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IMDb > Freaks (1932)
Freaks
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Overview

User Rating:
7.9/10   11,595 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 4% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
Tod Browning
Contact:
View company contact information for Freaks on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
20 February 1932 (USA) more
Genre:
Drama | Horror | Thriller more
Tagline:
Can a full grown woman truly love a MIDGET ? more
Plot:
A circus' beautiful trapeze artist agrees to marry the leader of side-show performers, but his deformed friends discover she is only marrying him for his inheritance. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
Awards:
1 win & 1 nomination more
NewsDesk:
(8 articles)
Horrorwood Babbles On: Forrest J Ackerman - Alive and Well in Fandom!
 (From Dread Central. 12 July 2009, 10:28 PM, PDT)

She Married A Midget
 (From New York Post. 9 May 2009, 11:53 PM, PDT)

User Comments:
Visit This Sideshow at Your Peril more
US TV Schedule:
Sat. July 254:30 AMTCM   

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
Wallace Ford ... Phroso
Leila Hyams ... Venus
Olga Baclanova ... Cleopatra
Roscoe Ates ... Roscoe (as Rosco Ates)
Henry Victor ... Hercules
Harry Earles ... Hans
Daisy Earles ... Frieda
Rose Dione ... Madame Tetrallini
Daisy Hilton ... Siamese Twin
Violet Hilton ... Siamese Twin
Schlitze ... Himself
Josephine Joseph ... Half-Woman, Half Man
Johnny Eck ... Half Boy
Frances O'Connor ... Armless Girl
Peter Robinson ... Human Skeleton
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
Forbidden Love (USA) (informal title)
Nature's Mistakes (USA) (informal title)
The Monster Show
more
Runtime:
64 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English | German
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric Sound System)
Certification:
Portugal:M/12 | Italy:(Banned) (original rating) | Italy:T (VHS/DVD rating) (self applied) | Finland:(Banned) (1932) | Canada:14A (video rating) | Finland:K-16 (1972) (Finnish Film Archive) | Australia:PG | Germany:16 | UK:12 (re-rating) (2001) | UK:15 (video rating) (1995) | UK:R (original rating) | UK:X (re-rating) (1963) | USA:Unrated | Ireland:(Banned) (1999)

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
The tune that 'Angeleno' plays on his flute during the final confrontation between Cleopatra and the bedridden Hans is the "Mournful Tune" from Richard Wagner's opera "Tristan and Isolde", played in the opera while the dying Tristan waits for Isolde's ship to appear on the horizon. more
Goofs:
Audio/visual unsynchronized: During the scene in which Hans' friends menace Cleopatra in the wagon, the flute soundtrack doesn't match the finger movements of the dwarf playing the flute. more
Quotes:
Freaks: We accept you, one of us! Gooble Gobble! more
Movie Connections:
Featured in "MGM: When the Lion Roars" (1992) more

FAQ

Is "Freaks" based on a book?
A Note Regarding Spoilers
Are the freaks real or just actors in costumes?
more
47 out of 54 people found the following comment useful:-
Visit This Sideshow at Your Peril, 25 January 2000
10/10
Author: Ron Oliver (revilorest@juno.com) from Forest Ranch, CA

A forest glade somewhere in Europe. A warm, sunny day with children playing on the grass. But the camera moves closer and reveals that something is terribly wrong. For these are not children, but tragically misshapen human beings. Pinheads. Dwarfs. A young man with only half a body. A man without arms or legs. These are the Freaks.

In 1932, director Tod Browning, fresh from his success with DRACULA, was instructed by Irving Thalberg to top FRANKENSTEIN. He succeeded. The resulting film was considered so ghastly that it was banned in Britain for 30 years. It is the strangest film MGM ever released.

Browning wanted to tell a tale of love, greed & revenge set in a circus, most particularly in the sideshow of human anomalies. He scoured Europe & America for the perfect cast. He got them: Violet & Daisy Hilton, the celebrated Siamese twins; dwarf brother & sister Harry & Daisy Earles; Johnny Eck the Half Boy (a good actor, he will remain in your mind a long time); the tragic Josephine Joseph, a hermaphrodite; as well as a human skeleton, armless girls and the female pinheads, among others.

While the plot is exploitive & the title tasteless, these people show us glimpses of their hearts, some of the agony of their condition and make us wonder, `What if I'd been born as one of them?'

The rest of the cast is made up of MGM stock players Leila Hyams, Wallace Ford, Edward Brophy, Olga Baclanova and the screen's champion stutterer Roscoe Ates.

The plot is simple. A beautiful trapeze artist marries a dwarf for his money, then plots his murder with her lover, the circus strong man. The subsequent action is both horrifying & strangely satisfying. Various scenes - the Freaks' Banquet, the chase through the storm - are among the most bizarre ever filmed. You won't soon forget the time you spend with the FREAKS.





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NOT a cult movie! vanessa_woolf
The Ending was a step backwards Udo666
it would be nice forgetnorway
intentional joke? Tokyo-Vigilante
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