Freaks
1932 Directed by Tod Browning
Synopsis
The love story of a SIREN, a GIANT, and a DWARF!
A carnival barker displays a sideshow freak called the Feathered Hen and tells her story. Cleopatra, a trapeze artist with the carnival, is adored by a midget named Hans. Frieda, Hans' fiancée (also a midget), warns Hans that Cleopatra is only interested in him so that he will give her money. Cleopatra has an affair with Hercules, and when Frieda lets it slip that Hans is to come into an inheritance, Cleopatra and Hercules plan to get the money be having Cleopatra marry Hans. During the wedding reception, Cleopatra, although openly romantic with Hercules, is accepted by the freaks, but is revolted and mocks them. The freaks decide that they no longer need Hercules in their carnival and have a new career for Cleopatra all lined up, and make sure she doesn't 'chicken' out.
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This holds up tremendously in one definitive category- the frank depiction of everyday freak-life. It's less about acting and more about real deformities captured in mundane existence. This is a sad film by the end, generating huge amounts of empathy without forcing trite stereotypes upon the freaks. They exist as they are and therefore the film refuses to spotlight the performers with any fake qualities. The honesty on screen is what has aged this finely. Director Todd Browning does not shy away from the shit luck these people were dealt in life. In the end, the story concludes as an essential morality tale and a fascinating window into the past.
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Gooble gobble! 80 years later, Tod Browning's revenge tale set among a community of circus sideshow performers is just as unsettling. Much of the film's power comes from Browning's unsensational depiction of his cast of physically (and, in some cases, developmentally) disabled performers - the mostly wooden acting (though Harry Earles, as diminutive ringmaster Hans, is pretty suave) is a worthy trade-off for the verisimilitude. While it's not a message movie, it is fascinating how the "freaks" are disturbing only because of the cultural baggage we bring to the film; they're actually the characters who are portrayed with dignity throughout the film, while it's the "normal" characters who are truly monstrous. It's an idea - Who are the real monsters? - that countless other horror films have explored, but rarely as successfully.
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The December Project: Film #16
Deciding, as any rational person would, to go for a Browning double-bill, I followed The Unknown with the director's controversial "masterpiece", a a description I'm happy to say fits Freaks well. Billed often as a horror, it's really not at all; here is a compassionate, compelling portrait of what is, in essence, a civil rights issue. Shocking contemporary audiences by his casting of deformed circus performers, Browning both internally and externally manages to expose the horrific prejudices of society to people fallen victim to, as the film calls it, an "accident of birth". It's an immensely moving film, the casting allowing the terrible plight of these characters to find distressing realism. I'm glad I finally watched this; it's exactly the classic I'd been led to expect.
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Tod Browning's Freaks is a well-regarded classic for good reason. At only 64 minutes, it is surprisingly short, but it's funny, well-made and very endearing. A film ahead of its time, it surprised audiences and caused controversy but remains a wonderful, important drama made up of the most unlikely but superbly fitting ensemble cast to ever grace the screen.
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GOBBLE, GOBBLE, ONE OF US !! This movie still packs a punch, especially at the climactic end scene with the "freaks" going after Hercules in the rain. If it's still strong today what could 1932 audiences possibly have felt? This is a soap opera at the traveling carny / sideshow where some very "special" people mix with clowns, strongmen and the like. Do not cross any of the "freaks" though because they have a code and they come after those who hurt them. The most interesting part is that Tod Browning (who also directed Dracula) goes out of his way to show sympathy for these poor folks displaying them in the most positive light. By film's end though I can…
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''We accept her! One of us! One of us! Gooble-gobble, gooble-gobble!'' - The Freaks.
But, seriously, the real freaks here are very repulsive; they are the worst kind of people: conniving, manipulative, heartless. Serves them right what happens at the end. Tod Browning (a former member of a travelling circus himself) was a man truly ahead of his time. I really admired his direction and also his courage to use actual deformed people as his actors... it's a real pity that he was forced to cut out a hefty 26 minutes, though, which stymied the storytelling at certain parts and did nothing to stop the massive controversy it stirred back in the day (effectively ending his career, sigh). By the…
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A 1936 gem if I ever saw one. It's the simple story of boy meets girl...or in this case girl meets boys - marries him for money - tries to kill him and run away with the lover - and something happens, just...that something is out of the ordinary than your normal story line.
I loved every minute of this. It's only an hour and 2 minutes long so I suggest you sit and watch this!
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this movie seemed like it was building up to them chanting One of us but it never happened and instead in the end the main small person became a millionaire for no reason
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[B+]
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harrowing
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[A]
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As a movie, Freaks is decent at best. As a cinematic oddity, you'd be hard to find something that tops it. It is without question one of the weirdest films ever made.
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At the age of 81, this film about the deformed members of the circus holds up quite well. Its actors, the so-called freaks, have deformities that would awe people today. They are not average people with make-up and special effects; these are people with real deformities. Freaks gives us a peek at what life for these people consisted.
The main story follows a normal sized trapeze who flirts with extremely young-looking dwarf. One of the movie's tagline is Can A Full Grown Woman Truly Love A Midget? This question is never asked as it is obvious what the woman's intentions are especially after she finds out about the inheritance. The 'normal' humans are portrayed as the real freaks and heartless…
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Why does my heart feel so bad?
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While not much of a horror film (at least until the end), Freaks is nonetheless an entertaining film. Actually, It just might be the oldest film I've seen (next year will be its 80th anniversary - holy shit). For only being an hour long, there's definitely some filler that details the lives of the other circus "freaks," but the finale pretty much makes up for all of that. Not too bad, considering I bought this on TCM's Classic Horror Films collection (with The Haunting, House of Wax, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) for only $5 new. Plus the film has the absolute greatest tagline of all time (Can a full grown woman truly love a MIDGET?). How can you go wrong?