It appears, to me, that the 1930s was the decade of notable horror films. In 1931, we had both Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Dracula, in 1932 we had The Mummy and Vampyr, all of these being some of the most well-known films. But one of the most notorious, perhaps imfamous films of this decade is perhaps Freaks.Directed by Tod Browning, who also directed Dracula the previous year, Freaks is undoubtedly one of those films which stay on your mind. But that may also be because it is inimitable.
The bizarre thing about Freaks is that the main storyline is like any other. It is very simple: a wealthy man falls in love with a beautiful woman, who is, in turn, in love with another man. The woman marries the wealthy man for his money, and tries to poison her new husband so her lover and herself can keep his money. Sounds ordinary, huh? Now just replace the wealthy man with a wealthy midget, and you have Freaks.
Tod Browning directs the film very cleverly so as not to exploit the 'freaks' in his film. And of these there are many:
- a hermaphrodite
- a woman with no arms
- a man with no legs
- a bearded lady
- four 'pin-heads' (microcephalics)
- a 'human-skeleton'
- two midgets (in fact, brother and sister but in the film they play as fiancés)
- a dwarf
- conjoined twins
- two bird-people (suffering from Virchow-Seckel syndrome)
- a living torso (not just a, but the, the famous Prince Randian)
...as well as (at least) one other character, but unfortunately, due to loss of a lot of footage of the film, not a lot is known about them. In fact, quite a lot of the film is now lost, including footage of Hercules, the lover, singing in soprano after the freaks took their revenge after he and Cleopatra, the woman, hurt and humiliated Hans, the midget. You can guess what they did to him. What they did to Cleopatra is well-known, however. But I can assure you it's all just fancy make-up and camera trickery for these. Yet the freaks are real. Very real.
It is a film that simply shows that people are still human, no matter what their appearance. The pin-heads, who are mentally retarded due to their condition, cannot speak compltetly coherently (on the film, at least), although they can speak, yet show a range of emotions. Schlitze, for example, shows joy and flattery after one of the 'normals' compliments him on his dress (which he wore due to incontinence), and promises to buy him a hat with a feather on it. Two other pin-heads come along, and the 'normal' says he'll buy them a hat with an even bigger feather on it. At this Schlitze shows a sort of playful-jealousy - jealousy being a complex emotion.
The freaks are like anyone else. They feel the same way as anyone else. They think the same way. But, because of their appearance, they are outcasts -- but look out for each other. There are only a few 'normal' characters in the film who consider the freaks to be like them, and we, the audience, are forced to believe the same thing.
It is a film, whose message is still relavent today. Despite the age, it is still a shocking film, however I do not count it to be a 'horror' film. At the start, one may well be repulsed by these unusual sights, but the audience quickly learns that there is nothing to be repulsed at; they may appear grotesque but they are not jumping out and screaming at the camera like in the traditional sense of 'horror'. Yet the true horror appears when Cleopatra and Hercules insult the freaks, especially through marrying Hans, as she shows him up as dreaming to be 'like one of them'.
It is one of those films which have to be seen. And I would recommend it to be shown in schools, to make people realise that these people are not to be laughed at due to their appearance. In a way, it is a shame that through medical advances these people do not exist in great numbers today, so those who are 'different' are shown up even more. But I am glad that Tod Browning made Freaks, a film banned for decades in many countries, to show that these people did exist, and there's no denying it.
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