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Freaks |  | Director: Tod Browning
Actors: Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams, Olga Baclanova, Roscoe Ates, Henry Victor
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.98
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Rating:  161 reviews
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled)
Rating: Unrated
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 64 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: 1000002023
ISBN: 0790746549
UPC: 012569519121
EAN: 9780790746548
Theatrical Release Date: February 20, 1932
Release Date: August 10, 2004
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| Features:
| • | Fictional film based on the true life experiences of circus sideshow freaks made in the 1930s. The film was edited for American distribution and banned in England for over 30 years. However, recently, it has taken on cult status for its campy plot and the real circus entertainers who appear in the film. Directed by horror film master Tod Browning.Running Time: 62 min. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Treachery is discovered amongst a traveling circus sideshow. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 09/13/2005 Starring: Wallace Ford Roscoe Ates Run time: 62 minutes Rating: Nr Director: Tod Browning
Amazon.com
Tod Browning, who directed Bela Lugosi in the original Dracula, stepped into even eerier territory with this 1932 story of betrayal and retribution in the circus. Evil trapeze artist Olga Baclanova seduces and marries a midget in the circus sideshow, hoping to inherit his wealth. But in doing so, she has crossed the wrong folks: the tightly knit group of nature's aberrations, who stick together like family--and who set out to avenge their little pal. Browning brought in some of the most famous sideshow attractions of the era, include Siamese twins Daisy and Violet Hilton and Johnny Eck the Legless Boy, as well as Zip and Pip, microcephalics whose appearance in this film inspired cartoonist Bill Griffith to create his comic strip, "Zippy the Pinhead." So disturbing that it was banned for 30 years in Great Britain. --Marshall Fine
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 161
 POOR QUALITY November 14, 2009
Dr. L (New York City, NY United States)
Love the movie, but this so called ENHANCED VERSION is really poor quality. so bad you can hardly view it! Get te orginal release its much better.
 Great 1930s movie November 4, 2009
Jessica Bellevue (Durham ME USA)
This was a great movie. It has a busy story line and multiple characters. One thing you will need to do is turn the volume on your tv up. The sound is very quiet at some parts compared to newer movies. Excellent if you appreciate older movies and old fashioned beauty.
We accept her, one of us! October 16, 2009
Robert Thompson (Under Your Bed!!!)
Let me start off by saying that anyone who thinks this movie was exploiting the actors is ignorant. Tod Browning was obviously trying to paint them in a positive light, he was trying to show that these people are human beings just like the rest of us and should not be treated any differently. This is a great, classic film that focuses around characters rather than plot. That's not to see there isn't a plot, far from it, but in my opinion when a film focuses on the characters its usually a sign that it's going to be good. I don't want to ruin too much of the plot, but the gist of it is that there's a group of sideshow performers, or freaks, that have formed a community for themselves in a traveling circus. One of them, a dwarf named Hans, falls in love with a more typical human being and things spiral from there. The cinematography is mostly basic but there's a few scenes that are actually quite sophisticated. The film is is a social criticism on humanity's morality, or lack thereof, when dealing with so-called "freaks". It's a little slow in some parts, but the charactrs suck you in and the film is great.
 A curiosity in the history of filmaking-no more,no less August 20, 2009
Robert Badgley (London,Ontario,Canada)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Freaks,released in February 1932,was and is a title that says as much about itself as it does about its' subject matter.It was a curiosity then and remains so to this day.Judged on its' merits as a film,and all that that implies,it comes up far short of its'intended goals.
Browning had previously worked with Lon Chaney who was THE master of grotesquery in his characterizations.He also had directed the horror hit Dracula the year previously.Mix this with the so called "Great Depression" and the studios desperation to keep their heads above water and looking for new ideas to intice patrons into the theatres,and you have the movie Freaks.
The movies' centrepiece is two midgets,Hans and Frieda(Harry and Daisy Earles-real life brother and sister).Both are part of the "freak" section of the circus performers and are engaged to be married.Enter trapeze artist Cleopatra(Olga Baclanova)who catches the eye of little Hans.She humours and eggs him on by flirting openly with him,much to Frieda's chagrin and embarrassement.Cleopatra however goes for the circus strongman Hercules(Henry Victor) and they both take great delight in humiliating Hans and the other "freaks" frequently.
