DVD
Freaks (HMV Exclusive)

Starring: Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams, Olga Baclanova and Cleopatra Roscoe
Warner Home Video
RRP: £15.99

HMV Exclusive
Available 25 April 2005


In a circus nothing is ever what it seems, love is transitory and often based on financial gain, but the freaks have a code, love one love all, hurt one hurt all. So when Cleopatra decides to cheat the dwarf Hans out of his money she embarks on a path of disaster...

Freaks was always going to be a controversial film, not for its content but for the reactions it created in its audience. In an era where special effects were relatively new, what you saw is what you got; the contemporary audience would have been more used to seeing such actors heavily covered with make up playing Munchkins and their like, which gave a fantasy level of removal from the reality of disability. To see disabled people playing the parts that they play, in the film, is still disturbing today. The end chase through the forest is something that would give David Lynch the willies, and remains as powerful today as the day it was first shown.

In that sense it remains a difficult movie to categorise. To say it is a horror film is to question ones own feelings towards disabled people, would it have been easier or not if they hadn't been, in the parlance of the film, freaks. Given the chance Browning's film can be seen as a tragic/comedy where the real message is the strength and resilience of this extended family. Their support for each other is complete as is the revenge they extract when harm it visited on one of their own.

Browning was not unknown to horror aficionados, having previously directed Dracula, in 1931. The film Freaks, though it might seem exploitative, belies the fact that Browning himself had worked in a carnival in his youth - as an actor dancer and magician - and that his work, especially with Lon Chaney in The Unholy Three, showed just how sympathetic he was toward people at the fringes of society. Although reaction to the film could be said to have started the demise of his career, in fact it was pretty much banned until the early sixties, it remains a very challenging piece. If nothing else you'll never see a film like Freaks again.

The actors, overall, are not great - being real carnival people essentially playing themselves. This was also the really early days of talkies when people where just getting used to the medium. One of the failings of the film and Browning's career is that he never really made a successful transition from silent movies. If you watch it and think that you never saw any of the carnival people before or after this film (in actual fact most had very successful careers) then look out for a very young Angelo Rosito who also appear in Mad Max Beyond the Thunderdome.

Due to the age of the film the audio is stereo, which is fine but there appears to be a lot of distortion in the upper range, making some of the dialogue difficult to make out. The extras are fairly extensive with alternative ending and an in depth and fascinating documentary, Freaks: The Sideshow Cinema, about the making of the film and the actors involved. The theatrical prologue is included as part of the extras, though why this was not just left attached to the main body of the film is unknown. Commentary by David Skol is both interesting and informative. The print is soft, and at times seems overexposed, especially at the end when the action takes place in an over lit space. For most of the film this isn't an issue as the majority of the film takes place at night.

So, should you fork out on an old 1932 film? The answer to that is yes. It is unlikely that you will find a film that challenges your own feelings on disability, or just scares the willies out of you. The documentary about the file is worth the money itself.

Charles Packer

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cover
£7.79 (Amazon.co.uk)
Region 1 Edition
   
$14.98 (Amazon.com)
Region 1 Edition

All prices correct at time of going to press.