The Penalty
About The Penalty
As a boy, Blizzard loses both legs in an operation he did not need after an accident. He grows into the head of a criminal gang in San Francisco. Lon Chaney plays him. The story comes from Gouverneur Morris's novel.
Cast & crew
More about The Penalty
Wallace Worsley directed. Philip Lonergan and Charles Kenyon wrote the script. Samuel Goldwyn produced it for Goldwyn Pictures. Don Short photographed it. Parts were shot in San Francisco. The budget was $88,868. It runs 87 minutes. Copyright was held by Gouverneur Morris. MGM re-released it in 1926. It was the first of five Chaney films with Worsley, before The Ace of Hearts, Voices of the City, A Blind Bargain, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Themes
Look
Don Short photographed Chaney, including the San Francisco scenes.
Preservation
The film survives complete. Copies are on the Internet Archive and Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- Charles Clary, Ethel Grey Terry, Doris Pawn, James Mason, Claire Adams, and Kenneth Harlan are billed.
- Chaney's leather stumps, crutches, and costume from the film, with his makeup case, went to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.
- Wikidata also lists a cost of $89,000. The English Wikipedia figure is $88,868.
- Copies are on the Internet Archive and on Wikimedia Commons.
Scenes
- The boy wakes to find both legs gone after an operation that was not required.
Influenced by
- Gouverneur Morris's novel The Penalty
Also available
- Internet Archive (ThePenalty)
