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Freaks (1932 film)

January 01, 1970

Freaks (also re-released as The Monster Story,[6][unreliable source?] Forbidden Love, and Nature's Mistakes[7]) is a 1932 American pre-Code drama horror film produced and directed by Tod Browning, starring Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams, Olga Baclanova, Roscoe Ates and Harry Earles.

Freaks
1932 theatrical release poster
Directed byTod Browning
Screenplay by
Based on"Spurs"
1923 story
by Tod Robbins
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyMerritt B. Gerstad
Edited byBasil Wrangell
Production
company
Distributed byLoew's Inc.
Release date
  • February 12, 1932 (1932-02-12)[1]
Running time
64 minutes[2]
CountryUnited States
LanguagesEnglish
German
French
Budget~ $310,000[a]
Box office$341,000[3]

Freaks, originally intended as a vehicle for Lon Chaney,[7] is set amongst the backdrop of a travelling French circus and follows a conniving trapeze artist who joins a group of carnival sideshow performers with a plan to seduce and murder a dwarf in the troupe to gain his inheritance. However, her plot proves to have dangerous consequences. The film is based on elements from the short story "Spurs" by Tod Robbins, first published in Munsey's Magazine in February 1923, with the rights being purchased by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Cedric Gibbons, a childhood friend of Robbins and MGM art department chief, was responsible for the purchase.[6]

Filmed in Los Angeles in the fall of 1931, some employees at MGM were discomforted by the presence of the actors portraying the "freaks" on set, and, other than the so-called more normal looking "freaks", the Siamese twins and the Earles, the performers were not allowed to be on the studio lot, relegated instead to a specially-built tent.[7] The film had test screenings in January 1932, with many members of the audience reacting negatively, finding the film too grotesque. In response to this, MGM executive Irving Thalberg, without consent of director Browning, edited the original 90-minute feature, which was significantly cut, with additional alternate footage incorporated to help increase the running time. The final abridged cut of the film, released in February 1932, was 64 minutes; the original version no longer exists.

Freaks made its world premiere at the Fox Theatre in San Diego, shown in full, without the subsequent cuts from January 28 and had a successful run. The theatre advertised the fact that it was the only place where the movie could be seen in the "original uncensored version".[7]

Despite the cuts made to the film, Freaks still garnered notice for the portrayal of its eponymous characters by people who worked as sideshow performers and had real disabilities. These cast members included dwarf siblings Harry and Daisy Earles; Johnny Eck, who had sacral agenesis; the conjoined twin sisters Daisy and Violet Hilton; and Schlitzie, a man with microcephaly. Because of its controversial content, the film was banned in the United Kingdom for over 30 years, and was labelled as "brutal and grotesque" in Canada.[8]

Though it received critical backlash and was a box-office failure upon initial release, Freaks was subject to public and critical reappraisal in the 1960s, as a long forgotten Hollywood classic, particularly in Europe, and was screened at the 1962 Venice Film Festival. In retrospect, numerous film critics have suggested that the film presents a starkly sympathetic portrait of its sideshow characters rather than an exploitative one, with Andrew Sarris declaring Freaks one of the "most compassionate" films ever made.[9] Nonetheless, critics have continued to take note of the film's horror elements; in 2009, Joe Morgenstern proclaimed that Freaks contains some of the most terrifying scenes in film history. Film scholars have interpreted the film as a metaphor for class conflict, reflecting the Great Depression, and it has been studied for its portrayal of people with disabilities, with theorists arguing that it presents an anti-eugenics message. The film has been highly influential, has become a cult classic, and, in 1994, was selected for preservation by the United States National Film Registry, which seeks to preserve films that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[10][11]

Plot edit

A beautiful and conniving trapeze artist named Cleopatra seduces a carnival sideshow dwarf named Hans after learning of his large inheritance. This is much to the chagrin of Frieda, his fiancée, also a dwarf. Cleopatra also conspires with circus strongman Hercules to kill Hans so she will inherit his wealth. Meanwhile, other romances flourish among the sideshow performers: the Bearded Lady, who is in love with the Human Skeleton, gives birth to their daughter. The news is spread among the friends by the Stork Woman. Additionally, Violet, a conjoined twin whose sister Daisy is married to Roscoe, the stuttering circus clown, becomes engaged to the circus's owner.

Hans, enamored of Cleopatra, ultimately marries her. At their wedding, Cleopatra begins poisoning Hans's wine but drunkenly kisses Hercules in front of Hans, revealing her affair. Oblivious, the other "freaks" announce that they accept Cleopatra in spite of her being a "normal" outsider; they hold an initiation ceremony in which they pass a loving cup around the table while chanting, "We accept her, one of us. We accept her, one of us. Gooble-gobble, gooble-gobble."[12] However, Cleopatra's mean-spirited amusement at this ceremony soon turns into fear and anger after Hercules jokes that the rest of the entertainers plan to turn her into one of them. She mocks them, tosses the wine in their faces and drives them away before berating Hans and drunkenly parading him around on her shoulders like a child. The humiliated Hans realizes that he has been played for a fool and rejects Cleopatra's attempts to apologize, but then he falls ill from the poison. While bedridden, Hans "apologizes" to Cleopatra and also "takes" the poisoned medicine that she is giving him, but he secretly plots with the other entertainers to strike back at Cleopatra and Hercules.

In the film's climax, Hans confronts Cleopatra with three of the entertainers as backup thugs. However, Hans's circus wagon is overturned in a storm, giving Cleopatra the chance to escape into the forest, closely pursued by them. At the same time Hercules goes to kill sea lion trainer Venus for knowing about the plot. Venus's boyfriend, Phroso the clown, attempts to stop Hercules but is nearly killed before the rest of them intervene and injure Hercules, saving Phroso. They all pursue an injured Hercules.

The freaks then capture Cleopatra and sometime later, she is shown to be a grotesque, squawking "human duck" on display for carnival patrons; her tongue has been removed, one eye has been gouged out, the flesh of her hands has been melted and deformed to look like duck feet, her legs have been cut off, and what is left of her torso has been permanently tarred and feathered. In the original version of the film, it is revealed that after the freaks caught Hercules, they made him into a castrato singer.

While some versions end on Cleopatra as the human duck, another ending shows Hans, now living in a mansion from his inheritance and still humiliated, visited by Phroso, Venus and Frieda. Frieda tells Hans she knows he just wanted to demand the bottle of poison from Cleopatra, not to mutilate her, and not to blame himself for what happened; and that she still loves him. The two then share a heartwarming hug.

Cast edit

Analysis and themes edit

Class conflict edit

Film critic Melvin Matthews has interpreted Freaks within the context of the Great Depression, writing that it "is essentially a story of the little people (average Americans) versus the big people (the rich and businessmen). The film makes it clear that the big people, personified by Cleopatra and Hercules, scorn the Freaks. Such a disdainful attitude was reflected in the real-life social outlook of some business tycoons during the Depression."[13] Film studies academic Jennifer Peterson similarly identifies Freaks as an example of an "outsider film".[14] Historian Jane Nicholas suggests that the film's conclusion, in which the circus performers mutilate Cleopatra whilst chanting "one of us", is reinforcing the freaks' social currency: "It is interesting that a statement that reads as one of inclusion is often cited as one that embodies horror in the film. What does it mean to be 'one of us'? The chilling horror of the chant 'one of us' reveals why the freak show persists."[15]

In the book Midnight Movies (1991), critics J. Hoberman and Jonathan Rosenbaum compare Freaks to Gold Diggers of 1933, writing that the former is "almost literally dealing with the same thing [class disparity]... but more directly—because the end product isn't just putting on a show, but slaves breaking their chains and triumphing over their masters. Freaks is asking a Depression audience to identify not with the Beautiful People, but with sideshow mutations, a total underclass."[16]

John Stanley, longtime publisher of the San Francisco Chronicle, describes the film as "A Classic of the Grotesque" in Creature Features.[17]

Disability and eugenics edit

 
Critic Jon Towlson notes that the everyday interaction between the able-bodied and disabled circus performers serves to uphold an anti-eugenics sentiment.

