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Promo Code:
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The Penalty
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Director:
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Wallace Worsley |
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Starring:
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Cesare Gravina, Ethel Grey Terry, Lon Chaney |
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Country:
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U.S. |
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Genres:
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Horror, Short Films |
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Type:
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B&W
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Year:
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1920
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Language:
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English intertitles
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Length:
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82 mins.
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Aspect Ratio:
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1.33:1
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| Synopsis |
In a role that established him as one of the most dynamically terrifying
performers of the silent screen, Lon Chaney stars in The Penalty, a
grotesque thriller from director Wallace Worsley (The Hunchback of Notre
Dame).
When an incompetent doctor amputates the legs of a young boy, he has no idea
that the youth will grow up to be the immoral and embittered Blizzard, a
criminal mastermind who orchestrates a bizarre and heinous plot to avenge
himself upon his malefactor. The Penalty teems with irony and sexual menace
as Blizzard befriends the surgeon's daughter and serves as an artist's model
for her sculptural rendition of Satan, waiting for his moment to show the
depth of his demonic desires.
In playing the devious Blizzard, Chaney tightly harnessed his legs within a
pair of leather stumps, flawlessly rendering the physical disfigurement that
so profoundly echoes the misshapen mind that drives this sadistic character
toward his violent destiny. As Chaney biographer Michael Blake says, "One
has to wonder if the intensity Lon brought to this role might have been due
in part to the pain produced by his harness."
As a formative work in the evolution of the horror film, The Penalty relied less on cinematic precedents than on the popular literary adventures of Fu Manchu (Sax Rohmer), the Phantom of the Opera (Gaston LeRoux), and Fantomas (Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain). These ingredients were then brought to a boil by Chaney's venomous performance, which set the pattern for the diabolical thrillers that followed in its wake.
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| Extras on DVD |
A Video Tour of Chaney's makeup case and the "double amputee" costume worn
in The Penalty
Essay by Chaney biographer Michel F. Blake
Original theatrical trailers from Chaney's The Big City and While the
City Sleeps
Surviving Footage of Chaney's The Miracle Man
Chaney's 1914 one-reel western By the Sun's Rays
Essay: "The Penalty: Novel, Script to Screen"
Scene comparison (Novel, Screenplay, Film)
Production Budget Sheet from The Penalty
Gallery of Photographs and Artwork
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