The Penalty (1920)
Direction: Wallace Worsley. Screenplay: Charles Kenyon and Philip Lonergan; from Gouverneur Morris’ novel. Cast: Lon Chaney, Kenneth Harlan, Ethel Grey Terry, Doris Pawn, Charles Clary, Jim Mason, Milton Ross, Claire Adams
Lon Chaney was more than just an actor. He was a magician. Like a chameleon, he could morph into a character.
In the gruesome shocker The Penalty (directed by the all-but-forgotten Wallace Worsley), Chaney plays Blizzard, the victim of a botched operation that had left him as a kid with two amputated legs. Later in life, Blizzard becomes a professional criminal and tries to blackmail the doctor who had performed the surgery by posing for his artist daughter’s study of "the face of evil."
When a female undercover agent infiltrates Chaney’s gang, the suspense mounts as she investigates his nefarious deeds. Eventually, however, she falls under his spell.
Chaney is flawless in his portrayal of Blizzard. In fact, the only fault in The Penalty is the editing (as found in the Kino DVD edition), which much too abruptly jumps from one scene to the next. (This DVD version boasts a score by Michael Polher whose cacophonous themes annoyed me the first time I saw the film. But with subsequent viewings, I grew to appreciate how Polher’s music fit the characters’ volatility.)
Finally, I particularly enjoyed the O. Henry-type ending involving an ironic twist to Blizzard’s change of heart. Indeed, the film is full of plot twists and surprises. In other words, The Penalty is silent horror at its best.
© Danny Fortune