The film's depiction of people with disabilities has been a significant point of analysis amongst film critics and scholars.[18][19] In his book Subversive Horror Cinema: Countercultural Messages of Films from Frankenstein to the Present (2014), critic Jon Towlson proposes that Freaks exemplifies an anti-eugenics sentiment.[18] In presenting this idea, Towlson cites vignette sequences that make up the beginning of the film, largely consisting of the freaks in the context of their sideshow, before Browning "begins to undercut the voyeuristic aspects of the traditional freakshow by showing the freaks engaged in the activities of everyday life, dispelling the initial shock and revulsion, and encouraging the viewer to see the freaks as individuals who have overcome their disabilities."[20]

Towlson also notes that the freaks' everyday interactions with the able-bodied sideshow performers, such as Phroso, Roscoe, and Venus, who treat the freaks as equals and friends, further blurs the distinction between the able-bodied and disabled members of the circus, and that the physically beautiful characters—such as trapeze artist Cleopatra—are the ones who are vindictive, supremacist, and immoral.[21] He further argues that the implied sexuality in the film—such as the implication that the conjoined twin sisters (played by Daisy and Violet Hilton) carry on their own separate sex lives[22]—is an affront to the eugenic stance against reproduction and sexual activity among the "physically unfit."[23] Towlson ultimately concludes that this subversion of character exemplifies a stark opposition to the core belief of eugenics, which is that physical appearance is equated with internal worth.[20]

Angela Smith, a scholar of film and disability, similarly notes that Freaks presents numerous scenes in which the freaks engage in routine and ordinary domestic behavior.[24] Among them, Smith cites the freaks' celebration of the birth of the Bearded Lady's baby, and the film's key dinner party sequence in which Cleopatra grows enraged when the freaks sing "We accept her, we accept her, one of us, one of us" as a welcoming song.[25] Film scholars Martin Norden and Madeleine Cahill, however, question Browning's intention of the film's final revenge sequence, in which the freaks mutilate the able-bodied, morally cruel Cleopatra.[26] "The implications of the violence against [Cleopatra] are far from clear," they write. "Members of a traditionally disempowered minority use their collective force to disempower a majority member—turn her into one of them, in effect—leading us to wonder if she is truly disempowered or empowered in a new way. Browning's ambiguity on this point only enhances the film's unsettling properties."[27]

Status as a horror film edit

Some critics, such as John Thomas and Raymond Durgnat, have noted that Freaks does not fully embody the genre.[28] Thomas wrote in Film Quarterly that Freaks would "disappoint no one but the mindless children who consume most horror films... Certainly it is macabre... But the point is that Freaks is not really a horror film at all, though it contains some horrifying sequences."[29] Durgnat made a similar observation, writing that, like the films of Luis Buñuel, its shock value "mingles with moments which seem shallow, but by the end of the film one begins to catch their mood, a calm, cold combination of guignol and eerily matter-of-fact."[28]

Film-studies scholar Joan Hawkins describes the evolution of how the film's genre was perceived, noting that it "started as a mainstream horror film that migrated into the exploitation arena before finally being recuperated as an avant-garde or art project."[30] Hawkins notes that Browning inverts the audience's expectations, demonstrating that it is "the ordinary, the apparently normal, the beautiful which horrify—the monstrous and distorted which compel our respect, our sympathy, ultimately our affection."[31] Smith writes that the inclusion of Freaks within the horror genre "forces our reconsideration of the genre's status [and] challenges readings in which all horror movies are seen to use monstrous bodies to the same effects."[32] Film theorist Eugenie Brinkema suggests that Freaks functions as a horror film "not because Cleo is mutilated and Hercules killed, all lightning and dark shadows—no, Freaks is a horror film because the gaze itself is horrific, because locating the gaze is a work in terror."[33]

Production edit

Development edit

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) had purchased the rights to Tod Robbins's short story "Spurs" in the mid-1920s at Tod Browning's urging for a reported $8,000.[34] Harry Earles, a dwarf who had appeared in Browning's The Unholy Three (1925)—and who would ultimately star as Hans in Freaks—had originally proposed the idea of making a film version of "Spurs" to Browning.[35] The studio agreed to hire Browning to direct the project based on his past success at Universal Pictures with Dracula (1931) and for his collaborations with Lon Chaney.[36]

In June 1931, MGM production supervisor Irving Thalberg offered Browning the opportunity to direct Arsène Lupin with John Barrymore. Browning declined, preferring to develop Freaks, a project he had started as early as 1927; Browning had worked with a traveling carnival prior to becoming a filmmaker.[37] Screenwriters Willis Goldbeck and Elliott Clawson were assigned to the project at Browning's request.[38] Leon Gordon, Edgar Allan Woolf, Al Boasberg and an uncredited Charles MacArthur would also contribute to the script.[38] The script was shaped over five months.[38] Little of the original story was retained beyond the marriage between a dwarf and an average-sized woman and their wedding feast, and the setting—originally France—was relocated to the United States.[38] Both Thalberg and Harry Rapf served as uncredited co-producers on the film.[39]

Casting edit

 
Johnny Eck as Half-Boy and Angelo Rossitto as Angeleno

Victor McLaglen was considered for the role of Hercules, while Myrna Loy was initially slated to star as Cleopatra, with Jean Harlow as Venus.[34] Ultimately, Thalberg decided not to cast any major stars in the picture.[40] Instead, Russian actress Olga Baclanova was cast as Cleopatra, based on her success in a Los Angeles-produced stage production of The Silent Witness.[34]

Harry Earles was cast as Hans, the carnival sideshow performer whom Cleopatra attempts to murder for his estate.[34] Earles' real-life sister, Daisy, portrayed his dwarf love interest, Frieda.[34]

Among the supporting characters featured as "freaks", casting agent Ben Piazza scoured the East Coast for over a month and put out advertisements for photographs and screen tests, scouting carnivals and sideshows for Browning; amongst others, a girl with "Elephant skin", "a boy with dog legs", "a giant", "a bunch of pygmies" and the legendary dwarf performer "Mega Mite" didn't make the cut.[7][41] The cast that would included Peter Robinson ("The Human Skeleton"); Olga Roderick ("The Bearded Lady");[42] Frances O'Connor and Martha Morris ("armless wonders");[43] and the conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton.[34] Among the microcephalic characters who appear in the film (and are referred to as "pinheads" throughout) were Zip and Pip (Elvira and Jenny Lee Snow) and Schlitzie, a male named Simon Metz who wore a dress.[44]

Also featured were the intersex Josephine Joseph, with her left-right divided gender;[45] Johnny Eck, the legless man, who was scouted for the role while performing in Montreal;[46] the completely limbless Prince Randian (also known as The Human Torso and miscredited as "Rardion");[47] Elizabeth Green the Stork Woman; and Koo-Koo the Bird Girl, who had Virchow-Seckel syndrome or bird-headed dwarfism and is most remembered for the scene wherein she dances on the table.[34]

Filming edit

Freaks began principal photography in November 1931,[c] with a 24-day shooting schedule.[34] At the time of the production's beginning, the film had a budget of approximately $209,000,[34] though it would eventually expand to more than $300,000.[a] The film was shot on the MGM studio lot in Culver City, California.[48] Baclanova recalled her time first meeting her co-stars on the set:

Tod Browning, I loved him. He say, "I want to make a picture with you, Olga Baclanova...  Now I show you with whom you are going to play. But don't faint." I say, "Why should I faint?" So he takes me and shows me all the freaks there. First I meet the midget and he adores me because we speak German and he's from Germany. Then he shows me the girl that's like an orangutan; then a man who has a head but no legs, no nothing, just a head and a body like an egg. Then he shows me a boy who walks on his hands because he was born without feet. He shows me little by little and I could not look. I wanted to cry when I saw them. They have such nice faces, but it is so terrible...  Now, after we start the picture, I like them all so much.[49]

During the shoot, the film had already begun to draw disgusted reactions, resulting in MGM segregating the film's cast and crew to a separate cafeteria so that "people could get to eat in the commissary without throwing up."[50] Filming was completed on December 16, 1931, and Browning began retakes on December 23.[49]

Release edit

Censorship edit

In January 1932, MGM held test screenings of the film, which proved disastrous: Art director Merrill Pye recalled that "Halfway through the preview, a lot of people got up and ran out. They didn't walk out. They ran out."[51] Others reportedly became ill, or fainted; one woman who attended the screening threatened to sue MGM, claiming the film had caused her to suffer a miscarriage.[50] Due to the extremely unfavorable response, the studio cut the picture down from its original 90-minute running time to just over an hour.[51] Much of the sequence of the circus entertainers attacking Cleopatra as she lies under a lightning-struck tree was removed, as well as a sequence showing Hercules being castrated and made into a castrato, a number of comedy sequences, and most of the film's original epilogue, which included Hercules singing in a falsetto (a reference to his castration) with Cleopatra quacking along.[49][52][53] These excised sequences are considered lost.[52] In order to pad the running time after these cuts, a new prologue featuring a carnival barker was added, as was the alternate epilogue featuring the reconciliation of the dwarf lovers.[54]

The truncated version—now only 64 minutes long—had its premiere at the Fox Criterion in Los Angeles on February 12, 1932.[1][55] It subsequently opened in New York City that summer, premiering on July 8, 1932.[56] Regionally, the film attracted controversy upon its theatrical release, and was pulled from screenings in Atlanta.[57] In the United Kingdom, the film was banned by the British censors,[57][58] and remained as so for more than 30 years before being passed with an X rating in August 1963.[56]

Box office edit

 
Freaks lobby card

Freaks was a box-office bomb,[59] recording a total loss of $164,000.[3][4] It grossed $289,000 in the United States, and $52,000 internationally.[3] Though not a financial success, the film had greater earnings in smaller cities such as Cincinnati, Boston, and Saint Paul than it did in larger metropolitan cities such as Los Angeles or Chicago.[50]

Critical response edit

Contemporaneous edit

What about the Siamese twins—have they no right to love? The pin-heads, the half-man, half-woman, the dwarfs! They have the same passions, joys, sorrows, laughter as normal human beings. Is such a subject untouchable?

