Lon Chaney in Gouverneur Morris' "The Penalty" (1920)
22As a child, Blizzard (Lon Chaney) is involved in a car accident in which the attending physician, Dr. Ferris (Charles Clary), whose blunder during the operation resulted in Dr. Ferris hastily and unnecessarily amputating both of Blizzard's legs.
Years later, Blizzard grows to become the legless crime boss master of the Barbary Coast underworld, the head of the San Francisco mob and is possessed of two ambitions. One is to exact revenge upon Dr. Ferris, the other is to rally the Reds in his organization and loot the city of San Francisco.
Driven by his overwhelming desire to revenge himself upon Dr. Ferris, Blizzard answers a newspaper ad posted by the object of his revenge, the doctor's daughter, Barbara Ferris (Claire Adams). She is a sculptress, looking for someone to model Satan, for her bust:
"WANTED -- Model to pose for statue of 'Satan After the Fall.' If you think you look like Satan, apply at studio of Barbara Ferris, 32 Institute Place. 8284"
The Satanic-looking Blizzard is the perfect candidate to sit for the young woman, and Ms. Adams welcomes him into her art studio, unaware (yet) of his unfortunate association with her father. He sees an opening and and agrees to pose for her. Blizzard romances Barbara to get close to the doctor, and carry out his scheme.
To effect the other, he organizes the city's dance hall girls to make hats in a factory room at this house, to be the symbol of the lawbreaking hordes when they are unleashed on the city. Rose (Ethel Grey Terry), a detective, obtains entrance to his house as director of the factory. She falls in love with he cripple for his passion for music. Little does he know, his employee is a police operative. Barbara, meanwhile, learns of Blizzard's master plan, to graft her father's legs onto his stumps.
Luring Rose's fiancé Wilmont to his apartment, Blizzard orders Ferris to graft Wilmont's legs onto his body. Upon threat of his daughter's death, Ferris agrees, but during the operation, Blizzard sees with a clear vision his fearful, terrible past, which falls away as if a dream. When Blizzard awakens he discovers that Ferris has performed an operation on his brain which has destroyed his desire for evil.
Rose and Blizzard are then married but their happiness is short-lived when the cripple is killed by his former confederate, henchman Frisco Pete (James Mason), a drug addict fearful that Blizzard will reveal the identity of his gang of followers. Barbara and her lover are restored to one another.
A 1920 an Black & White silent American psychological thriller crime film, directed by Wallace Worsley, produced by Samuel Goldwyn, written by Charles Kenyon and Philip Lonergan, based Gouverneur Morris' pulp novel, "The Penalty" (1913), cinematography by Donovan Short, starring Lon Chaney, Doris Pawn, Ethel Grey Terry, Charles Clary, James Mason, Milton Ross, Kenneth Harlan, and Claire Adams.
Originally released by Goldwyn Pictures.The budget for the film was $88,868.00. The film was re-released to theaters in 1926 by MGM. This was the first of five films Chaney would make with director Wallace Worsley, the others being "Ace of Hearts" (1921), "Voices of the City" (1921), "A Blind Bargain" (1922) and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1923).
This was one of Chaney's breakout roles, showcasing his taste for the macabre and talent for contortion and disguise. He had previously demonstrated similar qualities in the previous year's "The Miracle Man", but this and "Treasure Island" (1920), secured Chaney's place as one of America's most famous character actors.
To play the role of the legless cripple in this creative, atmospheric story, Chaney wore an apparatus to simulate amputated legs, which consisted primarily of two wooden buckets and multiple leather straps, was complex and incredibly painful. Chaney's knees sat in the buckets, while his lower legs were tied back and had to walk on his kneecaps. Studio doctors asked that Chaney not wear the device, but he insisted on doing so, so that his costume would be authentic. It was so painful, Chaney could wear the harness for only ten minutes before the pain became intolerable, and his knee muscles sustained permanent damage.
To assure audiences that Chaney was not an amputee, the original release of the film reportedly included a short epilogue clip showing Chaney out of character. This clip does not survive in the existing prints but in the movie itself, in the scene where Blizzard (Chaney) imagines his gang of anarchists carrying the loot from the Mint Building, Chaney is seen directing the heist unamputated. Chaney's leather stumps, crutches and costume from this film were donated to the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles, along with his famous make-up case.
Lon Chaney gives one of his best performances, utilizing his rare skill using facial expressions and gestures to show emotion and intensity, and set the standard for Chaney as grotesque, anguished, sympathetic, or deformed. It started here.