Freaks (Tod Browning, 1932)
"One of us! One of us!"
Browning had already produced the film version of Dracula as well as several classics with "man of many faces" Lon Chaney before trumping them all with Freaks, a disturbing little film centred around a group of circus people. Teasing trapeze artist Cleopatra (Russian tigress Olga Baclanova) toys with the emotions of midget Hans, planning to trick him into marriage just so she can get her greedy mitts on his inheritance.
Fellow midget Frieda is concerned about the kniving Cleopatra, and soon enough, Cleopatra's true feelings come out in a scene where she blows her (big) top. The 'freaks' soon group together against Cleopatra, who will soon pay for her evil ways in truly spectacular style!
Browning once worked in a circus in a variety of roles, so he must've had first-hand knowledge of the exploitative nature of circus performers, or 'Carnies' as Austin Powers would say. This knowledge makes Freaks a more sympathetic experience than exploitative one, but it didn't stop the over-protective Brits banning the film for 30 years. Typical.
The cast contains people deformed at birth (no arms, no legs), genuine conjoined twins, an apparent 'Half Woman-Half Man', and Mexican born Schlitze, aka 'pinhead', who was part of the circus for most of his life.
Disturbing and grotesque, freaks is not an easy watch. The final few minutes is the stuff of nightmares, the conclusion of which is one of the most bizarre & disturbing in cinema history! Sweet dreams...