–1932 press release from MGM responding to accusations that the film exploited its subjects[60]

Despite the extensive cuts, the film was still negatively received by moviegoers, and remained an object of extreme controversy amongst the public upon initial release.[61] Critics' responses were also divided.[62][63] MGM attempted to address criticisms of exploitation by promoting the film as one compassionate toward its subjects, with tagline such as "What about abnormal people? They have their lives, too!"[60] At the time of its release, the film was regarded by numerous critics as marking the end of Browning's career.[64] Freaks became the only MGM film ever to be pulled from release before completing its domestic engagements,[65] and it was pulled from distribution after its New York engagements concluded in the summer of 1932.[60] Disillusioned by the backlash the film received, MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer sold the distribution rights to Dwain Esper for a 25-year period for $50,000.[66]

A number of reviews were not only highly critical of the film, but expressed outrage and revulsion.[67] Harrison's Reports wrote that "Any one who considers this entertainment should be placed in the pathological ward in some hospital."[68] In The Kansas City Star, John C. Moffitt wrote, "There is no excuse for this picture. It took a weak mind to produce it and it takes a strong stomach to look at it."[69] The Hollywood Reporter called the film an "outrageous onslaught upon the feelings, the senses, the brains and the stomachs of an audience."[68] Variety also published an unfavorable review, writing that the film was "sumptuously produced, admirably directed, and no cost was spared, but Metro heads failed to realize that even with a different sort of offering the story is still important. Here the story is not sufficiently strong to get and hold the interest, partly because interest cannot easily be gained for too fantastic a romance." The review went on to state that the story "does not thrill and at the same time does not please, since it is impossible for the normal man or woman to sympathize with the aspiring midget. And only in such a case will the story appeal."[70]

While a significant number of reviews were unfavorable, the film was well-received by some: The New York Times called it "excellent at times and horrible, in the strict meaning of the word, at others" as well as "a picture not to be easily forgotten."[71] The New York Herald Tribune wrote that it was "obviously an unhealthy and generally disagreeable work," but that "in some strange way, the picture is not only exciting, but even occasionally touching."[69] Columnist Louella Parsons wrote an enthusiastic report on the film, noting that "for pure sensationalism, Freaks tops any pictures yet produced...  In Freaks there are monstrosities such as never before have been known. If you are normal go and see them for yourself, if not, well, use your own judgment."[72]

John Mosher of The New Yorker wrote a favorable review, calling it "a little gem" that "stands in a class by itself, and probably won't be forgotten in a hurry by those who see it." He found its "perfectly plausible story" a key to the effectiveness of its horror, writing that "It's a chilling notion to imagine these weird beings, with their own lives and vanities and passions, all allied in a bitter enmity against us." Addressing the controversial subject matter, Mosher stated: "if the poor things themselves can be displayed in the basement of Madison Square Garden, pictures of them might as well be shown in the Rialto. They may hereafter even be regarded in the flesh with a new dread bordering on respect."[73]

Retrospective edit

 
Critic Joe Morgenstern considers Freaks to feature some of the most terrifying scenes in film history.[74]

In the mid/late 20th century, Freaks began to garner critical reassessment after developing a cult following in Europe, and was subject to renewed praise by critics and audiences.[75][76][77] The film's growing popularity abroad led to a renewed interest in it among American audiences, and it was subject of a retrospective review in Film Quarterly by John Thomas in 1964, in which he deemed it "a minor masterpiece."[78]

Critic Kim Newman suggests that the film's warmer reception amongst mid/late-20th-century audiences was partly due to the term "freak" having taken on a more positive connotation, as something to be celebrated rather than reviled; Newman also adds that the film "shows obvious fondness for its carny cast."[77] The Los Angeles Times's Mark Chalon Smith declared in a 1995 retrospective review: "Freaks is a wild ride, but it's not the monster-trip some say it is. It is macabre and disturbing, but Browning chose to humanize the deformed characters at the movie's shadowy center, not to demonize them."[58] Nonetheless, the film has still been noted for its stark horror imagery in the 21st century, with Joe Morgenstern writing in 2009 that it boasts "some of the most terrifying scenes ever consigned to film."[74] Jamie Russell of the BBC similarly observed in 2002: "It's easy to see why reactions to the film have been so strong—it's a catalogue of the abnormal, the bizarre, and the grotesque that's still as unsettling today as it was 70 years ago."[79]

Film critic Mark Kermode awarded the film four out of five stars in a 2015 review, noting that, "today, Browning's sympathies are clear; if there are 'freaks' on display here, they are not the versatile performers to whom the title seems to allude."[80] Film theorist and critic Andrew Sarris echoed this sentiment, proclaiming Freaks "one of the most compassionate films ever made."[9] Ed Gonzalez of Slant Magazine wrote in a 2003 retrospective that the film's moral significance has often been obscured by critical attention to its more shocking elements, noting that this "seriously underplay[s] the film's blistering humanity and the audacious aesthetic and philosophical lengths to which Browning goes to challenge the way we define beauty and abnormality."[81]

As of 2021, Freaks holds an approval rating of 94% on the internet review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 53 reviews, and boasts an average rating of 8.48/10. Its consensus reads, "Time has been kind to this horror legend: Freaks manages to frighten, shock, and even touch viewers in ways that contemporary viewers missed."[82]

Home media edit

Freaks was first issued on Beta, VHS, and LaserDisc by MGM/UA Home Video in 1986,[83] and was rereleased on VHS by MGM/UA Home Video in 1990.[84] MGM/UA then issued a remastered LaserDisc in 1993.

In 2004, Warner issued the film on DVD for the first time.[84] It contained the film, a “Special Message” prologue added in 1947 by re-release distributor Dwain Esper, an audio commentary by Browning historian David J. Skal, a documentary entitled Freaks: The Sideshow Cinema, and a shorter documentary on the film’s various alternate endings. This disc went out of print in 2016.

Films Around The World (FAT-W) released Freaks on DVD in 2016, and Frolic Pictures released Freaks on a double feature DVD with Browning’s 1931 film Dracula in 2018. However, neither of these discs were authorized releases of either film.

In 2023, The Criterion Collection announced the release of Tod Browning’s Sideshow Shockers, a set which contains new 2K restorations of Freaks, The Unknown and The Mystic. It is set to be released on Blu-ray and DVD on October 17, 2023.[85] David J. Skal recorded a new commentary for this release of Freaks.[86]

Legacy edit

Freaks is now widely considered among director Browning's best films.[87][88] The film's growing esteem among critics traces back to the early 1960s, when it was rediscovered as a counterculture cult film, particularly among European audiences.[75][76] It was screened at the 1962 Venice Film Festival, and shortly after was shown for the first time in the United Kingdom, having been banned there since 1932.[75] Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the film was regularly shown at midnight movie screenings in the United States.[75] It also enjoyed a critical reappraisal in France during this period,[75] as, according to Hawkins, Browning had achieved a "certain Poe-esque stature among French intellectuals."[89] Critic Derek Malcolm noted in 1999 that the film is "one of the masterpieces of baroque cinema," and a "damning antidote to the cult of physical perfection and an extraordinary tribute to the community of so-called freaks who made up its cast."[90]

In 1994, Freaks was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry, which preserves "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" films.[91][92] Film scholar Jennifer Peterson cites Freaks as one of the 50 most important American films ever made.[93] In a 2018 retrospective on Browning's career, Martyn Conterio of the British Film Institute assesses the film as "best approached with a fuller understanding of Browning's work, specifically, the director's emotionally complicated interest in human abnormality and the severely disabled," and considers it among Browning's films that "are pioneering and boundary-pushing, amounting to repeat attacks on Hollywood's standardised images of beauty and glamour."[94] It is also listed in the film reference book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, which says "No mere plot summary can do justice to this alarming yet profound movie, which truly must be seen to be believed. It is a supreme oddity (freak?) of world cinema considered by many to be the most remarkable film in the career of a director whose credits include the original version of Dracula (1931)."[95]

Several sequences in the film have been noted for their lasting cultural impact, particularly the freaks' climactic revenge sequence, which was ranked 15th on Bravo TV's list of the 100 Scariest Movie Moments.[96] The banquet sequence in which the freaks chant "We accept her, we accept her, one of us" has also been noted, with Mike D'Angelo of The A.V. Club describing it as "the film's greatest cultural legacy...  "One of us, one of us, one of us" reliably gets trotted out in situations involving an individual being forced to conform by the masses—I can recall seeing homages on both The Simpsons and South Park, and there are probably dozens of others out there."[97]

Freaks has inspired two unofficial remakes: She Freak (1967) and Freakshow (2007).[87][98] It also served as a major inspiration for the fourth season of the television series American Horror Story, titled Freak Show (2014–2015).[99] Freaks was adapted into a 1992 comic book series, published by Fantagraphics, written by Jim Woodring and illustrated by Francisco Solano Lopez.[100]

In popular culture edit

Browning and the film are mentioned in the 1974 David Bowie song "Diamond Dogs".[101]

The song "Pinhead" (1977) by the punk-rock band Ramones was inspired by Freaks, which the band saw in Cleveland, Ohio, after their gig was cancelled. Joey Ramone's brother Mickey Leigh said that the line "Gabba Gabba, we accept you, we accept you one of us" was specifically taken from the scene in which "the midget groom does a dance on the banquet table and sings 'Gooble gobble, we accept you, one of us' to his bride." The song is an audience participation song, and during live performances, Leigh used to run out on stage with a big sign that bore the text "Gabba Gabba, Hey" and pass it to Joey who'd hold it up urging the crowd to join in. The song was featured on their album Leave Home.[102]

