Freaks (1932)

"To me, you're a man. To her, you're only something to laugh at."

--Frida

Todd Browning's horrific adaptation of the story "Spurs" by Todd Robbins, Freaks (1932) has gained cult infamy over the decades--if not a "banned" film, it is, at the very least, one that was for many decades suppressed. The story centers on an old-time carnival show, a beautiful but monstrous trapeze artist (Olga Baclanova, credited simply as "Baclanova"), and the infatuation with her by a midget. The midget's girlfriend sees through the guise of deception, the massive disgust, and contempt the beautiful trapeze artist has for the little person--and for the circus "freaks" in general. "Hold on to your socks and hose and pull," as the man said. This film defies modern "politically correct" standards.

The little man, Hans (Harry Earles), makes a fool of himself following the beautiful, statuesque European trapeze artist about, much to the despair of Frida, his girlfriend, In between, we meet the "freaks": famous personages such as Johnny Eck, the "Half-Man", famed midget actor Angelo Rossito, Prince Randian, the "Living Torso", Schlitzie, Mitzy and others. They are cared for by an older woman who gently and compassionately loves them as her "children."

The beginning of the film sees them accosted by a groundskeeper and his master while they frolic in the woods. The groundskeeper responds with superstitious bigotry, but the more sophisticated landowner smiles kindly when he finds out they are from the circus. The circus roustabouts poke gentle fun at the freaks, as we see them go about their daily lives before the curtain rises.

Some of this is comic, of course: for instance, the stuttering man (Roscoe Ates), married to one of the beautiful Hilton Sisters (Violet and Daisy), complaining of one of the sister's drinking, says, "I won't have my wife lying in bed all day with your hangover!"

In a scene that would raise hackles if made today, the roustabouts gently mock the "Half Man/Half Woman" (Josephine Joseph) transexual performer, who dresses one half in a dress, the other half in masculine attire. But there is no sense with these circus folks that they are cruel, or doing this out of anything but a familial kinship. The circus people, the carny folk, know they all live "on the margins," and it gives them a special bond. But some are not so good-hearted, or a part of the family.

"Cleo" (Baclanova) continues her mocking seduction of Hans, while Frida (Daisy Earles) looks on in sadness and disgust. Meanwhile, she is plotting with her German strongman boyfriend (played by Henry Victor, who looks as if he could easily don an S.S. uniform and look completely natural) to get Hans to marry her, so she can get his money...and then off him. This brings us to the infamous "gooba gabba" wedding party scene.

The Freaks are assembled, waiting to make Cleo "One of us! One of us!" now that she is married to Hans. Angelo Rossitto's character, walking across the table, offers each of the freaks a sip of wine. Cleo's strongman boyfriend is very drunk and thinks it is a riot. So, does Cleo, until Angelo brings the goblet for her to drink from, and she falls silent. Rising,m the cruel bitch is horrified at the prospect of becoming "one of them," one of the freaks. She spits the wine back out at them. Bad move. They realize then what she has done, that she has betrayed their ethics. She has transgressed. She has broken the Code of the Freaks.

Hans is suddenly stricken "ill." He and Johnny Eck and a dwarf are all in the trailer when Hans witnesses Cleo giving him his "medicine", slipping in something from a little black bottle. Suddenly Johnny Eck and the dwarf are taking out guns and knives. (previously, the hot-blooded circus temptress Venus (Leilah Hyams) has confronted Cleo's strongman lover about her suspicion that he and Cleo are a couple of lowlifes "What would kill a freak to get his money!"

The Storm

The final scene is a primal duel, between the charming circus clown Phroso (Wallace Ford) and Henry Victor's character. A wagon derails during a storm. The Freaks, led by Johnny Eck, crawl through the rain-soaked mud, a primal force, one that could have been belched up from the dark, tarnish pits of a hell reserved to deliver justice, to avenge the weak, to punish those that torment the life of those who were born different, through no fault of their own.

The Code of the Freaks has been broken. This transgression will be avenged.

The ending is one of pure absurdist horror, almost dream-like or rather, nightmare-like in its sudden final shock. It overwhelms.

But the whole film is unpleasant and will even test some today, those not used to or accustomed to deformity, to aberration; Johnny Eck walking on his hands, Prince Randian rolling and lighting a cigarette with only his mouth, his armless and legless torso wrapped tightly; or, Josephine/Joseph, sauntering beautifully toward the audience, the shot framed on either side by two roustabouts (an image that should trouble few in modern times)...it was all too much for audiences of the period, although MGM tried in vain to portray the humanity of the performers, they sold the rights to Freaks to a distributor who, finding it to be a box-office flop, shelved the film for years. Of course, it was BANNED in the UK, as so many films have been, not being shown there for many decades.

The film was rediscovered and became a staple of the cult midnight movie circuit. Critical reception was deeply polarized, with some critics of the era recoiling in revolt, as was to be expected. Others, over the years, have extolled its virtues of compassion, and humanity, and how Browning was NOT referring to his deformed performers by the title, but instead, to the characters portrayed by Baclanova and Henry Victor, as the "real freaks"; and perhaps he was indicting the audience members, some of whom fainted, or vomited, or ran shrieking up the aisle (according to Stephen King's famous nonfiction book Danse Macabre) away from the screen, away from the aberration; because they feared what was different, because, as a book I read when I was a child noted, "it made them feel as if they might be "less than perfect." These are the same sorts of superstitious fools who threw stones at Joseph Merrick, gasped at Chang and Eng Bunker, or left a physically disabled child out in the elements, to die of exposure.

The real freaks are not these gentle souls that have been cursed by fate or are living out the strange Will of God in a world that doesn't want them. This is Browning's message, and it's one we should take to heart. Lest we all look in the mirror and see something hideous some morning. But NOT one of the FREAKS.

Trailer