The Penalty [Blu-ray]

Director: Wallace Worsley Sr. Wallace Worsley Sr.

Overview

Among Lon Chaney's early villainous roles was Blizzard, the criminal mastermind of this melodrama set in San Francisco's Barbary Coast neighborhood. As a young man, Blizzard was the victim of an auto accident, and a quack doctor had mistakenly ordered his legs amputated at the knees. He grows up an embittered, violent man interested only in taking revenge on the rich and powerful, especially the doctor who maimed him and is still practicing. Rose, a secret service agent (Ethel Grey Terry), is dispatched to infiltrate Blizzard's gang, but she falls under his spell and becomes his mistress. Blizzard is himself attracted to a lovely artist who wants to paint his portrait, but she resists his advances. Ultimately, Blizzard's plan to have another man's legs grafted onto his own is thwarted when it's discovered that the long-ago accident had caused a reversible brain injury which turned him to the dark side. Rather than perform the operation on his legs, the doctor repairs Blizzard's brain, and Blizzard awakens to find that he is no longer interested in a life of crime. He marries Rose, but his criminal associates decide he must pay the ultimate penalty for his knowledge of their activities.

Product Details

Release Date:	10/23/2012
UPC:	0738329105921
Original Release:	1920
Source:	Kino Lorber
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	1:27:00
Sales rank:	31,979

Special Features

Video tour of Chaney's actual makeup case and "double amputee" costume from The Penalty; ; Surviving footage of Chaney's The Miracle Man; Original theatrical trailers from Chaney's The Big City and While the City Sleeps; "By the Sun's Rays," Chaney's 1914 one-reel Western; ; New Musical score by The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Lon Chaney	Blizzard
Kenneth Harlan	Wilmot
Wilson Hummell	Actor
Doris Pawn	Barbary Nell
Lee Phelps	Cop
Montgomery Carlyle	A Crook
Jim Mason	Frisco Pete
Lionel Barrymore	Actor
Claire Adams	Barbara
Milton Ross	Lichtenstein
Ethel Grey Terry	Rose
Edouard Trebaol	Bubble
Charles Clary	Dr. Ferris

Technical Credits

Charles Kenyon

Gouveneur Morris

Philip Lonergan

Wallace Worsley Sr.	Director
Charles Kenyon	Screenwriter
Gouveneur Morris	Screenwriter
Philip Lonergan	Screenwriter
Samuel Goldwyn	Producer

Editorial Reviews

Not as celebrated as The Hunchback of Notre Dame or The Phantom of the Opera in the Lon Chaney canon, The Penalty is still a melodrama with plenty of action, hokey dramatic ironies, and, of course, a magnetic performance by its lead. To play the double amputee Blizzard, Chaney had his legs folded up behind him and strapped to his body; he proves amazingly agile getting around with a pair of cut-down crutches. The glowering Chaney mug is well used here, too, as his character inspires a young artist looking for a model to resemble the devil himself. The story offers several mismatched pairs: the bad doctor who maims Blizzard and his more idealistic protégé; the woman secret service agent gone bad and the idealistic woman artist who resists Blizzard's allure; and the criminal Blizzard and the reformed man, who is ironically cured of his evil ways during an operation that was supposed to restore his legs.

All Movie Guide - Tom Wiener