GamerTab That was an excellent one.
Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional
Robert Joyner The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one
Cassandra Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.
JohnHowardReid 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 ed 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.
Johan Louwet I don't know how many musical scores this movie has. I have seen a version which didn't have any soundtrack so viewing it in complete silence was a weird experience. However that didn't take away too much enjoyment from my viewing experience. The plot is here very simple, a boy whose legs are amputated which aferwards didn't seem necessary. Later when the boy has grown up into an adult despite his handicap has become a mob leader named Blizzard feared by his employees and enemies. He has no trouble having people killed who stand in his way that is until pretty agent Rose goes undercover as a worker into his mansion soon developing into his personal assistant pedaling the piano. Still Blizzard seeks for revenge against doctor Ferris who he holds responsible for his handicap. When the doctor's daughter Barbara wants to make a Satan portrait out of clay, Blizzard succeeds in getting to model for it as a step to get his revenge on the doctor. Excellent performance by Lon Chaney his mean facial expressions are scary and he really looks and moves like a real crippled man. I wonder if they worked with a body double here. The end is surprising and eventually tragic.
kidboots 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 ment 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 age - 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.
MartinHafer 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.
