Freaks (1932)

Director: Tod Browning
Starring: Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams, Olga Baclanova

Synopsis:
A beautiful trapeze artist seduces a sideshow performer in a bid to claim his inheritance, but when her plot is exposed, the freaks demonstrate how they take care of their own.

Impressions:
I have mixed feelings about this film. On the one hand, it's a bit on the exploitative side, which can make for uncomfortable viewing. However, despite the appeal to horror for the finale (which I'll admit is dang effective), the movie gives actual sideshow performers time on the big screen, goes to considerable lengths to portray the "freaks" as human and strongly averts the trope of "beauty equals goodness" with the cruel combo of Cleopatra and Hercules (the trapeze artist and her strongman lover). I suppose you could say that my mixed feelings are just like the dichotomy of the circus environment. On the one hand, the "freaks" are paraded around for spectacle and regularly mocked and humiliated by their less savory co-workers, but it's also a place for them to belong and they do have sympathetic colleagues among the "normals". While you may find it a bit squicky that real-life siblings Harry and Daisy Earles play a couple in this, it's still pretty cute (and not just because they're little). Harry is actually a pretty good actor, even if his high-pitched German accent renders him incomprehensible at times. Daisy, on the other hand, delivers a much stiffer performance, but as she wasn't a trained actress and operating in her second language, that can be forgiven. (I do like how her lines are peppered with German, probably an entirely natural tendency that makes for a charming character quirk.) Also, if you were ever wondering about the origin of the chant "One of us! One of us!", this is where it comes from (or at least it was the one that really embedded in the public consciousness). It's an interesting film and certainly worth seeing, but if the premise offends you, you may want to avoid it.

Rating:
Watch It