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Freaks
(1932)
In Tod Browning's severely-censored horror classic
about a fiercely-loyal group of circus 'freaks':
- the opening sequence: a carnival barker (Murray
Kinnell) enticed customers to enter his sideshow, and explained
the freaks' code of honor: "We didn't lie to ya, folks. We
told you we had living, breathing monstrosities. You laughed at
them, shuddered at them and yet, but for the accident of birth,
you might be even as they are. They did not ask to be brought into
the world, but into the world they came. Their code is a law unto
themselves. Offend one - and you offend them all."
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Carnival Barker
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Sight of Off-Screen Creature - Cleopatra (revealed
at end)
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- the barker introduced the customers to an off-screen
creature penned up in an enclosure, causing one of the women to
scream at the sight of the hideous human monstrosity: And now,
folks, if you'll just step this way. You are about to witness the
most amazing, the most astounding living monstrosity of all time.
(woman's scream) Friends - she was once a beautiful woman. A royal
prince shot himself for love of her. She was known as the Peacock
of the Air..." --- the sight of the creature was postponed
until the film's conclusion
- the many oddities and grotesque deformities of the
freak circus side show members (the conjoined Siamese twins: Daisy
and Violet Hilton, Prince Randian - the armless and legless "Living
Torso" or "Larva Man", Johnny Eck the 'half-boy' (with
nothing below his waist), the armless girl (the "Living Venus
de Milo"), the Bearded Lady Olga Roderick, the "Stork Woman" (Elizabeth/Betty
Green) and "Bird Girl" (Koo Koo) with a feathery costume,
and four 'pinheads' or microcephalics (including Schlitze); also
in particular, the character of half-man/half-woman hermaphrodite
Josephine-Joseph (as Herself/Himself)
- the unusual sexual pairing of two midgets Hans (Harry
Earles) and devoted Frieda (Daisy Earles); in one scene, fiancee
Frieda rebuked Hans for smoking a large cigar ("You must not
smoke such a big cigar. Your voice was very bad at tonight's show")
- implying in Freudian terms that he was too small to be enjoying
a more manly phallic symbol. He tried to silence her: "I want
no orders from a woman"
- the most infamous 'Wedding Feast' scene that welcomed
high-wire trapeze artist Cleopatra (Olga Baclanova), who had married
gullible midget circus announcer Hans; Hans was due to claim an inheritance,
but Cleopatra's dastardly intention, plotted with her strong-man
lover Hercules (Henry Victor), was simply to poison Hans to death
for his money; during the banquet, after Hans had married Cleo, the
freaks began an unforgettable chant before passing around a loving
cup to accept her: We accept her. We accept her. Googoo-goggle, Googoo-goggle.
One of us, One of us"
- Cleopatra's memorable speech to the 'freaks' - when
she incurred the wrath of the tightly knit, loyal group of "nature's
aberrations"; after being offered the loving cup, she rose stiffly
from her chair, became extremely revolted by them, and exclaimed: "You
dirty, slimy FREAKS! Freaks, freaks! Get out of here!" - and
threw the contents of her drinking cup at them; then, she challenged
her ashamed new husband Hans: "Well, what are you going to do?
What are you - a man or a baby?" - and then suggested giving
him a childish horsey-back ride:
"What must I do? Must I play games with you? Must Mamma take you
horsey-back ride?"; she carried him on her shoulders for a "horsey-back
ride", with Hercules assisting in the humiliation: "Ha, ha,
that's it! Horsey-back ride! Ha, ha, ha. Come, come, my little fly
speck. Mamma is going to take you horsey- back ride. Giddy-up! Giddy-up,
horsey!"
The 'Wedding Feast' Banquet Scene
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"You dirty slimy FREAKS...You filth, make
me one of you, will you?"
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- the final stormy night sequence of the freaks making
good on their threats as they crawled through the mud (some with
knives in their mouths) to murder or emasculate muscleman Hercules
(the film's dialogue and action were unclear on this point due
to studio editing), and then pursue gold-digging Cleopatra to exact
a horrible revenge on account of her treatment of Hans
Revenge of 'Freaks' - Crawling in Mud with Knives
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- in the conclusion - the sight of the sexy and tall,
transformed Cleopatra as a legless, feathered mutant chicken with
a scarred and bruised face, drooping and squawking mouth: (the
barker introduced her: "How she got that way will never be
known. Some say a jealous lover, others that it was the code of
the freaks, others the storm. Believe it or not, there she is...!")
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Cleopatra with Strong-Man Hercules
Hans and Frieda
Hermaphrodite Josephine-Joseph
Conjoined Siamese Twins: Daisy/Violet Hilton
'Pinheads'
Schlitze
Bird Girl (Koo Koo)
The "Living Torso"
Johnny Eck
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