Lon Chaney's facial expressions are really remarkable - in a lot of scenes he really looks satanic.
There are no known names in the cast - Kenneth Harlan, who had a reasonable career and at one time was married to Marie Prevost, plays Wilmot. Cesare Gravina, who had a part in "Greed" as the junkman, has a small part in this film playing a sculpting instructor.
This is a fantastic film - I will give it 10 out of 10.
I watched "The Penalty" at night and it really scared me. Even though people are dismissive of the ending - that it is too "comfortable" - I needed that ending - I would have found it difficult to get to sleep otherwise.
Lon Chaney plays Blizzard, the insane crime lord of the San Francisco underworld. As a child he was the victim of a botched operation which left him a double amputee. He overhears the doctors talking about how the operation was unnecessary and grows up bitter and twisted in his mind.
Chaney's performance is outstanding - he endured great pain by strap- ping his legs up at the knees in a specially made harness. Not only that but he perfected the walk until he actually walked like he had always been an amputee. Jumping onto tables, climbing up ladders, sliding down poles - all landing on his knees!!!
He runs a millinery where he terrorizes the factory girls by jumping on the table and grabbing their hair. If one happens to catch his fancy - she becomes his personal slave - and is forced to use her hands as pedals when he plays the piano as he has no legs!!!
He is surrounded by an evil henchman - Frisco Pete - who will stop at nothing to keep in Blizzard's good books - even to killing one of the girls, Barbary Nell who has left the factory to make out on her own.
Litchenstein head of the secret police wants one of his agents, Rose (Ethel Grey Terry) to go undercover to get evidence to destroy Blizzard. Blizzard has a plan to take over the city and seek revenge on the doctor that operated on him as a boy.
The doctor, now a famous surgeon, has a daughter who is a sculptor but wants to do a worthwhile piece of art before she marries. She places an advertisement in the paper for models that look like Satan. Blizzard is hired!!!!
Meanwhile Rose has been working undercover and found nothing. When Blizzard is out she finds an underground passage - complete with an operating theatre. He plans to form an army of disgruntled foreigners who will loot the city. Blizzard, by this time will have had an operation on his legs to make him able bodied and the legs he is looking at belong to Wilmot, the doctor's assistant. There is an operation but not the one he demands!!!
Lon Chaney's facial expressions are really remarkable - in a lot of scenes he really looks satanic.
There are no known names in the cast - Kenneth Harlan, who had a reasonable career and at one time was married to Marie Prevost, plays Wilmot. Cesare Gravina, who had a part in "Greed" as the junkman, has a small part in this film playing a sculpting instructor.
This is a fantastic film - I will give it 10 out of 10.