Freaks (1932)

Overall rating from 1 to 100: 72

O Masterpiece (95-100)
O Excellent (75-94)
X Good video rental (60-74)
O Merely OK (50-59)
O Pure mediocrity (30-49)
O Medusa: don't watch (1-29)

Review by Jason Pyles / June 8, 2007

If you truly love cinema and its oddities, then you must see “Freaks,” a legendary anomaly from 1932. And before you pass on reading a review for a movie that’s 75 years old, there are some things that you should know:

[Note: The following factoids come from Louis Giannetti and Scott Eyman’s “Flashback – A Brief History of Film,” Ronald Bergan’s “Film” and the Internet Movie Database’s trivia page for “Freaks.”]

“Freaks” is still technically illegal in some states of the U.S. (It was banned in several states and cities, and many of these laws were never officially repealed.)

This movie was originally banned in Australia. “Freaks” was also banned in the United Kingdom for 30 years, giving it a record of one of the longest bans in UK film history.

Upon its release, “Freaks” offended its audiences, was reviled by critics, was a financial disaster, and eventually packaged as an exploitation picture and shown as a double feature with nudist camp footage.

“After being withdrawn from distribution for years, “Freaks” was resurrected at the 1962 Venice Film Festival, just a few weeks before the death of its director, Tod Browning.

“Freaks” was rated X in the UK in 1963, though it would probably be PG by today’s standards because there’s no sex or nudity. (The X rating didn’t always strictly suggest pornographic content.)

And lastly, Premiere.com ranked “Freaks” among “The 25 Most Dangerous Movies.”

So what makes “Freaks” so controversial? In simplest terms, the director cast and exploited actual deformed, disabled people, portraying them as the “monsters” that antagonists in the movie suspect they are (even though their characters are actually nice folks). But Tod Browning didn’t do this knowingly; his film’s gross hypocrisy was unintentional. He was attempting to express a moral: Don’t make fun of people. But Browning added an “or else.”

(And, it should be noted, that the atypical actors cast as the so-called “freaks” were actual circus sideshow performers in real life. It’s not proper justification, but these people made their living by exploiting themselves.)

Filmed in black and white, “Freaks” is one of the early “talkies” (or sound films) that tells the story of a midget named Hans (Harry Earles) who is engaged to marry Frieda (Daisy Earles, Harry’s real-life sister), but he’s smitten by a “normal” trapeze artist named Cleopatra (Olga Baclanova).

Cleopatra finds the little guy’s affections amusing. She cruelly ridicules Hans with her sinister friend, Hercules (Henry Victor). And when Cleopatra finds out that Hans is rich, she tries to become his bride that she may dispose of him and inherit his wealth.

Well, Hans’ friends (the other sideshow performers), discover Cleopatra’s dark designs and assemble to execute even darker deeds upon her and Hercules. (And I would note, that Hercules’ fate was permanently removed from the film after it screened for disgusted test audiences, and that footage is now considered lost. If you’re curious about what the scene entailed, the words I used to describe said footage, “permanently removed,” were indicative.)

Where the movie goes south, morally speaking, is that it fails to maintain the humanity of the freaks, and validates any accusations of their having evil, twisted, monstrous natures. In fact, the most uncomfortable scene is the “attack” sequence, which is when the freaks mob the true villains. The director tries to portray these disabled people as menacing, and really, it’s pitiful and sad.

The movie seems dated. It’s not actually horrifying (nor is it excellent), it’s just weird. But amid an age of CGI and phenomenal make-up, it’s fascinating to behold these actors who truly were as we see them in the film.

Prince Randian, “The Living Torso,” had a trunk and a head but no arms or legs. Johnny Eck, “The Half-boy,” was missing everything from his belly button — down. He walked his chest and head around using his hands. An actual bearded lady appears in the film, but she later denounced it and regretted her involvement. My favorite actors were the microcephalics, often called “pinheads.” These actors had remarkably small heads and unusually proportioned facial features. “Schlitze,” who played himself, was male but played a female and wore a dress “for personal hygiene reasons.”

Perhaps the most fascinating element of all, is if you read these actors’ trivia on the Internet Movie Database, you will see that most of them lived an incredibly long time, into their 80s.

In 1994, “Freaks” was selected for the National Film Registry’s archive of cinematic treasures. And considering that “Freaks” was made during the Great Depression, perhaps this movie was a good thing: I doubt many people had money to spend at the circus. So thanks to Tod Browning (who was once a circus contortionist himself), these sideshow performers had work.

Directed by Tod Browning
Olga Baclanova / Harry Earles / Daisy Earles
64 min. Drama / Thriller
MPAA: Not rated (But, by today’s standards, probably PG)

Copyright 2007.
JP0123 : 790