In The Wolf of Wall Street, Jordan Belfort and associates chant 'Gooble gobble, we accept you, one of us' while making plans for a darts tournament that involves throwing little people at a target.[103]

The film was mentioned in the third season episode of The Sopranos, "University," when the character Caitlin expresses disgust at her classmates' callous reaction to characters in the film.[104]

See also edit

Explanatory notes edit

  1. ^ a b Sources regarding the budget of Freaks vary: According to film scholar Gregory William Mank, the final budget, down to cents, was $310,607.37.[3] However, Louis B. Mayer biographer Scott Eyer notes a $316,000 budget for the film.[4] A report from Variety in October 1947 lists a higher budget, claiming $350,000.[5]
  2. ^ alternate spelling Schlitze
  3. ^ Film historian Gregory William Mank states production began on November 9, 1931,[34] though Thomas Doherty in Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema, 1930–1934 (1999) writes that principal photography began November 2, the same day as Tarzan the Ape Man.[48]

Citations edit

  1. ^ a b "Circus Freaks Invade Field of Film Work". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California. February 7, 1932. p. 49 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ "FREAKS (12)". British Board of Film Classification. August 13, 2001. Retrieved July 19, 2013.
  3. ^ a b c d Mank 2005, p. 127.
  4. ^ a b Eyman 2005, p. 152.
  5. ^ "Metro's 'Freaks' Going Out As Exploitation Special In First Outside Sale". Variety. October 1947. p. 5 – via Internet Archive.
  6. ^ a b Elias Savada (2004). . Archived from the original on December 21, 2022. Retrieved July 10, 2023.
  7. ^ a b c d e f "11 Astonishing Facts About Tod Browning's Freaks". July 6, 2018.
  8. ^ "Obituaries: Tiny Doll". The Telegraph. September 15, 2004. Archived from the original on July 24, 2016.
  9. ^ a b Skal 1995, p. 224.
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General sources edit

  • Bombaci, Nancy (2006). Freaks in Late Modernist American Culture: Nathanael West, Djuna Barnes, Tod Browning, and Carson McCullers. New York: Peter Lang. ISBN 978-0-820-47832-6.
  • Brinkema, Eugenie (2008). "Browning. Freak. Woman. Stain.". In Herzogenrath, Bernd (ed.). The Cinema of Tod Browning: Essays of the Macabre and Grotesque. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. pp. 158–173. ISBN 978-0-786-43447-3.
  • Doherty, Thomas (1999). Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema, 1930–1934. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-50012-8.
  • Eyman, Scott (2005). Lion of Hollywood: The Life and Legend of Louis B. Mayer. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0-743-20481-1.
  • Hartzman, Marc (2006). American Sideshow: An Encyclopedia of History's Most Wondrous and Curiously Strange Performers. New York: Penguin. ISBN 978-1-585-42530-3.
  • Hawkins, Joan (1996). "'One of Us': Tod Browning's Freaks". In Thomson, Rosemarie Garland (ed.). Freakery: Cultural Spectacles of the Extraordinary Body. New York: New York University Press. pp. 265–276. ISBN 978-0-814-78222-4.
  • Hawkins, Joan (2000). Cutting Edge: Art-Horror and the Horrific Avant-Garde. Minneapolis, Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 978-1-452-90430-6.
  • Hoberman, J.; Rosenbaum, Jonathan (1991). Midnight Movies. New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-80433-5.
  • Jensen, Dean (2012). The Lives and Loves of Daisy and Violet Hilton: A True Story of Conjoined Twins. Berkeley, California: Ten Speed Press. ISBN 978-0-307-81477-7.
  • Mank, Gregory William (2005). Women in Horror Films, 1940s. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-2335-4.
  • Matthews, Melvin E Jr. (2009). Fear Itself: Horror on Screen and in Reality During the Depression and World War II. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-786-44313-0.
  • Nicholas, Jane (2018). Canadian Carnival Freaks and the Extraordinary Body, 1900-1970s. Toronto, Ontario: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-1-487-52208-7.
  • Norden, Martin F.; Cahill, Madeleine (2000). "Violence, Women and Disability in Tod Browning's Freaks and The Devil Doll". In Silver, Alain; Ursini, James (eds.). The Horror Film Reader. New York: Limelight Editions. pp. 151–166. ISBN 978-0-879-10297-5.
  • Peterson, Jennifer (2009). "Freaks". In White, John; Haenni, Sabine (eds.). Fifty Key American Films. New York: Routledge. pp. 36–41. ISBN 978-1-135-97932-4.
  • Peterson, Jennifer (2014). "Freaks (1932)". In Haenni, Sabine; Barrow, Sarah; White, John (eds.). The Routledge Encyclopedia of Films. New York: Routledge. pp. 234–240. ISBN 978-1-317-68261-5.
  • Scheider, Steven Jay (2013). 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die. Hauppauge, New York: B.E.S. Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7641-6613-6.
  • Senn, Bryan (2015). A Year of Fear: A Day-by-Day Guide to 366 Horror Films. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 978-1-476-61090-0.
  • Skal, David J. (1995). Dark Carnival: The Secret World of Tod Browning—Hollywood's Master of the Macabre. New York: Anchor Books. ISBN 978-0-385-47406-1.
  • Smith, Angela (2012). Hideous Progeny: Disability, Eugenics, and Classic Horror Cinema. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-52785-9.
  • Thomas, John (Spring 1964). "Freaks". Film Quarterly. 17 (3). Berkeley, California: University of California Press: 59–61. doi:10.2307/1210917. JSTOR 1210917.
  • Towlson, Jon (2014). Subversive Horror Cinema: Countercultural Messages of Films from Frankenstein to the Present. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 978-1-476-61533-2.
  • Vieira, Mark A. (2003). Hollywood Horror: From Gothic to Cosmic. New York: Harry N. Abrams. ISBN 0-8109-4535-5.

