Freaks (1932)

Country of Origin: USA
Year of Production: 1932
Running Times: 64m
Length:
Format: 35mm
Colour Format: black and white
Aspect Ratio:
Sound: mono

DIRECTION

Tod Browning's production of...

PRODUCTION
Copyright: MCMXXXII [1932] by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer presents Tod Browning's production of
Controlled by: Loew's Incorporated
Producers: Tod Browning, Irving Thalberg [both uncredited]

SCRIPT
Screenplay: Willis Goldbeck, Leon Gordon, Edgar Allan Woolf, Al Boasberg, John L. Balderston [all uncredited]
Suggested by Tod Robbins' story Spurs

DIRECTION
Assistant Director: Will Sheldon

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Merritt B. Gerstad

EDITING AND POST PRODUCTION
Editor: Basil Wrangell [uncredited]

SOUND
Sound: Gavin Burns [uncredited]

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Art Director: Cedric Gibbons [uncredited]

CAST

Wallace Ford (Phroso)
Leila Hyams (Venus)
Olga Baclanova (Cleopatra)
Rosco Ates (Roscoe)
Henry Victor (Hercules)
Harry Earles (Hans)
Daisy Earles (Frieda)
Rose Dione (Madame Tetrallini)
Daisy Hilton, Violet Hilton (Siamese twins)
Schlitze (by herself)
Josephine Joseph (half woman-half man)
Johnny Eck (half boy)
Frances O'Connor (armless girl)
Peter Robinson (human skeleton)
Olga Roderick (bearded lady)
Koo Koo (by herself)
Rardion (the living torso)
Martha Morris (armless girl)
Zip & Pip (pinheads)
Elizabeth Green (bird girl)
Angelo Rossito (Angeleno)
Edward Brophy, Matt McHugh (Rollo brothers)

UNCREDITED CAST

Ernie Adams (sideshow patron)
Louise Beavers (maid)
Albert Conti (landowner)
Tom London
Michael Visaroff (Jean the caretaker - uncredited)

PLOT SUMMARY

A travelling sideshow boasts a collection of human oddities paraded for public spectacle as freaks. One of them, the midget Hans, is madly in love with the gold-digging trapeze artist Cleopatra who is interested in him only because he's saved a small fortune. Cleopatra and her lover, strongman Hercules, plan to have her marry Hans so that she will be left the money in his will. But at the wedding reception, Cleopatra is revolted by Hans' friends in the sideshow who just want to accept her as one of their own. The angry freaks take revenge on the scheming Cleopatra and Hercules in the most horrific way imaginable...

A beautiful and shocking film that retains its power to simultaneously appall and enthrall even now. The climactic shots of the vengeful freaks slithering through the mud and rain in search of Cleopatra and Hercules is indelibly etched into the memory of anyone who's seen it and our last glimpse of the ill-fated Cleopatra is a surreal, nightmarish classic. As much a plea for tolerance and understanding as it is a horror film, this is a sensitive but powerful film that more than deserves its venerated status as a classic.

AVAILABILITY

USA
Theatrical Distributor: MGM
Video Distributor: MGM / UA Home Video
Laserdisc Distributor: MGM Home Video (ML 100843); MGM / UA Home Video (ML 104507)

Germany
Rating: 16

UK
Rating: 15
Freaks holds the unenviable title of the film with the longest ban in the UK, from its non-release in 1932 until its eventual first public screening in 1963.

USA
Rating: unrated

1994
National Film Preservation Board, USA
Added to the National Film Registry

1993
October
13: USA - laserdisc release (MGM / UA Home Video (ML 104507))

2001
July
18: Germany - television broadcast (on WDR)

2007
December
11: UK - shown at the BFI Southbank (as part of the Flipside strand)

Can a full grown woman truly love a MIDGET?

"We'll Make Her One of Us!" from the gibbering mouths of these weird creatures came this frenzied cry... no wonder she cringed in horror... this beautiful woman who dared toy with the love of one of them!

The Strangest... The Most Startling Human Story Ever Screened... Are You Afraid To Believe What Your Eyes See?

Forbidden Love - re-release title
Nature's Mistakes - re-release title
Barnum - shooting title
The Monster Show - re-release title
Loves of Freaks

REMAKE
She Freak (1967)

SEE ALSO
Cité des enfants perdus, La (1995)
Freaked (1993)
Mutations, The (1973)

FOOTAGE INCLUDED IN
Exploitation Classics (1985)
Fallen (1998)

PERIODICALS

The Dark Side August 1995 p.41 (UK)
review

Empire May 1995 p.120 (UK)
illustrated review

Films in Review June - July 1971 p.374 (UK)
review

The Missing Link no.3 (UK
review

Monthly Film Bulletin August 1963 pp.110-111 (UK)
credits, synopsis, review

BOOKS

Reference Guide to Fantastic Films p.150
credits

OTHER SOURCES

BFI Southbank Guide December 2007 p.8 (UK)
illustrated listing

screen
credits

castration, disabilities, freaks, midgets, revenge, Siamese twins, sideshows

Last Updated: 2 November, 2009