The Penalty

An important role for Chaney that established the future direction of his career specialising in characters with physical deformities often coupled with mental derangement. The apparatus used to convincingly portray Blizzard was apparently painful to endure, which makes his performance all the more fascinating. Worsley did not have Browning's gift for menace or gallows humour, but the story is told with reasonable efficiency, and Chaney's screen magnetism partially disguises its shortcomings.

Lon Chaney alone makes this a solid movie. By that I mean that his acting is the only outstanding thing of this film, but it's so good that I really enjoyed this.

A boy loses his legs and consequently as a man loses his mind, a man who then in an attempt to get back his legs ends up reclaiming his mind, only to then be stripped of his redeemed soul. Make no mistake, this is a body horror film and probably one of the earliest examples of the sub-genre (at least when it comes to feature length films?). Lon Chaney as Blizzard must surely be one of the great tragic villains in all of cinema.

Há 100 anos estreava The Penalty nos EUA. Definitivamente não há nada que o Chaney não possa interpretar em termos de fisicalidade, mas não sei até agora se gostei daquele twist final. Box Obras-primas do Cinema Mudo.

This is a great movie and Lon Chaney is phenomenal. The only complaints I had were that I found the resolution kind of weak and I didn't like the ending, other than that this movie was fantastic.

The Penalty is a decent early gangster picture that boasts a fine performance from Lon Chaney, though much of the movie comes off as contrived.

A tale of pulpy supervilliany makes for an ideal choice as one of Chaney's first big starring vehicles. The plot calls for a man who needs no makeup to play Satan, who can be brutish or fascinating as the occasion demands... and Chaney delivers just that.

78.000

Lon Cheney is riveting, but otherwise this is rather poor

The apparatus worn by Chaney 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. Studio doctors asked that Chaney not wear the device, but he insisted on doing so. (Wikipedia) Chaney's tour de force. unique physical performance.

Solid movie! My first silent movie, too. Lon Chaney is amazing.

Lon Chaney is magnificent and the story is pretty cool, with the exception of a few dated elements.

Lon Chaney is, without exaggeration, the hardest working man ever to grace the film industry. His role in this film is no exception, as he plays a man whose legs are missing from the knees down, and he had to perform the entirety of the shoot with his legs bent behind him via a painful harness. While the story of the film is just average, the main attraction here is Chaney. He was really one of a kind.