The Penalty (1920)

The Penalty: Directed by Wallace Worsley. With Charles Clary, Doris Pawn, Jim Mason, Lon Chaney. 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 master criminal pays THE PENALTY for a life full of evil.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eLon Chaney became a major movie star with his role in this shocker. Already regarded as a fine actor for his performances in lesser films, he now proved he was quite willing to go far beyond mere makeup for the enhancement of his screen persona. His dedication to his craft, coupled with an outsized talent, were to make Chaney one of the foremost film actors of the 1920u0026#39;s.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHere Chaney plays a legless mobster who plots terrible revenge upon the doctor who maimed him (his plan to sack San Francisco of its wealth is almost incidental.) In order to create the illusion of being a paraplegic, Chaney bound his legs back and encased them in stumps. He is able to hop about with great alacrity using crutches, but he suffered intense pain during the filming and could only abide the prosthetics for short periods of time.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAs remarkable as what heu0026#39;s able to achieve on his knees might be, it is the face of Chaney which is equally memorable here. The fact that heu0026#39;s able to model for a bust of Satan as part of the plot is no accident. His features take on the visage of pure unadulterated evil. The blood chills to look at him. Chaney the Actor has wordlessly spoken.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe film itself is a pleasantly florid potboiler, with plenty of menace, mayhem and damsels in distress. But it is Chaney who lingers longest in memoryu0026#39;s darkest recess…”