Freaks (1932)

Voti degli utenti:

7.9/10   

Regista:

Tod Browning

Sceneggiatore:

Clarence Aaron 'Tod' Robbins (story)

Data di uscita:

20 febbraio 1932 (USA)

Genere:

Drammatico | Horror | Thriller

Slogan:

Can a full grown woman truly love a MIDGET ?

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.

Plot Keywords:

Freak | Midget | Trapeze Artist | Circus | Poison

Premi:

1 win & 1 nomination

Recensioni degli utenti:

Visit This Sideshow at Your Peril

Cast

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

Alias:

Forbidden Love (USA) (informal title)
Nature's Mistakes (USA) (informal title)
The Monster Show

Durata:

64 min

Nazionalità:

USA

Lingua:

Inglese | Tedesco

Colore:

Bianco e nero

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sonoro:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Divieti:

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)

Luoghi riprese:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Compagnia:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Curiosità:

Dwarf John George -- for reasons unknown -- does not appear in "Freaks", even though a role was specifically written for him in the screenplay.

Errori:

Audio/video fuori sincrono: 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.

Citazioni:

Roscoe: [whenever he asks only one of the two Siamese twins to stay, and the twins have to leave together] You always use that as a excu-excuse, an alib-b-b-bi.

Collegamenti:

Parodiato in "South Park: Butters' Very Own Episode (#5.14)" (2001)

Visit This Sideshow at Your Peril

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.