one of us, one of us: ‘Freaks’ finally finds fame
The month of October brings with it the return of Side Show to Broadway and the new season of American Horror Story: Freak Show, both opening to positive reviews and anticipation. It seems like Tod Browning film Freaks, featuring living torsos, pinheads, human skeletons, bearded ladies, and midgets in a French circus, is finally having it’s moment in the spotlight after eight decades behind the scenes. Freaks was based on a short story (Spurs) by horror writer Tod Robbins, whose The Unholy Three was previously adapted into another film by Browning in 1925 and starred silent film star Lon Chaney. Browning and Chaney frequently worked together at MGM, until the actor’s death and the director’s return to Universal in 1930. Before Freaks, Browning had been making two features a year since 1917, and was still receiving royalties from his previous hits Dracula and Iron Man.
At its crux, Freaks depicts the relationships and semi-fictionalized everyday experiences of sideshow performers in a traveling circus in France. The narrative focuses on the marriage of trapeze artist Cleopatra and sideshow performer Hans, their significant others (Hercules and Frieda), and other sideshow members of the circus. Siamese twins Daisy and Violet Hilton made their film debut as themselves, later immortalized as the main characters in Side Show and influenced Sarah Paulson’s Bette and Dot Tattler in American Horror Story.
Pre-production for Freaks took over five-and-a-half years. During initial casting, The Los Angeles Times reported that ‘freaks’ were applying to casting calls on the MGM lot. Browning explained to the LA Times his rationale for adapting and directing the film was because “Millions of people have seen freaks in sideshows and museums for years…and now they have an opportunity to view the topnotchers all together in a human, inside story of the freak world.” The underlying theme of Freaks is the exterior vs. interior character of the circus members: the sideshow ‘freaks’ compared with the two ‘normal’ members, the latter being the real monsters.
When Freaks first previewed in Los Angeles theaters, some horrified spectators got up from their seats and ran- did not walk- to the nearest exit. But when it was released in San Diego, it broke theatre records. This portrays the two-faceted viewing pleasure that is Freaks: some abhor the horror, while others want the wonder. “MGM definitely has on its hands a picture that is out of the ordinary,” opened the New York Times’ July 9, 1932 film review, “the difficulty is in telling it should be shown at the Rialto…or the Medical Center.” This was the New York City opening weekend review of Freaks, some five months after it’s premiere in San Diego where it did extremely well with audiences (where it continuously sold out shows) before MGM modified its ending to counter the fate of Cleopatra (after the film flopped with Angelenos). Variety also reviewed the film that weekend, concisely explaining that “in keeping with the [sic] Metro [MGM] policy of not bringing the weak of doubtful pictures into New York until most of the high spots had been played out of town, it arrives rather belatedly…[and] probably will not last very long at the Rialto.”
http://youtu.be/WKHydGllUKo the climax of the film, when the ‘freaks’ go after Cleopatra.
Over the decades since the film was banned and partially forgotten, however, viewers were able to understand that the freaks in Freaks were not the semi-humans or sideshow creatures, and those who are normal (the viewer) are freaks as well. The film is set up so Cleopatra and Hercules (names evoking a mythological ideal for woman and man, signifying human desire of perfection) are portrayed as sub-beings and immoral. It is not until the final scenes, when Cleopatra and Hans & Company have their altercation, when the viewer is able to reflect and realize that these are people kind-of-sort-of-maybe-like-us. After all, Cleopatra is inducted into the world of freaks by drinking the communal wine goblet during the wedding scene amidst chants of ‘we accept her, we accept her, gobble gobble, one of us, one of us.’ In the end, however, after breaking the de facto rules of the circus sideshow members, Cleopatra is turned into a freak herself-spoiler alert-to match her monstrous character.
After Freaks freaked-out the movie-going public, the director’s long career would incredulously stop in seven years. He directed two more films for MGM, Fast Works and The Devil Doll, made the Dracula sequel Mark of the Vampire (also starring Bela Lugosi), and concluded with the lukewarm Miracles for Sale in 1939. This was his third film for MGM post-Freaks and the only one that he was credited for, as MGM wanted to separate itself from the freakshow director.
Summed up, Freaks is an inspiration for some (Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk) and repugnant for others. The similarity between contemporary audiences and audiences in the 1930s is that some of us will look at the film as art while others look at the film as disgust. The negative hype and reviews were corrosive to Freaks’ success in the box office upon it’s release, and is another example when advertising or the power of persuasion can make or break a film. Following the film’s release on the west coast, Browning became the recipient of fan letters- fan in this case meaning fanatic, as all correspondence were negative remarks about his newest feature. In the end, Browning was a pioneer who wanted to put ‘freaks’ on film instead of keeping them in the dark. When asked if there were any reasons why people would object to the movie, he simply put, “Those who don’t want to see if don’t have to and those that do can.”
