Freaks (1932)

Director:

Tod Browning

Writer:

Clarence Aaron 'Tod' Robbins (story)
(more)

Release Date:

20 February 1932 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror

Tagline:

Can a full grown woman truly love a MIDGET ?

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.

Plot Keywords:

Freak | Trapeze Artist | Circus | Poison | Sideshow

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

US TV Schedule:

Wed. June 6

10:30 AM

TCM

Cast

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
Olga Roderick	...	Bearded Lady
Koo Koo	...	Herself
Prince Randian	...	The Living Torso (as Rardion)
Martha Morris	...	Angeleno's Armless Wife
Elvira Snow	...	Pinhead (as Zip)
Jenny Lee Snow	...	Pinhead (as Pip)
Elizabeth Green	...	Bird Girl
Angelo Rossitto	...	Angeleno
Edward Brophy	...	Rollo Brother
Matt McHugh	...	Rollo Brother (as Mat McHugh)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
John Aasen	...	Giant (uncredited)
Ernie Adams	...	Sideshow Patron (uncredited)
Demetrius Alexis	...	Mr. Rogers (uncredited)
Hooper Atchley	...	Doctoer (uncredited)
Jerry Austin	...	Knife-Throwing Dwarf (uncredited)
Sidney Bracey	...	Hans' Butler (uncredited)
Mathilde Comont	...	Madame Bartet (uncredited)
Albert Conti	...	Landowner (uncredited)
Tiny Doll	...	(uncredited)
Edith	...	Crawling Girl (uncredited)
Delmo Fritz	...	Sword-Swallower (uncredited)
Murray Kinnell	...	Freakshow Barker (uncredited)
Burgess Meredith	...	Carny Caller (uncredited)
Michael Visaroff	...	Jean (uncredited)

Directed by
Tod Browning

Writing credits
Clarence Aaron 'Tod' Robbins		(story "Spurs") (as Tod Robbins)
Al Boasberg		additional dialogue (uncredited)
Willis Goldbeck		screenplay (uncredited)
Leon Gordon		screenplay (uncredited)
Charles MacArthur		uncredited
Edgar Allan Woolf		additional dialogue (uncredited)

Produced by
Tod Browning	....	producer (uncredited)
Dwain Esper	....	producer (reissue) (uncredited)
Harry Rapf	....	producer (uncredited)
Hildegarde Stadie	....	producer (reissue) (uncredited)
Irving Thalberg	....	producer (uncredited)

Cinematography by
Merritt B. Gerstad		(photographed by) (uncredited)

Film Editing by
Basil Wrangell		(uncredited)

Art Direction by
Cedric Gibbons		(uncredited)
Merrill Pye		(uncredited)

Production Management
Harry Sharrock	....	production manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
William Ryan	....	second assistant director (uncredited)
Will Sheldon	....	third assistant director (uncredited)
Errol Taggart	....	first assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
G.A. Burns	....	sound recording engineer (uncredited)
Douglas Shearer	....	recording director (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
David S. Horsley	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
Oliver T. Marsh	....	additional photographer (uncredited)
Paul Vogel	....	additional photographer (uncredited)

Other crew
Will Sheldon	....	script supervisor (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (controlled by Loew's Incorporated)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1932) (USA) (theatrical)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1932) (Austria) (theatrical)
• Excelsior Pictures Corp. (1949) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release) (as "Nature's Mistakes")
• Joseph Brenner Associates (JBA) (1970) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1986) (USA) (VHS)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (1995) (Finland) (TV)
• Chapel Distribution (1997) (Australia) (theatrical)
• Warner Home Video (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2005) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2005) (Germany) (DVD)
• Magnus Opus (2005) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Tornado Film (2005) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Galba Films (????) (France) (theatrical) (re-release)

Also Known As:

"Forbidden Love" - USA (informal title)
"Nature's Mistakes" - USA (informal title)

Runtime:

64 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German | French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

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) | France:-18 | 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)

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The film's original ending showed Hercules singing soprano in Madame Tetralini's new sideshow because he has been castrated by the freaks. After intensely negative reaction by preview audiences, this scene was cut.

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.

Quotes:

Roscoe:[whenever he asks only one of the two Siamese twins to stay, and the twins have to leave together] You always use that as a excu-excuse, an alib-b-b-bi.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship & Videotape (2010) (V)

Visit This Sideshow at Your Peril

A forest glade somewhere in Europe. A warm, sunny day with children playing on the grass. But the camera moves closer and reveals that something is terribly wrong. For these are not children, but tragically misshapen human beings. Pinheads. Dwarfs. A young man with only half a body. A man without arms or legs. These are the Freaks.

In 1932, director Tod Browning, fresh from his success with DRACULA, was instructed by Irving Thalberg to top FRANKENSTEIN. He succeeded. The resulting film was considered so ghastly that it was banned in Britain for 30 years. It is the strangest film MGM ever released.

Browning wanted to tell a tale of love, greed & revenge set in a circus, most particularly in the sideshow of human anomalies. He scoured Europe & America for the perfect cast. He got them: Violet & Daisy Hilton, the celebrated Siamese twins; dwarf brother & sister Harry & Daisy Earles; Johnny Eck the Half Boy (a good actor, he will remain in your mind a long time); the tragic Josephine Joseph, a hermaphrodite; as well as a human skeleton, armless girls and the female pinheads, among others.

While the plot is exploitive & the title tasteless, these people show us glimpses of their hearts, some of the agony of their condition and make us wonder, `What if I'd been born as one of them?'

The rest of the cast is made up of MGM stock players Leila Hyams, Wallace Ford, Edward Brophy, Olga Baclanova and the screen's champion stutterer Roscoe Ates.

The plot is simple. A beautiful trapeze artist marries a dwarf for his money, then plots his murder with her lover, the circus strong man. The subsequent action is both horrifying & strangely satisfying. Various scenes - the Freaks' Banquet, the chase through the storm - are among the most bizarre ever filmed. You won't soon forget the time you spend with the FREAKS.