Hello again ghouls! I am the worst at keeping up with this blog and I could give you a million excuses for that but for now I'll just say it's half been because of my executive dysfunction and how it makes me lose interest in anything productive and half because my previous laptop was 7 years old and ran so slow it was a chore trying to write and upload anything substantial. But I got a new laptop and I'm back (again) and making promises to try and keep this updated more regularly AND I'm very excited to discuss the movie I watched yesterday.
Now let's dive into FREAKS (1932) directed by Tod Browning!
Wrongfully billed as a horror movie (I wonder why!), this film is a perfect example of being ahead of its time. Tod Browning, the director, drew from his experiences as a teenager performing in carnivals, circuses, and sideshows when working on it. His years in and around this life is most likely what led to his choice to portray the performers in Freaks in a more empathetic light rather than exploiting them. It's a shame Browning was essentially dumped from Hollywood following the controversy from this. Up to this point he had built a massive filmography featuring many silent films and, of course, Dracula starring Bela Lugosi. But disastrous test screenings, poor reviews, and general revulsion over the film from the public and the studio (MGM) put well, all the nails in the coffin.
The film itself has a main plot concerning trapeze artist Cleopatra plotting to murder Hans, played by Olga Baclanova and Harry Earles respectively, to gain his large inheritance. But as the film plays out we realize that feels secondary to what's really going on: slice-of-life sequences of these performers just living. They’re more than just disabled bodies being abused for profit or for scares/horror tropes; they’re real people who get to laugh and dance and have agency and sexuality, no othering involved. The “villains” are two able-bodied people who we’re meant to dislike and not align ourselves with. I’d go so far as to say we’re meant to identify more with the disabled performers, something 1930s audiences clearly weren’t ready for. And honestly, that's still the case today in many situations involving disabled people trying to exist.
The film was revolutionary for the time period and is still revolutionary today. Trying to come up with another movie that has this much disability representation within its cast is basically impossible. Nowadays you have able-bodied actors put on costumes and make-up and go through hours of research to pretend to be disabled (see: American Horror Story FREAKSHOW) and then they get nominated and sometimes win awards for playing these characters, sometimes real life people (see also: SIDE SHOW). Even the character who stuttered was played by an actor who stuttered! It's not a perfect film by any means; one could debate that the ending slightly sets back the foundation laid in the film for the performers, but for the time period this film was something unheard of. TODAY it's unheard of. With a runtime of 64 minutes you'd be giving up only an hour to give this a watch, which I highly recommend. Even if you just want to see what the controversy was about, you won't regret it.
This film is empathetic and in some moments, incredibly touching. I really loved this and I’m ashamed I didn’t watch it sooner. An amazing piece of disability history in film. I recommend this wholeheartedly.
4 1/2 out of 5 stars
Freaks is currently available to rent/buy on Amazon Prime