IMDb > Freaks (1932)
Freaks
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Freaks (1932) -- AllTrailers.net - Trailer (Flash)

Overview

User Rating:
7.9/10   12,350 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 3% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Contact:
View company contact information for Freaks on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
20 February 1932 (USA) more
Genre:
Tagline:
Can a full grown woman truly love a MIDGET ? more
Plot:
A circus' beautiful trapeze artist agrees to marry the leader of side-show performers, but his deformed friends discover she is only marrying him for his inheritance. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
Awards:
1 win & 1 nomination more
NewsDesk:
(14 articles)
Gays of our Lives (October 20, 2009)
 (From AfterElton.com. 19 October 2009, 6:10 PM, PDT)

Hellbound Hearts (Book Review)
 (From Fangoria. 13 October 2009, 1:48 PM, PDT)

User Comments:
hideously beautiful more (202 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
Wallace Ford ... Phroso
Leila Hyams ... Venus
Olga Baclanova ... Cleopatra
Roscoe Ates ... Roscoe (as Rosco Ates)
Henry Victor ... Hercules
Harry Earles ... Hans
Daisy Earles ... Frieda
Rose Dione ... Madame Tetrallini
Daisy Hilton ... Siamese Twin
Violet Hilton ... Siamese Twin
Schlitze ... Himself
Josephine Joseph ... Half Woman-Half Man
Johnny Eck ... Half Boy
Frances O'Connor ... Armless Girl
Peter Robinson ... Human Skeleton
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
Forbidden Love (USA) (informal title)
Nature's Mistakes (USA) (informal title)
The Monster Show
more
Runtime:
64 min
Country:
Language:
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric Sound System)
Certification:
Portugal:M/12 | Italy:(Banned) (original rating) | Italy:T (VHS/DVD rating) (self applied) | Finland:(Banned) (1932) | Canada:14A (video rating) | Finland:K-16 (1972) (Finnish Film Archive) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Australia:PG | Germany:16 | UK:12 (re-rating) (2001) | UK:15 (video rating) (1995) | UK:R (original rating) | UK:X (re-rating) (1963) | USA:Unrated | Ireland:(Banned) (1999)

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
After the film had been withdrawn and shelved by MGM, the distribution rights were acquired by notorious exploitation roadshow specialist Dwain Esper. Esper traveled the country showing the film under such lurid titles as "Forbidden Love" and "Nature's Mistakes". more
Goofs:
Audio/visual unsynchronized: During the scene in which Hans' friends menace Cleopatra in the wagon, the flute soundtrack doesn't match the finger movements of the dwarf playing the flute. more
Quotes:
Hercules: They're going to make you one of them, my peacock! more
Movie Connections:

FAQ

What is a pinhead?
Is "Freaks" based on a book?
A Note Regarding Spoilers
more
20 out of 24 people found the following comment useful.
hideously beautiful, 18 September 2005
6/10
Author: Jonny_Numb from Hellfudge, Pennsylvania

It is ironic how director Tod Browning followed up "Dracula"--a horror film with painterly set design and a distinct atmosphere of unease--with a horror film more grounded in reality. Whereas the sets in "Dracula" were as skillfully rendered as the most elaborate of tapestries, the abstraction of "Freaks" comes from the title characters, who are at once hideous, wonderful, and all too human. Browning doesn't present these characters--who were actual sideshow performers--in an exploitative manner (though the long disclaimer that precedes the film is a definite reflection of his concern), but instead touches on a humility, modesty, and altruism that makes them as capable of expressing joy, sorrow, and vengeance as any 'normal' human being. And that's the overriding moral of "Freaks," wherein busty trapeze artist Cleopatra marries sensitive midget Hans only so she and her lunkheaded, strongman lover can make off with his inheritance. Granted, this plot has since become cliché, but to apply it to sideshow performers who are truly in their element 'under the big top' is something of a masterstroke...as it makes the 'normals' seem that much more out-of-place and unwelcome. (A complaint: as some of the dialog is difficult to decipher, it seems that the sound quality was either poorly recorded at the time or when it was transferred to video.)

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Freaks (1932)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Your favorite freak? SlipGun
NOT a cult movie! vanessa_woolf
half man, half woman? crazyegyptiandancer
INCREDIBLE FILM - - Classic Hollywood/America robert-simms
it would be nice forgetnorway
About the torso man Movie_Guy_87
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