External links edit

 
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January 01, 1970
freaks, 1932, film, freaks, also, released, monster, story, unreliable, source, forbidden, love, nature, mistakes, 1932, american, code, drama, horror, film, produced, directed, browning, starring, wallace, ford, leila, hyams, olga, baclanova, roscoe, ates, ha. Freaks also re released as The Monster Story 6 unreliable source Forbidden Love and Nature s Mistakes 7 is a 1932 American pre Code drama horror film produced and directed by Tod Browning starring Wallace Ford Leila Hyams Olga Baclanova Roscoe Ates and Harry Earles Freaks1932 theatrical release posterDirected byTod BrowningScreenplay byWillis Goldbeck Leon GordonBased on Spurs 1923 storyby Tod RobbinsProduced byTod Browning Harry Rapf uncredited Irving Thalberg uncredited StarringWallace Ford Leila Hyams Olga Baclanova Roscoe Ates Harry Earles SchlitzieCinematographyMerritt B GerstadEdited byBasil WrangellProductioncompanyMetro Goldwyn MayerDistributed byLoew s Inc Release dateFebruary 12 1932 1932 02 12 1 Running time64 minutes 2 CountryUnited StatesLanguagesEnglishGermanFrenchBudget 310 000 a Box office 341 000 3 Freaks originally intended as a vehicle for Lon Chaney 7 is set amongst the backdrop of a travelling French circus and follows a conniving trapeze artist who joins a group of carnival sideshow performers with a plan to seduce and murder a dwarf in the troupe to gain his inheritance However her plot proves to have dangerous consequences The film is based on elements from the short story Spurs by Tod Robbins first published in Munsey s Magazine in February 1923 with the rights being purchased by Metro Goldwyn Mayer MGM Cedric Gibbons a childhood friend of Robbins and MGM art department chief was responsible for the purchase 6 Filmed in Los Angeles in the fall of 1931 some employees at MGM were discomforted by the presence of the actors portraying the freaks on set and other than the so called more normal looking freaks the Siamese twins and the Earles the performers were not allowed to be on the studio lot relegated instead to a specially built tent 7 The film had test screenings in January 1932 with many members of the audience reacting negatively finding the film too grotesque In response to this MGM executive Irving Thalberg without consent of director Browning edited the original 90 minute feature which was significantly cut with additional alternate footage incorporated to help increase the running time The final abridged cut of the film released in February 1932 was 64 minutes the original version no longer exists Freaks made its world premiere at the Fox Theatre in San Diego shown in full without the subsequent cuts from January 28 and had a successful run The theatre advertised the fact that it was the only place where the movie could be seen in the original uncensored version 7 Despite the cuts made to the film Freaks still garnered notice for the portrayal of its eponymous characters by people who worked as sideshow performers and had real disabilities These cast members included dwarf siblings Harry and Daisy Earles Johnny Eck who had sacral agenesis the conjoined twin sisters Daisy and Violet Hilton and Schlitzie a man with microcephaly Because of its controversial content the film was banned in the United Kingdom for over 30 years and was labelled as brutal and grotesque in Canada 8 Though it received critical backlash and was a box office failure upon initial release Freaks was subject to public and critical reappraisal in the 1960s as a long forgotten Hollywood classic particularly in Europe and was screened at the 1962 Venice Film Festival In retrospect numerous film critics have suggested that the film presents a starkly sympathetic portrait of its sideshow characters rather than an exploitative one with Andrew Sarris declaring Freaks one of the most compassionate films ever made 9 Nonetheless critics have continued to take note of the film s horror elements in 2009 Joe Morgenstern proclaimed that Freaks contains some of the most terrifying scenes in film history Film scholars have interpreted the film as a metaphor for class conflict reflecting the Great Depression and it has been studied for its portrayal of people with disabilities with theorists arguing that it presents an anti eugenics message The film has been highly influential has become a cult classic and in 1994 was selected for preservation by the United States National Film Registry which seeks to preserve films that are culturally historically or aesthetically significant 10 11 Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Analysis and themes 3 1 Class conflict 3 2 Disability and eugenics 3 3 Status as a horror film 4 Production 4 1 Development 4 2 Casting 4 3 Filming 5 Release 5 1 Censorship 5 2 Box office 5 3 Critical response 5 3 1 Contemporaneous 5 3 2 Retrospective 5 4 Home media 6 Legacy 7 In popular culture 8 See also 9 Explanatory notes 10 Citations 11 General sources 12 External linksPlot editA beautiful and conniving trapeze artist named Cleopatra seduces a carnival sideshow dwarf named Hans after learning of his large inheritance This is much to the chagrin of Frieda his fiancee also a dwarf Cleopatra also conspires with circus strongman Hercules to kill Hans so she will inherit his wealth Meanwhile other romances flourish among the sideshow performers the Bearded Lady who is in love with the Human Skeleton gives birth to their daughter The news is spread among the friends by the Stork Woman Additionally Violet a conjoined twin whose sister Daisy is married to Roscoe the stuttering circus clown becomes engaged to the circus s owner Hans enamored of Cleopatra ultimately marries her At their wedding Cleopatra begins poisoning Hans s wine but drunkenly kisses Hercules in front of Hans revealing her affair Oblivious the other freaks announce that they accept Cleopatra in spite of her being a normal outsider they hold an initiation ceremony in which they pass a loving cup around the table while chanting We accept her one of us We accept her one of us Gooble gobble gooble gobble 12 However Cleopatra s mean spirited amusement at this ceremony soon turns into fear and anger after Hercules jokes that the rest of the entertainers plan to turn her into one of them She mocks them tosses the wine in their faces and drives them away before berating Hans and drunkenly parading him around on her shoulders like a child The humiliated Hans realizes that he has been played for a fool and rejects Cleopatra s attempts to apologize but then he falls ill from the poison While bedridden Hans apologizes to Cleopatra and also takes the poisoned medicine that she is giving him but he secretly plots with the other entertainers to strike back at Cleopatra and Hercules In the film s climax Hans confronts Cleopatra with three of the entertainers as backup thugs However Hans s circus wagon is overturned in a storm giving Cleopatra the chance to escape into the forest closely pursued by them At the same time Hercules goes to kill sea lion trainer Venus for knowing about the plot Venus s boyfriend Phroso the clown attempts to stop Hercules but is nearly killed before the rest of them intervene and injure Hercules saving Phroso They all pursue an injured Hercules The freaks then capture Cleopatra and sometime later she is shown to be a grotesque squawking human duck on display for carnival patrons her tongue has been removed one eye has been gouged out the flesh of her hands has been melted and deformed to look like duck feet her legs have been cut off and what is left of her torso has been permanently tarred and feathered In the original version of the film it is revealed that after the freaks caught Hercules they made him into a castrato singer While some versions end on Cleopatra as the human duck another ending shows Hans now living in a mansion from his inheritance and still humiliated visited by Phroso Venus and Frieda Frieda tells Hans she knows he just wanted to demand the bottle of poison from Cleopatra not to mutilate her and not to blame himself for what happened and that she still loves him The two then share a heartwarming hug Cast editWallace Ford as Phroso Leila Hyams as Venus Olga Baclanova as Cleopatra Rosco Ates as Roscoe Henry Victor as Hercules Harry Earles as Hans Daisy Earles as Frieda Rose Dione as Madame Tetrallini Daisy and Violet Hilton as the Siamese twins Schlitzie as himself b 7 and Samuel Whiskers Josephine Joseph as Half Woman Half Man Johnny Eck as Half Boy Frances O Connor as Armless girl Peter Robinson as Human skeleton Olga Roderick as Bearded lady Koo Koo as herself Prince Randian as The Living Torso Martha Morris as Angeleno s armless wife Elvira Snow as Pinhead Pip Jenny Lee Snow as Pinhead Zip Elizabeth Green as Bird Girl Angelo Rossitto as Angeleno Edward Brophy and Matt McHugh as the Rollo BrothersAnalysis and themes editClass conflict edit Film critic Melvin Matthews has interpreted Freaks within the context of the Great Depression writing that it is essentially a story of the little people average Americans versus the big people the rich and businessmen The film makes it clear that the big people personified by Cleopatra and Hercules scorn the Freaks Such a disdainful attitude was reflected in the real life social outlook of some business tycoons during the Depression 13 Film studies academic Jennifer Peterson similarly identifies Freaks as an example of an outsider film 14 Historian Jane Nicholas suggests that the film s conclusion in which the circus performers mutilate Cleopatra whilst chanting one of us is reinforcing the freaks social currency It is interesting that a statement that reads as one of inclusion is often cited as one that embodies horror in the film What does it mean to be one of us The chilling horror of the chant one of us reveals why the freak show persists 15 In the book Midnight Movies 1991 critics J Hoberman and Jonathan Rosenbaum compare Freaks to Gold Diggers of 1933 writing that the former is almost literally dealing with the same thing class disparity but more directly because the end product isn t just putting on a show but slaves breaking their chains and triumphing over their masters Freaks is asking a Depression audience to identify not with the Beautiful People but with sideshow mutations a total underclass 16 John Stanley longtime publisher of the San Francisco Chronicle describes the film as A Classic of the Grotesque in Creature Features 17 Disability and eugenics edit nbsp Critic Jon Towlson notes that the everyday interaction between the able bodied and disabled circus performers serves to uphold an anti eugenics sentiment The film s depiction of people with disabilities has been a significant point of analysis amongst film critics and scholars 18 19 In his book Subversive Horror Cinema Countercultural Messages of Films from Frankenstein to the Present 2014 critic Jon Towlson proposes that Freaks exemplifies an anti eugenics sentiment 18 In presenting this idea Towlson cites vignette sequences that