Freaks

Movie Information

In Brief: After fulfilling his contract at Universal with two time-marking projects (Outside the Law and The Iron Man) and one landmark film (Dracula), director Tod Browning returned to his home studio, MGM. There, he’d made his mark with a string of slightly macabre — often circus- or carnival-themed — movies that frequently starred Lon Chaney. Browning’s reputation has suffered in recent years, but it’s impossible to deny that his Dracula with Bela Lugosi — whatever its flaws (which have been greatly exagerrated) — was the film that truly launched the horror genre. Today, though, the most highly regarded of Browning’s films is almost certainly the one he chose to make upon his return to MGM in 1931, Freaks. It’s definitely the most unique, not only as concerns Browning, but film in general. To this day, there’s never been anything like it. MGM saw it simply as a way to cash in on the horror mania that came about as a result of Dracula and Frankenstein. But Browning gave the studio more than they bargained for. His film shocked and outraged censors and audiences — not in the least because it used real “freaks,” something that got it tagged as cruel and exploitative. It was withdrawn from circulation and banned outright in some places. Seen today, the film still retains the ability to unsettle the viewer.
Score:

Genre: Horror
Director: Tod Browning (Dracula)
Starring: Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams, Olga Baclanova, Roscoe Ates, Henry Victor, Harry Earles, Daisy Earles
Rated: NR

 

 

freaks-posterWhat was perhaps mostly wrong with the film, though, was that it made viewers uncomfortable because it forced them to side with the “freaks” against the so-called “normal” characters — despite the fact that the vengeance exacted by the “freaks” on the “normal” villains can only be viewed as drastic. It took 1960s audiences, however, to finally “get it,” to realize that far from being exploitative, the viewer was meant to identify with and be sympathetic to the “freaks.”

 

 

On a more mundane level, it’s probably easier to accept the film today than it was in early 1932 when it first appeared because we tend to just lump “old movies” into one large group. That’s of course a false image — and it’s particularly so in 1932, which was kind of “the year they got the talkies right.” Yes, there were great — some very great — sound movies prior to 1932, but there was an overall (not always unappealing) clunkiness to a lot of what came out. This pretty much vanished in 1932, but Freaks looks and plays older. It probably seemed like an antique — in terms of style — when it was new. Add to that the “unpleasant” subject matter and the lack of any big names — and you have a box office disaster in the making. Today, the tendency is to just overlook its awkward style as “an old movie.”

 

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While Freaks has come into its own, it’s still as well to approach it with a little caution. Some of the humor has not worn well. (Roscoe Ates’ stuttering schtick was already on the way out at the time.) There are inconclusive moments to the film — at least as it was released. What does happen to the strong man (Henry Victor)? Apparently, he was emasculated, but you’ll never get that from the film. Some of the shocks shock without making much, if any, sense. Sure, the image of Prince Randian — “The Living Torso” — crawing through the mud with a knife in his mouth in pursuit of the bad guys is disturbing, but just exactly what real threat does he present. It’s the sort of thing — much like Cleopatra’s (Olga Baclanova) come-uppance — that works as a momentary chill until you think about it. And then there are Harry and Daisy Earles, who fit their roles perfectly — except that it’s virtually impossible to understand what they’re saying a lot of the time. So, yeah, it’s flawed, but it’s also an essential of the genre. And what other movie and director found their way into a David Bowie song?

 

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About Ken Hanke
Head film critic for Mountain Xpress from December 2000 until his death in June 2016. Author of books "Ken Russell's Films," "Charlie Chan at the Movies," "A Critical Guide to Horror Film Series," "Tim Burton: An Unauthorized Biography of the Filmmaker."

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13 thoughts on “Freaks

  1. Dionysis

    I first saw this film when I was around 10 years old. It was the first movie my father let me go see alone. He managed a theatre then in Wilson, NC, and my brother (4 years younger) and I went to his theatre and watched some movie with Cliff Richard (I can’t recall the name, and didn’t even recall that movie until my brother reminded me). After it ended, my father called his friend who managed another theatre that was showing ‘Freaks’ and arranged for me to see it (free, of course). I left the first theatre and bravely walked by myself the few blocks to the one showing this film. My father almost didn’t let me go, but knew I was an avid horror movie fan, was fairly mature for a kid and would be fine.

    The movie did not scare me, but I do remember walking out feeling bad. It may have been the first time that I was exposed to unfortunate people so deformed, and I was sad for a long time afterwards.

    • Ken Hanke

      I can’t say I ever really thought of Freaks as fun. (And who is that avatar?)

      • T.rex

        Whaaaat? This might help you …in that picture he (Ogre) is yelling “NNNERRRRDS!!” No, I can’t say it’s a classic but a damn good time.

        • T.rex

          From Safety Last to Reveng of the Nerds (Orson Welles voiced the trailer, that’s crazy)
          Lots of spice in the celluloid stew.

  2. T.rex

    Did Browning oversee the Spanish Dracula that used his sets? I enjoyed that version, some scenes were creepier than the main version.

    • Ken Hanke

      No, he had nothing to do with it — apart from the shots that the Spanish version directly lifts from the Browning film. I find the Spanish Dracula nothing more than a curio. It doesn’t help, of course, that Dracula looks like Topo Gigio.

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