Freaks
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.
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- Cast:
- Harry Earles , Olga Baclanova , Daisy Earles , Henry Victor , Wallace Ford , Leila Hyams , Roscoe Ates
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Reviews
When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.
I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.
This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
This review is most of all a reaction to all those people who are reviewing this movie as a "horror" movie. Shame on you.I was completely not planning on writing a review on this movie. As so many have explained why they love this movie in a much better way than I ever could do. I must admit that I was heavily triggered when I read the reviews and saw many people describing this as a great "HORROR" movie!? My god did you even watch this movie? Did you even understand what the message was all about? It has been some years that I've watched this movie. And the best movie you can compare this movie with is "The Elephant Man". David Lynch was obviously very influenced by this picture. Both of the directors made a movie with meaning behind it, that was way more important than the movie itself.In my recollection the movie starts with a long message from the director about why he's making this movie. Back in the 30's it was still common' to go the circus and laugh at people who had it way worse then you. Ahead of his time Tod Browning was one of the first ever to make people question their views on what should be acceptable. Is it okay to dehumanize somebody just for the way he looks? He took his greatest gift and made a movie to honor this people. But not only honor them... No he made them back human. He did no effort what so ever in making them look better than they were. He portrayed them just the way they are, and made a story about friendship, love and sacrifice. And he succeeded. Nowadays nobody would even think about banning this movie. But because of the horrific images of the people (actors) who were in it, this movie was banned for 30 years in Great-Britain.This review is a homage to the man who dared to question society's accepted standards. And nowadays it's impossible to even believe that something that was so widespread would still exist today. By portraying this movie as "30's Horror movie", you are not much better than society back then.
an eccentric film. a definition who could be enough for give the right verdict in this case. a horror. or an experiment. a crazy idea. awful. cruel, chaotic, crazy, bizarre, absurd. each word about it is correct. but, for me, it is one of the most touching films of all the times. a splendid love story. and a delicate poem about the small details who are so easy ignored. the world of circus. and few great characters. the courage of Tom Browning to give to the public the life, emotions and spirit of justice of a group of people not so different by the majority of us. and this does Freaks a masterpiece. because it is a kind of mixture between Romeo and Juliet and Titus Andronicus. because it is a film about innocence. sure, few scenes are not comfortable but , in the time of cries, special effect and symbolic stories who are ingredients of many horrors, Freaks has a coherent and charming and powerful story. and it represents source of profound reflection. about us. like each parable .
On a scale from 1 to 10, I could make an argument that this film belongs at either end of the spectrum, or somewhere in the middle. I really struggled coming up with a fair assessment on this film, so here's my best shot. I do not believe Freaks exploits the actors, since each of them demonstrates compassion among each other and from the viewer. At times I think the filmmakers devolve the characters into stereotypical movie monsters, but the aforementioned empathy they encourage makes it hard not to cheer for them.I think the biggest problem with the film involves the relationship between Hans and Frieda, played by Harry and Daisy Earles, which comes off as a bit unconvinced, or at least off-kilter, but maybe that's the point.In the end, the film is way ahead of its time in depicting the mentally handicapped in a positive and innocent light in contrast with the greed and corruption of their counterparts. The dancing scene at the pond also creeped me out, but maybe that says more about my own prejudices against innocence than anything, and I think that is one of the goals of this films.3 out of 4 stars for Freaks.
Freaks is a shocking film. What makes this film so shocking is the fact that these are REAL people with REAL disabilities. You have to keep in mind when watching this film these people were real circus acts before they turned into actors for the film.As far as the story goes, it's fairly interesting. It's not a great story but it is somehow interesting - I would say due to the actors. If this movie was made with average actors then the film would not be nearly as interesting to watch (if I'm explaining it right).Horror? I think the real horror lies in living the way the actors in the film had to live. The ending provides extra shock and horror that is unimaginable.This is a movie you would have to see to get the full understanding of how shocking it is... even by today's movie standards.7/10