We will make you one of us.
Following the success of Dracula with Bela Lugosi, Tod Browning was asked to do another “horror” picture, this time by MGM. He turned to the world of the carnival freak show, assembled the most unusual cast in cinematic history, and created a film that was heavily censored, frequently banned, and would not find its audience for decades.
Cast, Crew, and Other Info:
Director: Tod Browning
Writer: Tod Robbins et al
Features:
Wallace Ford…Phroso
Leila Hyams…Venus
Olga Baclanova …Cleopatra
Harry Earles…Hans
Henry Victor…Hercules
Daisy Earles…Frieda
Roscoe Ates…Roscoe
Rose Dione …Madame Tetrallini
Daisy Hilton…Siamese Twin
Violet Hilton…Siamese Twin
Schlitze the Pinhead…Himself
Radian….The Human Torso
Available at Amazon.com and Amazon.ca
Premise:
When a sideshow midget inherits a fortune, a beautiful but cold-hearted trapeze queen plots to wed him, and then murder him with the aid of her lover. The little guy’s friends in the sideshow take a dim view of the situation.
High Point:
The scene of the freaks, crawling through the mud on a stormy night remains an unequalled, bizarre thrill from cinema’s history. It epitomizes the film’s divided mind, its desire to both elicit sympathy for these people and yet play their deformities for shock value.
You’ll not soon forget Freaks.
Low Point:
Some of the sideshow freaks just couldn’t act.
The DVD boldly announces three alternate endings, which might lead one to believe they’ve recovered the original ending footage, which was (and is) thought to be lost. Basically, this is an out-take from the included documentary in which one of the talking heads describes what the original ending included. Then, we get three slightly different edits of the ending we saw, two with different credit sequences. It’s interesting to see these three variations (all of which toured), but the promotional for them seems misleading.
The Scores:
Originality: 6/6 .
Effects: 3/6. There’s really only one special effect, at the end, but it’s pretty effective.
Story: 5/6:
Acting: 3/6: This ranges from good to abysmal. Poor Frieda manages sincerity in her later appearances, but between her limited acting experience and her thick accent, her early lines border on the incomprehensible.
Production: 3/6 Most of Freaks was filmed on an obvious soundstage.
Emotional Response: 5/6
Overall: 5/6. The film presents a shockingly unvarnished picture of circus folk. It’s surprising to see an American film from 1932 where the heroine shacks up with a man, and then leaves him. It’s also surprising to witness Hans’s actions in the end– although the epilogue absolves him of responsibility.
In total, Freaks receives 30/42.
Additional Comments
Certain excised scenes have never been recovered. We don’t learn, as the original audiences did, what the fate of Cleopatra’s lover is. Reportedly, in the original final sequence, we hear him singing soprano. This doesn’t really make sense; a eunuch must be castrated before puberty to achieve that special voice. I also think it would detract from the shocking revelation regarding Cleopatra. The original also featured a slightly longer storm/revenge sequence. The epilogue, which was added in response to the previews, indicates that Hans had no part in the revenge. The movie clearly shows otherwise.
Extras include commentary, a documentary, a long-winded prologue (originally shown in some theatres), and the “alternate endings discussed earlier.”
The Ramones’ “Gabba Gabba Hey” chant came from their misremembered recollections of this film, and the freaks’ “Gooble Gobble” chant.
Halloween Countdown to date
- October 1: Witchcraft
Through The Ages - October 2: The Evil
Dead - October 3: Evil Dead
2: Dead By Dawn - October 4: Army of
Darkness - October 5: Ghostbusters
- October 6: Ghostbusters 2
- October 7: The Little
Shop of Horrors (1960) - October 8: The
Terror - October 9: The
Shining - October 10: Throne of
Blood - October 11: Ringu
- October 12: The
Ring - October 13: The Sixth
Sense - October 14: Signs
- October 15: Sleepy
Hollow - October 16: Neil
Gaiman’s Neverwhere - October 17: Mary
Reilly - October 18: Ginger
Snaps - October 19: Dark
City - October 20: Rocky
Horror Picture Show - October 21: Young
Frankenstein - October 22: Abbott and
Costello Meet Frankenstein - October 23: The
Mummy - October 24: Creature
from the Black Lagoon - October 25: The
Invisible Man
Title
The title of this article doesn’t have “Halloween Review” at the beginning. Was this an oversight?
Re: Title
I woke up in the night and decided to post the article. Yeah, it was an oversight. It has been corrected. Thanks.
Re: Title
On that note the imdb link for Olga Baclanova is broken too :)