Freaks (1932)

Freaks (1932)

Directed by Tod Browning

Screenplay by Willis Goldbeck and Leon Gordon, based on the story “Spurs” by Tod Robbins

Runtime: 1 hour, 4 minutes

Freaks is not a film which is easy to discuss, and I was torn as to whether to write about it for Classic Horror Month.  Not only is it debatable whether Freaks qualifies as a horror film, but also to review the film would require me to possibly criticize the performances of people who were actually deformed—people who legitimately were “circus freaks”.  However, in the end I decided that it was a film too good to pass up on, and it may be a starting place for a discussion on what constitutes horror and normality in society.

The story of Freaks contains both a central plot and a series of vignettes about a group of circus performers.  The main character is a short person named Hans (Harry Earles), who is in love with a “normal” circus acrobat named Cleopatra (Olga Blacanova).  Cleopatra and most of the other “normals” laugh at Hans and his comrades, but when Cleopatra learns from Hans’ girlfriend Frieda (Daisy Earles) that Hans is heir to a large fortune, she marries Hans and plots to kill him to gain his inheritance.

Because of the way this film is structured, this conflict doesn’t come up until more than halfway through the film.  The first part of Freaks is largely devoted to showcasing the various circus acts, both “freaks” and “normals” (and I will henceforth drop the scare quotes).  It’s difficult to decipher the purpose of these early scenes.  Is it that the film wishes to engage in exploitation by putting as many freaks on screen as possible, or does it wish to portray their plight and challenge the audience to view them with sympathy?

Well, this may be a cop-out answer, but it’s likely a little of both.  There are certainly sequences which only serve the purpose of entertainment.  The one that sticks out most in my mind is where the Living Torso, Prince Randian, lights a cigarette using only his mouth.  It’s not as if the man is given a particularly developed character in the film; in fact, that bit is practically his whole shtick.  To see him struggle to do something most of us would find rudimentary may elicit some pangs of sympathy, but its purpose seems exploitative, and the same applies to many other performers as well.

However, at its heart, Freaks takes a sympathetic view of those with deformities.  The staging of the proceedings clearly condemns the harassment that Josephine Joseph (the Half-Woman Half-Man) receives, and Madame Tetrallini (Rose Dione) scolds the man who tells the freaks under her supervision to get off of his property.  In fact, the film’s portrayal of these people has such a noticeable heart to it that the bits which come across as exploitative could probably be written off as unfortunate implications.  I’m still not sure they should be, but they could.

I must commend the film for how it portrays certain characters not just as objects of sympathy, but as actual people.  Hans and Frieda, other than being short, have a thoroughly human relationship, even if their acting is a bit stiff and their accents miles thick.  They lust, they get jealous and despondent, the whole nine yards.  In fact, while one can’t ever forget that there’s a love quadrilateral involving two midgets, the whole affair could easily be written for four random people plucked off of the street.

Further, not all of the “normals” are presented as malicious bastards out to steal inheritances.  Venus (Lelia Hyams) and Phroso (Wallace Ford), who form a couple during the film—and get top billing—are continually nice to the freaks, if a little condescending.  They tangentially are involved in the freaks’ plot to get revenge on Cleopatra, and they joke around with their fellow performers and practice new skits with them.  And given how the Earleses are not exactly the Barrymores, they are the most compelling characters throughout.

As for the horror element, well, it’s not really there.  At least not in the terror sense, it isn’t.  The wedding sequence, which is the iconic bit in the film, does get more than a little unnerving to watch, but at least to my eyes, it’s more bizarre than scary.  Later on, when the freaks put their revenge plot into action and attack Cleopatra and her beau, Hercules (Henry Victor), the cinematography is too hectic to easily decipher what’s going on—confusing, yes, but not particularly horrifying.

Once more, however, that’s not a bad thing.  In fact, given the nature of the film’s subject, it’s probably for the best that Freaks doesn’t turn into a straight horror film.  Instead, it’s a weird little funhouse ride through a 1930s circus with a bit of social commentary thrown in for good measure.  It’s still more than a little uncomfortable to watch at times, but Freaks ultimately has its heart in the right place.  This might not be a Halloween film for the whole family, but it is worth a watch someday.