When Cleopatra learns that Hans has alot of money she talks him into marrying her.Frieda tries to tell Hans it's a sham,but he won't listen and goes ahead with the marriage.During a reception it becomes apparent to Hans things aren't what they should be when Hercules kisses Cleopatra openly.And when the "freaks" in attendance chant that they "accept her"(Cleopatra),she becomes enraged at the thought and tells them to take a hike.During the reception she had slipped a poison into Hans drink-starting early to get rid of him and collect on his money.She carries him back to the wagon and a doctor is summoned,as she feigns innocence.She convinces the doctor but the spurned"freaks" are getting wise to the situation and keep a close watch.Sure enough when Cleopatra is alone she slips poison into Hans medicine.Hans however has gotten wise himself and spits out each dose when Cleo isn't looking.Hans has had it and decides,along with his friends,to take care of cheating/murdering Cleopatra and Hercules.When Hercules goes after his ex girlfriend Venus,who threatened to take what she knew about the two of them to the police,the "freaks" are right there.On a rain soaked,mud filled ground Hercules tries to crawl away with a knife in his side from the approaching threat,but he is eventually overtaken.At the same time Cleopatra runs screaming into the night from her wagon only to be followed by more "freaks",who get their woman.The movie ends as it had begun,with people standing around a large square enclosure,inside which is the former Cleopatra,now a "freak" and a much deformed "duck woman".
This slight tale of revenge was banned in a few countries around the world due to its' graphic and exploitative subject matter.It was released ,pulled,re-released again and again(parred down),but it still received terrible reviews and bombed at the box office.Actual circus performers("freaks") as you can see were "used" heavily in the movie for authenticity.You have pinheads,a half woman-half man,more than one armless woman,siamese twins,the living torso,bird girl,a dwarf,a legless dwarf,and several others.What brings the movie down isn't so much the obviously contrived script of righting a wrong but the poor acting involved.Most of the "freaks" did fairly well all things considered,but Olga Baclanova as Cleo and her brutish boyfriend Hercules played by Henry Victor,troll for new depths in bad acting.Olga plays it way,way over the top and Victor comes along to push down them both down the slippery slope on the other side.You actually wonder what took them so long to do them in! On the other side of the coin is Venus(Leila Hyams) and Phroso(Wallace Ford),who save the film from total oblivion.Rose Dione as Madame Tetrallini also manages to make the most of her on screen time.
Sure one feels an empathy towards these men and women,the underbelly of the circus world,but it is an empathy that Browning unnecessarily pounds home.Not only does he show fellow "normal" circus perfomers shunning them(not generally the case in real life)just to achieve a modicum of a plot,the re-issue prologue REALLY pounds home the sympathy message by its' sermonization.At the end of the day however there just is not enough good to overcome the bad in this film.It was a brave experiment on Browning's and MGM's parts,but it didn't come off.
As you know the film we see today is a cut down version of the original.Unless some archive somewhere turns up a longer copy,this is the film posterity will be left with.Having said that though,I do not believe this film would have been helped by the extra footage.I think it would just have prolonged the agony and possibly made it even worse than what we have today.The film was revived some 30 years or more ago by a film enthusiast and caught on with other film devotees due to its' unsual subject matter,which caused MGM to eventually rustle through its' holdings,dig it out and dust off its' copies.It was re-released On VHS in 1990 and now it is on DVD.
The DVD's print here is of good quality and sound.The sound in fact has been improved since its' 1990 release on tape.You can now understand most of the dialogue,though some spoken by the circus performers are still a little hard to catch.This release contains three alternate endings to the film,a re-issue prologue,a commentary and two featurettes,one on Tod Browning and one on the movie itself.
In conclusion Freaks,an interesting curiosity-yes;an experiment not fulfilled or succesful-yes.An example of good film making?....definitely not.
 great movie,bad dvd August 16, 2009
Cherry (Chicago, IL United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I adore this movie,it's cheesy,but classic cheesy,
and it's filled to the brim with actual historical sideshow
specialties,how could you not love it?! This dvd itself has
HORRIBLE sound quality though,I know it's an old film but gimme
a break.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 161
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