“FREAKS” (Film Research)
“Freaks” is an American horror film from 1932. The film was directed and produced by Tod Browning and the film features mostly ‘physically deformed’ people, known in the time as “freaks” which people would especially go to see in circuses. The ‘physically deformed’ people are real (no costumes, special effects, makeup, etc…) and here is some information on some of the “deformed” cast members for the film “Freaks”:
Harry Earles (as Hans) & Daisy Earles (Frieda) were 2 dwarfs, who with their other 2 sisters were 4 dwarf siblings known as “The Doll Family”
Johnny Eck (as Half Boy) was born with the appearance that he is missing the lower half of his torso (which is why he was sometimes known as Half-Boy)
Roscoe Ates (as Roscue) had a “severe” stutter
Angelo Rossitto (as Angeleno) was a dwarf
Prince Randian (as The Human Torso) was born without limbs and therefore moved with his ‘belly’
Frances O’Connor (as Armless Girl) was a girl born without arms.
Peter Robinson (as Human Skeleton) became very thin, weighing only 58 pounds and is billed himself as “The Living Skeleton”
Daisy and Violet Hilton (as Siamese Twins) were conjoined twins.
Josephine Joseph (as Self) ’claimed’ to be a real hermaphrodite (half man & half woman)
Schlitzie (as Self) was born with ‘an unusually small brain and skull, a small stature, myopia and mental retardation’
There is also a bearded woman and microcephalics (often referred to as “pinheads”)
The film contained real experience of the director Tod Browning, in the film the ‘physical freaks’ are the good people (”trusting and honourable people”) and the ‘normal looking people’ are the bad people (in the film the normal characters plan to murder 1 of them to get his inheritance). I agree with what has been written as I also thought that in this film, the physically deformed people were the good people, while the ‘normal looking’ people were the bad ones.
Other facts about the film are that the film was banned in the United Kingdom for 30 years, due to audiences at the time being shocked/scared of the deformed cast. A lot of the film (approx 30 minutes) was cut, although it still caused controversy (so much that it got banned) and the cut footage is now ’lost’. The film was cut due to the reactions of some audiences members with one woman claiming to have suffered a miscarraige because of it and threatening to sue MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) [Distribution]. As well as approx 30 mins of footage being removed, including a scene showing Hercules being castrated, new footage was added.