Freaks

Once considered offensive, Tod Browning's Freaks (1932) is now an unquestioned masterpiece, though it has lost none of its power to shock. The plot is kicked off when a carnival midget named Hans (Harry Earles) falls in love with a full-sized trapeze artist named Cleopatra (Olga Baclanova), and the latter--learning that her suitor is wealthy--decides to marry and poison him. In one famous scene, the "freaks" throw a celebration dinner accepting Cleopatra as "one of us," launching into a chant that causes her to recoil in horror. But when the circus performers uncover the true nature of Cleopatra's intentions, they exact a brutal and horrifying revenge. Featuring the Siamese twins Daisy and Violet Hilton, Randian the human torso, Johnny Eck the "half-boy," and others, Freaks paints its subjects as human beings with hearts and feelings (and even alludes to their sexual longings through several carefully-placed jokes and innuendos), while also presenting a sympathetic "normal" couple (Wallace Ford and Leila Hyams) who treat the "freaks" as equals. Presented in a handsome-looking transfer, DVD extras here include a new commentary track by Browning biographer David J. Skal, a full-length retrospective documentary (that runs longer than the 62-minute film itself), a featurette on the various endings, and the "special message prologue" added to the theatrical reissue. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (J.M. Anderson)