make up the beginning of the film largely consisting of the freaks in the context of their sideshow before Browning begins to undercut the voyeuristic aspects of the traditional freakshow by showing the freaks engaged in the activities of everyday life dispelling the initial shock and revulsion and encouraging the viewer to see the freaks as individuals who have overcome their disabilities 20 Towlson also notes that the freaks everyday interactions with the able bodied sideshow performers such as Phroso Roscoe and Venus who treat the freaks as equals and friends further blurs the distinction between the able bodied and disabled members of the circus and that the physically beautiful characters such as trapeze artist Cleopatra are the ones who are vindictive supremacist and immoral 21 He further argues that the implied sexuality in the film such as the implication that the conjoined twin sisters played by Daisy and Violet Hilton carry on their own separate sex lives 22 is an affront to the eugenic stance against reproduction and sexual activity among the physically unfit 23 Towlson ultimately concludes that this subversion of character exemplifies a stark opposition to the core belief of eugenics which is that physical appearance is equated with internal worth 20 Angela Smith a scholar of film and disability similarly notes that Freaks presents numerous scenes in which the freaks engage in routine and ordinary domestic behavior 24 Among them Smith cites the freaks celebration of the birth of the Bearded Lady s baby and the film s key dinner party sequence in which Cleopatra grows enraged when the freaks sing We accept her we accept her one of us one of us as a welcoming song 25 Film scholars Martin Norden and Madeleine Cahill however question Browning s intention of the film s final revenge sequence in which the freaks mutilate the able bodied morally cruel Cleopatra 26 The implications of the violence against Cleopatra are far from clear they write Members of a traditionally disempowered minority use their collective force to disempower a majority member turn her into one of them in effect leading us to wonder if she is truly disempowered or empowered in a new way Browning s ambiguity on this point only enhances the film s unsettling properties 27 Status as a horror film edit Some critics such as John Thomas and Raymond Durgnat have noted that Freaks does not fully embody the genre 28 Thomas wrote in Film Quarterly that Freaks would disappoint no one but the mindless children who consume most horror films Certainly it is macabre But the point is that Freaks is not really a horror film at all though it contains some horrifying sequences 29 Durgnat made a similar observation writing that like the films of Luis Bunuel its shock value mingles with moments which seem shallow but by the end of the film one begins to catch their mood a calm cold combination of guignol and eerily matter of fact 28 Film studies scholar Joan Hawkins describes the evolution of how the film s genre was perceived noting that it started as a mainstream horror film that migrated into the exploitation arena before finally being recuperated as an avant garde or art project 30 Hawkins notes that Browning inverts the audience s expectations demonstrating that it is the ordinary the apparently normal the beautiful which horrify the monstrous and distorted which compel our respect our sympathy ultimately our affection 31 Smith writes that the inclusion of Freaks within the horror genre forces our reconsideration of the genre s status and challenges readings in which all horror movies are seen to use monstrous bodies to the same effects 32 Film theorist Eugenie Brinkema suggests that Freaks functions as a horror film not because Cleo is mutilated and Hercules killed all lightning and dark shadows no Freaks is a horror film because the gaze itself is horrific because locating the gaze is a work in terror 33 Production editDevelopment edit Metro Goldwyn Mayer MGM had purchased the rights to Tod Robbins s short story Spurs in the mid 1920s at Tod Browning s urging for a reported 8 000 34 Harry Earles a dwarf who had appeared in Browning s The Unholy Three 1925 and who would ultimately star as Hans in Freaks had originally proposed the idea of making a film version of Spurs to Browning 35 The studio agreed to hire Browning to direct the project based on his past success at Universal Pictures with Dracula 1931 and for his collaborations with Lon Chaney 36 In June 1931 MGM production supervisor Irving Thalberg offered Browning the opportunity to direct Arsene Lupin with John Barrymore Browning declined preferring to develop Freaks a project he had started as early as 1927 Browning had worked with a traveling carnival prior to becoming a filmmaker 37 Screenwriters Willis Goldbeck and Elliott Clawson were assigned to the project at Browning s request 38 Leon Gordon Edgar Allan Woolf Al Boasberg and an uncredited Charles MacArthur would also contribute to the script 38 The script was shaped over five months 38 Little of the original story was retained beyond the marriage between a dwarf and an average sized woman and their wedding feast and the setting originally France was relocated to the United States 38 Both Thalberg and Harry Rapf served as uncredited co producers on the film 39 Casting edit nbsp Johnny Eck as Half Boy and Angelo Rossitto as Angeleno Victor McLaglen was considered for the role of Hercules while Myrna Loy was initially slated to star as Cleopatra with Jean Harlow as Venus 34 Ultimately Thalberg decided not to cast any major stars in the picture 40 Instead Russian actress Olga Baclanova was cast as Cleopatra based on her success in a Los Angeles produced stage production of The Silent Witness 34 Harry Earles was cast as Hans the carnival sideshow performer whom Cleopatra attempts to murder for his estate 34 Earles real life sister Daisy portrayed his dwarf love interest Frieda 34 Among the supporting characters featured as freaks casting agent Ben Piazza scoured the East Coast for over a month and put out advertisements for photographs and screen tests scouting carnivals and sideshows for Browning amongst others a girl with Elephant skin a boy with dog legs a giant a bunch of pygmies and the legendary dwarf performer Mega Mite didn t make the cut 7 41 The cast that would included Peter Robinson The Human Skeleton Olga Roderick The Bearded Lady 42 Frances O Connor and Martha Morris armless wonders 43 and the conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton 34 Among the microcephalic characters who appear in the film and are referred to as pinheads throughout were Zip and Pip Elvira and Jenny Lee Snow and Schlitzie a male named Simon Metz who wore a dress 44 Also featured were the intersex Josephine Joseph with her left right divided gender 45 Johnny Eck the legless man who was scouted for the role while performing in Montreal 46 the completely limbless Prince Randian also known as The Human Torso and miscredited as Rardion 47 Elizabeth Green the Stork Woman and Koo Koo the Bird Girl who had Virchow Seckel syndrome or bird headed dwarfism and is most remembered for the scene wherein she dances on the table 34 Filming edit Freaks began principal photography in November 1931 c with a 24 day shooting schedule 34 At the time of the production s beginning the film had a budget of approximately 209 000 34 though it would eventually expand to more than 300 000 a The film was shot on the MGM studio lot in Culver City California 48 Baclanova recalled her time first meeting her co stars on the set Tod Browning I loved him He say I want to make a picture with you Olga Baclanova Now I show you with whom you are going to play But don t faint I say Why should I faint So he takes me and shows me all the freaks there First I meet the midget and he adores me because we speak German and he s from Germany Then he shows me the girl that s like an orangutan then a man who has a head but no legs no nothing just a head and a body like an egg Then he shows me a boy who walks on his hands because he was born without feet He shows me little by little and I could not look I wanted to cry when I saw them They have such nice faces but it is so terrible Now after we start the picture I like them all so much 49 During the shoot the film had already begun to draw disgusted reactions resulting in MGM segregating the film s cast and crew to a separate cafeteria so that people could get to eat in the commissary without throwing up 50 Filming was completed on December 16 1931 and Browning began retakes on December 23 49 Release editCensorship edit In January 1932 MGM held test screenings of the film which proved disastrous Art director Merrill Pye recalled that Halfway through the preview a lot of people got up and ran out They didn t walk out They ran out 51 Others reportedly became ill or fainted one woman who attended the screening threatened to sue MGM claiming the film had caused her to suffer a miscarriage 50 Due to the extremely unfavorable response the studio cut the picture down from its original 90 minute running time to just over an hour 51 Much of the sequence of the circus entertainers attacking Cleopatra as she lies under a lightning struck tree was removed as well as a sequence showing Hercules being castrated and made into a castrato a number of comedy sequences and most of the film s original epilogue which included Hercules singing in a falsetto a reference to his castration with Cleopatra quacking along 49 52 53 These excised sequences are considered lost 52 In order to pad the running time after these cuts a new prologue featuring a carnival barker was added as was the alternate epilogue featuring the reconciliation of the dwarf lovers 54 The truncated version now only 64 minutes long had its premiere at the Fox Criterion in Los Angeles on February 12 1932 1 55 It subsequently opened in New York City that summer premiering on July 8 1932 56 Regionally the film attracted controversy upon its theatrical release and was pulled from screenings in Atlanta 57 In the United Kingdom the film was banned by the British censors 57 58 and remained as so for more than 30 years before being passed with an X rating in August 1963 56 Box office edit nbsp Freaks lobby card Freaks was a box office bomb 59 recording a total loss of 164 000 3 4 It grossed 289 000 in the United States and 52 000 internationally 3 Though not a financial success the film had greater earnings in smaller cities such as Cincinnati Boston and Saint Paul than it did in larger metropolitan cities such as Los Angeles or Chicago 50 Critical response edit Contemporaneous edit What about the Siamese twins have they no right to love The pin heads the half man half woman the dwarfs They have the same passions joys sorrows laughter as normal human beings Is such a subject untouchable 1932 press release from MGM responding to accusations that the film exploited its subjects 60 Despite the extensive cuts the film was still negatively received by moviegoers and remained an object of