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OPEN CLASSIC CINEMA · 537

The Penalty

192087 minUnited States
ThrillerCrime
Video edition
YouTube
Original language
No spoken dialogue. Intertitles: English.
This copy runs
89:37
Subtitles
No subtitle track in this language

Languages and subtitles

No subtitle track in this language

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Synopsis

A criminal leader who lost his legs through a childhood medical error plans revenge against the surgeon. He approaches the doctor's sculptor daughter while organising a broader attack on San Francisco. An undercover investigator enters his household, where personal resentment, artistic ambition and criminal power become tightly entwined.

Cast

DirectorsWallace Worsley

Behind the scenes

Lon Chaney used a restrictive apparatus to create the appearance of amputated legs, making physical transformation central to the performance. The film's association between disability, revenge and criminality reflects a troubling convention in contemporary sensational melodrama.

Sources and availability

General references identify the work and its copy. A reference beside an editorial section is linked to the claims checked in that section.

Wikipedia — film referenceDuke Center for the Study of the Public Domain — US term reference

Work catalogued as public domain in the United States.

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Availability checked on September 10, 2026.

Photograph credit

Photographs cropped, resized and optimized as WebP, displayed in monochrome.

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