Review of Freaks (1932) by Leanne B — 04 Nov 2009
FREAKS (1932).
Dir. Tod Brownning.
Cast. Harry Earles, Daisy Earles, Olga BaclanovaHurt one of them and you hurt them all. Freaks tells a simple story set in a circus. Its the chronicles of the characters working in it without ever seeing any of the shows. It all takes place in the backstage area or even during their free times. There are a few romances going on and there are a few «freaks» around, I would even say a lot. A woman, beautiful one with that, conspires to marry a little man, a dwarf, when she discovers he owns a fortune. His pals, his deformed pals should I say, will figure out the plot she has to kill him and will take revenge on her.Freaks is an odd piece of filmmaking. It doesnt make fun of the deformed people, some characters in the movie do though. Some bit are simply fascinating, like when that man with no arms and no legs - he basically looks like a sausage - lights up a cigarette pretty easily using only his mouth.Some moment are disturbing cause there is no make-up in the film. Those are all real life «freaks» but in the end the one making fun of them are the one that really are freaks.The film is quite short, barely over one hour and some scenes feel useless but the ending is more than satisfying. Not as shocking as it must have been when it first came out over 75 years ago.
This review of Freaks (1932) was written by Leanne B on 04 Nov 2009.
Freaks has generally received very positive reviews.
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