extreme controversy amongst the public upon initial release 61 Critics responses were also divided 62 63 MGM attempted to address criticisms of exploitation by promoting the film as one compassionate toward its subjects with tagline such as What about abnormal people They have their lives too 60 At the time of its release the film was regarded by numerous critics as marking the end of Browning s career 64 Freaks became the only MGM film ever to be pulled from release before completing its domestic engagements 65 and it was pulled from distribution after its New York engagements concluded in the summer of 1932 60 Disillusioned by the backlash the film received MGM studio head Louis B Mayer sold the distribution rights to Dwain Esper for a 25 year period for 50 000 66 A number of reviews were not only highly critical of the film but expressed outrage and revulsion 67 Harrison s Reports wrote that Any one who considers this entertainment should be placed in the pathological ward in some hospital 68 In The Kansas City Star John C Moffitt wrote There is no excuse for this picture It took a weak mind to produce it and it takes a strong stomach to look at it 69 The Hollywood Reporter called the film an outrageous onslaught upon the feelings the senses the brains and the stomachs of an audience 68 Variety also published an unfavorable review writing that the film was sumptuously produced admirably directed and no cost was spared but Metro heads failed to realize that even with a different sort of offering the story is still important Here the story is not sufficiently strong to get and hold the interest partly because interest cannot easily be gained for too fantastic a romance The review went on to state that the story does not thrill and at the same time does not please since it is impossible for the normal man or woman to sympathize with the aspiring midget And only in such a case will the story appeal 70 While a significant number of reviews were unfavorable the film was well received by some The New York Times called it excellent at times and horrible in the strict meaning of the word at others as well as a picture not to be easily forgotten 71 The New York Herald Tribune wrote that it was obviously an unhealthy and generally disagreeable work but that in some strange way the picture is not only exciting but even occasionally touching 69 Columnist Louella Parsons wrote an enthusiastic report on the film noting that for pure sensationalism Freaks tops any pictures yet produced In Freaks there are monstrosities such as never before have been known If you are normal go and see them for yourself if not well use your own judgment 72 John Mosher of The New Yorker wrote a favorable review calling it a little gem that stands in a class by itself and probably won t be forgotten in a hurry by those who see it He found its perfectly plausible story a key to the effectiveness of its horror writing that It s a chilling notion to imagine these weird beings with their own lives and vanities and passions all allied in a bitter enmity against us Addressing the controversial subject matter Mosher stated if the poor things themselves can be displayed in the basement of Madison Square Garden pictures of them might as well be shown in the Rialto They may hereafter even be regarded in the flesh with a new dread bordering on respect 73 Retrospective edit nbsp Critic Joe Morgenstern considers Freaks to feature some of the most terrifying scenes in film history 74 In the mid late 20th century Freaks began to garner critical reassessment after developing a cult following in Europe and was subject to renewed praise by critics and audiences 75 76 77 The film s growing popularity abroad led to a renewed interest in it among American audiences and it was subject of a retrospective review in Film Quarterly by John Thomas in 1964 in which he deemed it a minor masterpiece 78 Critic Kim Newman suggests that the film s warmer reception amongst mid late 20th century audiences was partly due to the term freak having taken on a more positive connotation as something to be celebrated rather than reviled Newman also adds that the film shows obvious fondness for its carny cast 77 The Los Angeles Times s Mark Chalon Smith declared in a 1995 retrospective review Freaks is a wild ride but it s not the monster trip some say it is It is macabre and disturbing but Browning chose to humanize the deformed characters at the movie s shadowy center not to demonize them 58 Nonetheless the film has still been noted for its stark horror imagery in the 21st century with Joe Morgenstern writing in 2009 that it boasts some of the most terrifying scenes ever consigned to film 74 Jamie Russell of the BBC similarly observed in 2002 It s easy to see why reactions to the film have been so strong it s a catalogue of the abnormal the bizarre and the grotesque that s still as unsettling today as it was 70 years ago 79 Film critic Mark Kermode awarded the film four out of five stars in a 2015 review noting that today Browning s sympathies are clear if there are freaks on display here they are not the versatile performers to whom the title seems to allude 80 Film theorist and critic Andrew Sarris echoed this sentiment proclaiming Freaks one of the most compassionate films ever made 9 Ed Gonzalez of Slant Magazine wrote in a 2003 retrospective that the film s moral significance has often been obscured by critical attention to its more shocking elements noting that this seriously underplay s the film s blistering humanity and the audacious aesthetic and philosophical lengths to which Browning goes to challenge the way we define beauty and abnormality 81 As of 2021 update Freaks holds an approval rating of 94 on the internet review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes based on 53 reviews and boasts an average rating of 8 48 10 Its consensus reads Time has been kind to this horror legend Freaks manages to frighten shock and even touch viewers in ways that contemporary viewers missed 82 Home media edit Freaks was first issued on Beta VHS and LaserDisc by MGM UA Home Video in 1986 83 and was rereleased on VHS by MGM UA Home Video in 1990 84 MGM UA then issued a remastered LaserDisc in 1993 In 2004 Warner issued the film on DVD for the first time 84 It contained the film a Special Message prologue added in 1947 by re release distributor Dwain Esper an audio commentary by Browning historian David J Skal a documentary entitled Freaks The Sideshow Cinema and a shorter documentary on the film s various alternate endings This disc went out of print in 2016 Films Around The World FAT W released Freaks on DVD in 2016 and Frolic Pictures released Freaks on a double feature DVD with Browning s 1931 film Dracula in 2018 However neither of these discs were authorized releases of either film In 2023 The Criterion Collection announced the release of Tod Browning s Sideshow Shockers a set which contains new 2K restorations of Freaks The Unknown and The Mystic It is set to be released on Blu ray and DVD on October 17 2023 85 David J Skal recorded a new commentary for this release of Freaks 86 Legacy editFreaks is now widely considered among director Browning s best films 87 88 The film s growing esteem among critics traces back to the early 1960s when it was rediscovered as a counterculture cult film particularly among European audiences 75 76 It was screened at the 1962 Venice Film Festival and shortly after was shown for the first time in the United Kingdom having been banned there since 1932 75 Throughout the 1970s and 1980s the film was regularly shown at midnight movie screenings in the United States 75 It also enjoyed a critical reappraisal in France during this period 75 as according to Hawkins Browning had achieved a certain Poe esque stature among French intellectuals 89 Critic Derek Malcolm noted in 1999 that the film is one of the masterpieces of baroque cinema and a damning antidote to the cult of physical perfection and an extraordinary tribute to the community of so called freaks who made up its cast 90 In 1994 Freaks was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry which preserves culturally historically or aesthetically significant films 91 92 Film scholar Jennifer Peterson cites Freaks as one of the 50 most important American films ever made 93 In a 2018 retrospective on Browning s career Martyn Conterio of the British Film Institute assesses the film as best approached with a fuller understanding of Browning s work specifically the director s emotionally complicated interest in human abnormality and the severely disabled and considers it among Browning s films that are pioneering and boundary pushing amounting to repeat attacks on Hollywood s standardised images of beauty and glamour 94 It is also listed in the film reference book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die which says No mere plot summary can do justice to this alarming yet profound movie which truly must be seen to be believed It is a supreme oddity freak of world cinema considered by many to be the most remarkable film in the career of a director whose credits include the original version of Dracula 1931 95 Several sequences in the film have been noted for their lasting cultural impact particularly the freaks climactic revenge sequence which was ranked 15th on Bravo TV s list of the 100 Scariest Movie Moments 96 The banquet sequence in which the freaks chant We accept her we accept her one of us has also been noted with Mike D Angelo of The A V Club describing it as the film s greatest cultural legacy One of us one of us one of us reliably gets trotted out in situations involving an individual being forced to conform by the masses I can recall seeing homages on both The Simpsons and South Park and there are probably dozens of others out there 97 Freaks has inspired two unofficial remakes She Freak 1967 and Freakshow 2007 87 98 It also served as a major inspiration for the fourth season of the television series American Horror Story titled Freak Show 2014 2015 99 Freaks was adapted into a 1992 comic book series published by Fantagraphics written by Jim Woodring and illustrated by Francisco Solano Lopez 100 In popular culture editBrowning and the film are mentioned in the 1974 David Bowie song Diamond Dogs 101 The song Pinhead 1977 by the punk rock band Ramones was inspired by Freaks which the band saw in Cleveland Ohio after their gig was cancelled Joey Ramone s brother Mickey Leigh said that the line Gabba Gabba we accept you we accept you one of us was specifically taken from the scene in which the midget groom does a dance on the banquet table and sings Gooble gobble we accept you one of us to his bride The song is an audience participation song and during live performances Leigh used to run out on stage with a big sign that bore the text Gabba Gabba Hey and pass it to Joey who d hold it up urging the crowd to join in The song was featured on their album Leave Home 102 In The Wolf of Wall Street Jordan Belfort and associates chant Gooble gobble we accept you one of