Review of The Penalty

Like A Tale of Two Worlds, this Gouverneur Morris tale is not only also set in San Francisco, but has an even larger credibility gap. If it's hard enough to credit that Leatrice Joy is so mentally deficient, she never once had the slightest inkling that she was not Chinese, it's even more difficult to comprehend that even the most asinine of doctors would risk performing an amputation with absolutely no assistance whatever. And he didn't strike me as the sort of doctor like Charles Coburn in King's Row who carries a surgical saw around in his bag. We are then asked to believe that this incompetent quack who is nonetheless such an expert with the surgical saw, is joined by an equally criminal halfwit who makes a correct diagnosis but then not only covers up his colleague's error, but does nothing to remedy the patient's real problem. Instead of focusing on these criminal incompetents, however, the story takes a somewhat different tack and asks us to believe that the victim has set out to revenge himself on these quacks with an ingenious plan that utilizes only five or six thousand people and ties up only about two or three million dollars in bribes, real estate and extensive construction work.

And to add insult to injury, Morris doesn't bother to tell us how the end result - namely looting the city - is to be achieved. We are given hints, but actual facts elude us, and after building up our expectations, the movie ends on a very lame note indeed. But until this disappointing fade-out, the movie certainly grips the attention - and that's mostly due to Chaney's startling performance (and gymnastics). This is his movie, and he never lets us forget it.