The Penalty

1920
Passed
1h 30m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Claire Adams and Lon Chaney in The Penalty (1920)

A deformed criminal mastermind plans to loot the city of San Francisco as well as revenge himself on the doctor who mistakenly amputated his legs.A deformed criminal mastermind plans to loot the city of San Francisco as well as revenge himself on the doctor who mistakenly amputated his legs.A deformed criminal mastermind plans to loot the city of San Francisco as well as revenge himself on the doctor who mistakenly amputated his legs.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.3/10

2.7K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos78

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Top cast15

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Charles Clary

Dr. Ferris

Doris Pawn

Barbary Nell

Jim Mason

Frisco Pete
(as James Mason)

Lon Chaney

Blizzard

Milton Ross

Lichtenstein

Ethel Grey Terry

Rose

Kenneth Harlan

Dr. Wilmot Allen

Claire Adams

Barbara Ferris

Montgomery Carlyle

A Crook
(uncredited)

Michael Dark

Man
(uncredited)

Cesare Gravina

Art Teacher
(uncredited)

Lee Phelps

Policeman
(uncredited)

Madlaine Traverse

Woman
(uncredited)

Edouard Trebaol

Bubbles
(uncredited)

Clarence Wilson

A Crook
(uncredited)

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Lon Chaney could wear the harness for only ten minutes before the pain became intolerable.

Quotes
Barbara Ferris: Why do you live in the underworld?
Blizzard: When Satan fell from Heaven he looked for power in Hell.

Crazy credits
There is no cast list, but the 8 main actors and their character names are credited in the inter-titles as each appear in the film.

Alternate versions
The original release featured a short epilogue with Chaney as himself walking down a flight of stairs. It was shown simply to prove that the actor was not a real amputee.

Connections
Featured in Kingdom of Shadows (1998)

User reviews52

Review

Featured review

Lon Chaney - one of his best performances...great plot.

I saw this film on the big screen. From the beginning, one may get the impression that this could be one of the "been there...seen this" plots. Not true. The storyline is full of twists and turns throughout. Even the title has a twist at the end of the movie. While watching the plot unfold, I thought that it referred to the penalty the doctor and his family had to pay for the operation performed on Blizzard as a boy (Lon Chaney's character), making him handicaped...not so! Another twist is the female detective's turning from her investigation to admiration of Blizzard; the twist in the operation procedure performed on Blizzard to restore his legs; and then, the final twist at the end of the movie. Not what you would have expected...however, the final "penalty" is paid.

To sum it up...great actor and great story. Worth a repeat viewing. Rating: 9/10