us while making plans for a darts tournament that involves throwing little people at a target 103 The film was mentioned in the third season episode of The Sopranos University when the character Caitlin expresses disgust at her classmates callous reaction to characters in the film 104 See also editDisability in horror filmsExplanatory notes edit a b Sources regarding the budget of Freaks vary According to film scholar Gregory William Mank the final budget down to cents was 310 607 37 3 However Louis B Mayer biographer Scott Eyer notes a 316 000 budget for the film 4 A report from Variety in October 1947 lists a higher budget claiming 350 000 5 alternate spelling Schlitze Film historian Gregory William Mank states production began on November 9 1931 34 though Thomas Doherty in Pre Code Hollywood Sex Immorality and Insurrection in American Cinema 1930 1934 1999 writes that principal photography began November 2 the same day as Tarzan the Ape Man 48 Citations edit a b Circus Freaks Invade Field of Film Work Los Angeles Times Los Angeles California February 7 1932 p 49 via Newspapers com FREAKS 12 British Board of Film Classification August 13 2001 Retrieved July 19 2013 a b c d Mank 2005 p 127 a b Eyman 2005 p 152 Metro s Freaks Going Out As Exploitation Special In First Outside Sale Variety October 1947 p 5 via Internet Archive a b Elias Savada 2004 The Making of Freaks The events leading up to the creation of Tod Browning s classic film Archived from the original on December 21 2022 Retrieved July 10 2023 a b c d e f 11 Astonishing Facts About Tod Browning s Freaks July 6 2018 Obituaries Tiny Doll The Telegraph September 15 2004 Archived from the original on July 24 2016 a b Skal 1995 p 224 25 Films Added to National Registry The New York Times November 15 1994 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved October 2 2020 Complete National Film Registry Listing Library of Congress Retrieved October 2 2020 Peterson 2014 p 239 Matthews 2009 p 58 Peterson 2009 p 37 Nicholas 2018 p 204 Hoberman amp Rosenbaum 1991 p 306 Stanley John 2000 Creature Features The Science Fiction Fantasy And Horror Movie Guide New York City Berkley Books ISBN 9780425175170 a b Towlson 2014 pp 22 25 Smith 2012 pp 88 92 a b Towlson 2014 p 25 Towlson 2014 pp 25 26 Hartzman 2006 p 169 Towlson 2014 p 29 Smith 2012 p 89 Smith 2012 pp 89 90 Norden amp Cahill 2000 pp 163 165 Norden amp Cahill 2000 p 164 a b Hawkins 2000 p 150 Thomas 1964 p 59 Hawkins 2000 p 167 Hawkins 1996 p 267 Smith 2012 p 117 Brinkema 2008 p 166 a b c d e f g h i j Mank 2005 p 124 Hartzman 2006 p 139 Mank 2005 p 123 Smith 2012 p 86 a b c d Jensen 2012 p 201 Peterson 2009 p 36 Mank 2005 pp 123 125 Freaks Freaks Now At Liberty Is Most Unusual Motion Picture Ever Produced For Screen The Sedalia Democrat Sedalia Missouri February 21 1932 p 12 via Newspapers com Matthews 2009 p 54 Nicholas 2018 p 236 Bombaci 2006 p 101 Nicholas 2018 p 136 Mank 2005 p 118 a b Doherty 1999 p 11 a b c Mank 2005 p 125 a b c Smith 2012 p 93 a b Matthews 2009 p 53 a b Faraci Devn October 3 2014 The Unseen Freaks Birth Movies Death Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Archived from the original on December 7 2015 Matthews 2009 pp 53 55 Smith 2012 p 267 Odd Story Booked at Criterion Los Angeles Times Los Angeles California February 5 1932 p 6 via Newspapers com a b Freaks AFI Catalog of Feature Films Los Angeles California American Film Institute Archived from the original on November 9 2019 a b Smith 2012 p 94 a b Smith Mark Chalon October 30 1995 Grotesquerie Is Merely a Sideshow in Freaks Los Angeles Times Los Angeles California Archived from the original on March 25 2017 Matthews 2009 p 59 a b c Matthews 2009 p 57 Smith 2012 pp 94 96 Hawkins 2000 pp 141 142 Hawkins 1996 p 265 Smith 2012 pp 94 95 Vieira 2003 p 49 Matthews 2009 pp 57 58 Matthews 2009 pp 56 58 a b Smith 2012 p 209 a b Miller Frank ed The Critic s Corner Freaks Turner Classic Movies Archived from the original on December 30 2015 Variety Staff July 12 1932 Film Reviews Freaks Variety 16 Archived from the original on September 16 2016 Freaks The New York Times July 9 1932 Archived from the original on October 7 2014 Retrieved June 21 2015 Matthews 2009 p 56 Mosher John C July 16 1932 The Current Cinema The New Yorker New York F R Publishing Corporation pp 45 46 a b Morgenstern Joe October 30 2009 This Is It One Last Thriller The Wall Street Journal Archived from the original on March 30 2020 nbsp a b c d e Smith 2012 p 113 a b Hawkins 2000 p 164 a b Newman Kim January 1 2000 Freaks Review Empire Archived from the original on December 1 2017 Thomas 1964 pp 59 61 Films review Freaks BBC September 20 2002 Archived from the original on March 30 2020 Kermode Mark June 14 2015 Freaks review remarkable beauty in once banned movie The Guardian Archived from the original on May 6 2019 Gonzalez Ed October 29 2003 Review Tod Browning s Freaks Slant Magazine Archived from the original on December 20 2019 Freaks 1932 Rotten Tomatoes Retrieved July 13 2019 LaserDisc Database Freaks LaserDisc Database a b Gonzalez Ed August 2 2004 DVD Review Freaks Slant Magazine Archived from the original on March 30 2019 T Amber July 17 2023 Here s All The Horror Headed To The Criterion Collection This October Fangoria Retrieved July 18 2023 Freaks The Unknown The Mystic Tod Browning s Sideshow Shockers The Criterion Collection a b Freaks 1932 Filmsite org AMC Networks Archived from the original on March 30 2020 Clarke Donald Freaks Tod Browning s greatest film still has the power to shock The Irish Times Archived from the original on March 30 2020 Hawkins 2000 p 148 Malcolm Derek April 15 1999 Tod Browning Freaks The Guardian Archived from the original on February 15 2020 Complete National Film Registry Listing Library of Congress Retrieved January 15 2017 Mission National Film Preservation Board Library of Congress Retrieved January 15 2017 Peterson 2009 pp 36 37 Conterio Martyn July 12 2018 Where to begin with Tod Browning British Film Institute Archived from the original on March 30 2020 Scheider 2013 p 99 Dirks Tim Greatest Scariest Movie Moments and Scenes F Filmsite org AMC Networks Archived from the original on April 15 2013 D Angelo Mike March 29 2010 Freaks The A V Club Archived from the original on November 3 2019 Senn 2015 p 138 Stack Tim September 15 2014 Ryan Murphy on Freak Show This season once you die you re dead Entertainment Weekly Archived from the original on January 12 2020 Freaks 1992 The Comic Book Database Archived from the original on October 22 2013 Chapman Ian September 2015 Experiencing David Bowie A Listener s Companion Rowman amp Littlefield ISBN 9781442237520 Leigh Mickey McNeil Legs 2009 I Slept With Joey Ramone A Punk Rock Family Memoir New York City Touchstone Books ISBN 978 1439159750 Wolf of Wall Street Freaks One of us Scenes compared Retrieved December 31 2023 Seitz Matt Zoller Sepinwall Alan 2019 The Sopranos Sessions A Conversation with David Chase Abrams ISBN 9781683355267 Retrieved May 13 2022 General sources editBombaci Nancy 2006 Freaks in Late Modernist American Culture Nathanael West Djuna Barnes Tod Browning and Carson McCullers New York Peter Lang ISBN 978 0 820 47832 6 Brinkema Eugenie 2008 Browning Freak Woman Stain In Herzogenrath Bernd ed The Cinema of Tod Browning Essays of the Macabre and Grotesque Jefferson North Carolina McFarland pp 158 173 ISBN 978 0 786 43447 3 Doherty Thomas 1999 Pre Code Hollywood Sex Immorality and Insurrection in American Cinema 1930 1934 New York Columbia University Press ISBN 978 0 231 50012 8 Eyman Scott 2005 Lion of Hollywood The Life and Legend of Louis B Mayer New York Simon and Schuster ISBN 978 0 743 20481 1 Hartzman Marc 2006 American Sideshow An Encyclopedia of History s Most Wondrous and Curiously Strange Performers New York Penguin ISBN 978 1 585 42530 3 Hawkins Joan 1996 One of Us Tod Browning s Freaks In Thomson Rosemarie Garland ed Freakery Cultural Spectacles of the Extraordinary Body New York New York University Press pp 265 276 ISBN 978 0 814 78222 4 Hawkins Joan 2000 Cutting Edge Art Horror and the Horrific Avant Garde Minneapolis Minnesota University of Minnesota Press ISBN 978 1 452 90430 6 Hoberman J Rosenbaum Jonathan 1991 Midnight Movies New York Da Capo Press ISBN 978 0 306 80433 5 Jensen Dean 2012 The Lives and Loves of Daisy and Violet Hilton A True Story of Conjoined Twins Berkeley California Ten Speed Press ISBN 978 0 307 81477 7 Mank Gregory William 2005 Women in Horror Films 1940s Jefferson North Carolina McFarland ISBN 978 0 7864 2335 4 Matthews Melvin E Jr 2009 Fear Itself Horror on Screen and in Reality During the Depression and World War II Jefferson North Carolina McFarland ISBN 978 0 786 44313 0 Nicholas Jane 2018 Canadian Carnival Freaks and the Extraordinary Body 1900 1970s Toronto Ontario University of Toronto Press ISBN 978 1 487 52208 7 Norden Martin F Cahill Madeleine 2000 Violence Women and Disability in Tod Browning s Freaks and The Devil Doll In Silver Alain Ursini James eds The Horror Film Reader New York Limelight Editions pp 151 166 ISBN 978 0 879 10297 5 Peterson Jennifer 2009 Freaks In White John Haenni Sabine eds Fifty Key American Films New York Routledge pp 36 41 ISBN 978 1 135 97932 4 Peterson Jennifer 2014 Freaks 1932 In Haenni Sabine Barrow Sarah White John eds The Routledge Encyclopedia of Films New York Routledge pp 234 240 ISBN 978 1 317 68261 5 Scheider Steven Jay 2013 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die Hauppauge New York B E S Publishing ISBN 978 0 7641 6613 6 Senn Bryan 2015 A Year of Fear A Day by Day Guide to 366 Horror Films Jefferson North Carolina McFarland ISBN 978 1 476 61090 0 Skal David J 1995 Dark Carnival The Secret World of Tod Browning Hollywood s Master of the Macabre New York Anchor Books ISBN 978 0 385 47406 1 Smith Angela 2012 Hideous Progeny Disability Eugenics and Classic Horror Cinema New York Columbia University Press ISBN 978 0 231 52785 9 Thomas John Spring 1964 Freaks Film Quarterly 17 3 Berkeley California University of California Press 59 61 doi 10 2307 1210917 JSTOR 1210917 Towlson Jon 2014 Subversive Horror Cinema Countercultural Messages of Films from Frankenstein to the Present Jefferson North Carolina McFarland ISBN 978 1 476 61533 2 Vieira Mark A 2003 Hollywood Horror From Gothic to Cosmic New York Harry N Abrams ISBN 0 8109 4535 5 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Freaks 1932 film nbsp Wikiquote has quotations related to Freaks 1932 film Freaks at the American Film Institute Catalog Freaks at AllMovie Freaks at IMDb nbsp Freaks at Rotten Tomatoes Freaks at the TCM Movie Database Beyond Freaks Kookoo the Bird Girl Archived August 18 2016 at the Wayback Machine Interview with Sarah Houbolt Paralympian and circus performer Freaks essay by Daniel Eagan in America s Film Legacy The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry A amp C Black 2010 ISBN 0826429777 pp 190 192 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Freaks 1932 film amp oldid 1221159564, 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