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Whistle Stopper - Freaks (1932)
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List Price: $19.98
Our Price: $17.00
Your Save: $ 2.98 ( 15% )
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Manufacturer: MGM (Warner)
Starring: Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams, Olga Baclanova, Roscoe Ates, Henry Victor
Directed By: Tod Browning
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786301969581
Format: Black & White
ISBN: 6301969588
Label: MGM (Warner)
Manufacturer: MGM (Warner)
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: MGM (Warner)
Release Date: 1998-09-01
Running Time: 65
Studio: MGM (Warner)
Theatrical Release Date: 1932-02-20
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: So much more than a mere horror film...
Comment: `Freaks' is one of those movies that just has to be seen, by everyone. It is classified as a horror film but to me it is much more than that. Much like the beautifully written (and adapted) `Of Mice and Men', `Freaks' broaches the horrors of mistreating and misjudging others based on their physical limitations. There is no reason to simply cast this film aside as nothing more than a `scary movie' for `Freaks' is far too important a film to be typecast in such a way.
Like the prologue explains, there was a time when ones with such drastic physical and mental deficiencies were cast aside as unworthy and left to die. Those that survived were more often than not taking in as sideshow freaks and paraded about for the amusement of the `normal' people (much like `The Elephant Man'). Thus begins `Freaks'; a story about a group of these sideshow freaks who have simply had enough of being walked all over. When Hans falls in love with the beautiful Cleopatra, a normal trapeze acrobat, the rest of Hans' friends and fellow freaks (including his one-time fiancée Frieda) smell something wrong. It so turns out that Cleopatra is using Hans for his good nature and money and that she plans to marry him and poison him in order to take his money and run off the Hercules. When the freaks get word of this they take matters into their own hands to save Hans from his new wife's evil plan.
It's obvious that we as the viewer are supposed to sympathize with the `freaks', for they are painted as the more normal of the lot exposed here. Questions about our idea of real beauty and worth arise as we are able to examine our own vanity. Even Hans is subject to his depiction of love and admiration for he leaves his wonderfully supportive and obviously infatuated fiancée Frieda for the beautiful Cleopatra who herself exhibits no real likable or desirable qualities other than her surface beauty.
Us `normal' humans (if that's your standard of normal) are given varying degrees of tolerance to examine within the close nit community. You have Cleopatra and Hercules who are disgusted by and fancy using those different from them. You have Venus who does not dislike or desire to abuse the freaks but is obviously not as comfortable around them as some (just watch her facial expressions in certain scenes); and then you have Phroso (as well as Madame Tetrallini) who defend the `freaks' and consider them equals.
The question is; who are you?
I actually found the acting within `Freaks' to be quite good, especially on the part of Wallace Ford and the Earles' siblings (Harry and Daisy Earles play Hans and Frieda). I really enjoyed Daisy's performance, for it added so much genuine warmth and concern for her lover Hans. She just wants him to be happy and you really believe that.
As far as the `horror' aspect of this film is concerned, it really isn't all that horrifying in the sense that it isn't truly scary. The fact does remain that these human beings are scary looking (I know that sounds mean but it is a fact) and that alone may send some shivers down your spine; especially when they start chanting "one of us" or when they are crawling towards you with knives in hand; but truthfully `Freaks' is horrifying in that it exposes a common thread of thought that is found in many people today, a line of thinking that is not only hurtful but, as we've seen here, very dangerous.
Customer Rating:
Summary: "Freaks" - A Masterpiece
Comment: The first I heard of this movie was from Stephen King's book "Danse Macabre" some years ago. After too long a time, I finally watched it.
I was stunned. This is one of the best movies I have ever seen. The writing, scenes, characters, and plot are mind-blowing. Even my 14 year old step-son was enamored with the film. It was brilliant.
The characters were charming, humorous, cold, loving, etc.
What really hit me was the fact that the movie was not accepted by society and that it was concidered the most 'horrific' movie at the time, which led to it being pulled from the few screens it was playing on. Three decades later - yes, thirty YEARS - the 'freak-out' phase in American society rediscovered the film and it had some success as an underground film.
Amazingly, it wasn't until 1994 that the National Film Registry put the film in its archive of cinematic treasures. That's 62 years. A lot of people lived and died durring those years. That is a long time to gain recognition.
This gives me hope, however. Just because something isn't appreciated now, doesn't mean it won't be so later. It is an astounding film that people in the 1930's simply didn't understand.
After all, who is a freak? What defines one? Is it wrong to look at someone who isn't "average" or "normal" in a different light?
I would urge anyone who likes good story-telling to see this movie - and the insightful featurette/documentary FREAKS: SIDESHOW CINEMA.
Simply amazing stuff.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Freaks Are People Too
Comment: Freaks is a terrific thriller and a true classic in every sense of the word. It was too bad that they had to eliminate 30 minutes of the original movie before it was released. This is a must-see and I enjoy it more every time I watch it. Behold the wrath of the mighty midget!!!
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Great Cult Classic!
Comment: This movie was recommended by a friend and at first, I did not know if I wanted to see it. It is incredible. For a movie made in the 1930's, it is incredible. It pushes the envelope for today's standards so I can only imagine the stir it created when it was made. It is a great movie. You have got to see it to believe it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Freaks
Comment: I really liked this movie. I was very taken w/ the movie and the charecters. Many of them were really circus people. When you watch the movie and listen to the stories of the people after the movie it makes you see them in a new light.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Tod Browning, who directed Bela Lugosi in the original Dracula, stepped into even eerier territory with this 1932 story of betrayal and retribution in the circus. Evil trapeze artist Olga Baclanova seduces and marries a midget in the circus sideshow, hoping to inherit his wealth. But in doing so, she has crossed the wrong folks: the tightly knit group of nature's aberrations, who stick together like family--and who set out to avenge their little pal. Browning brought in some of the most famous sideshow attractions of the era, include Siamese twins Daisy and Violet Hilton and Johnny Eck the Legless Boy, as well as Zip and Pip, microcephalics whose appearance in this film inspired cartoonist Bill Griffith to create his comic strip, "Zippy the Pinhead." So disturbing that it was banned for 30 years in Great Britain. --Marshall Fine
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