Despite enduring classics like Nosferatu, The Phantom Of The Opera, and The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari, the first golden age of the horror film is generally considered to have arrived in the '30s. A new documentary, Kingdom Of Shadows, seeks to change that perception, a task at which it only partially succeeds. Though it's packed with fine clips from movies like Dante's Inferno, Leaves From Satan's Book, and The Student Of Prague, writer/director Bret Wood hasn't supplemented the clips in a particularly informative way. Arranged loosely, Kingdom Of Shadows touches on broad topics like religion and mesmerism, accompanying appropriate clips with the turgid narration of a comically intense Rod Steiger. The film does, however incidentally, provoke plenty of interest in early horror movies with its fantastic collection of clips; it's just too bad that it couldn't be more enlightening in the process. Taking the edge off that disappointment is the concurrent release, also overseen by Wood, of a number of silent horror classics. Among these is The Penalty, a loony 1920 melodrama starring Lon Chaney and stylishly directed by Wallace Worsley. Worsley would later team with Chaney on The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, and as challenging as the makeup for that film must have been, what Chaney does here is truly astounding. Using God knows what kind of harness, he plays a legless archvillain, angry at the world and determined to exact revenge upon the surgeon whose unnecessary operation resulted in his condition. This revenge takes a number of forms, including forcing beautiful women to manufacture hats, posing as Satan for a pretty sculptress who happens to be his enemy's daughter, and conspiring with the Red Menace to overrun San Francisco with unhappy foreign laborers. A frightening, amusing, and consistently entertaining film, The Penalty is a real achievement for Chaney, due both to the tortuous lengths he clearly went to achieve the effect of leglessness and the menace he brings to the role. It's a beautifully ridiculous, operatic movie that also serves as a fine example of silent American horror film.