Английская Википедия:Freaks (1932 film)

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Freaks (also re-released as The Monster Story,[1]Шаблон:Unreliable source? Forbidden Love, and Nature's Mistakes[2]) is a 1932 American pre-Code drama horror film produced and directed by Tod Browning, starring Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams, Olga Baclanova, Roscoe Ates and Harry Earles.

Freaks, originally intended as a vehicle for Lon Chaney,[2] is set amongst the backdrop of a travelling French circus and follows a conniving trapeze artist who joins a group of carnival sideshow performers with a plan to seduce and murder a dwarf in the troupe to gain his inheritance. However, her plot proves to have dangerous consequences. The film is based on elements from the short story "Spurs" by Tod Robbins, first published in Munsey's Magazine in February 1923, with the rights being purchased by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Cedric Gibbons, a childhood friend of Robbins and MGM art department chief, was responsible for the purchase.[1]

Filmed in Los Angeles in the fall of 1931, some employees at MGM were discomforted by the presence of the actors portraying the "freaks" on set, and, other than the so-called more normal looking "freaks", the Siamese twins and the Earles, the performers were not allowed to be on the studio lot, relegated instead to a specially-built tent.[2] The film had test screenings in January 1932, with many members of the audience reacting negatively, finding the film too grotesque. In response to this, MGM executive Irving Thalberg, without consent of director Browning, edited the original 90-minute feature, which was significantly cut, with additional alternate footage incorporated to help increase the running time. The final abridged cut of the film, released in February 1932, was 64 minutes; the original version no longer exists.

Freaks made its world premiere at the Fox Theatre in San Diego, shown in full, without the subsequent cuts from January 28 and had a successful run. The theatre advertised the fact that it was the only place where the movie could be seen in the "original uncensored version".[2]

Despite the cuts made to the film, Freaks still garnered notice for the portrayal of its eponymous characters by people who worked as sideshow performers and had real disabilities. These cast members included dwarf siblings Harry and Daisy Earles; Johnny Eck, who had sacral agenesis; the conjoined twin sisters Daisy and Violet Hilton; and Schlitzie, a man with microcephaly. Because of its controversial content, the film was banned in the United Kingdom for over 30 years, and was labelled as "brutal and grotesque" in Canada.[3]

Though it received critical backlash and was a box-office failure upon initial release, Freaks was subject to public and critical reappraisal in the 1960s, as a long forgotten Hollywood classic, particularly in Europe, and was screened at the 1962 Venice Film Festival. In retrospect, numerous film critics have suggested that the film presents a starkly sympathetic portrait of its sideshow characters rather than an exploitative one, with Andrew Sarris declaring Freaks one of the "most compassionate" films ever made.Шаблон:Sfn Nonetheless, critics have continued to take note of the film's horror elements; in 2009, Joe Morgenstern proclaimed that Freaks contains some of the most terrifying scenes in film history. Film scholars have interpreted the film as a metaphor for class conflict, reflecting the Great Depression, and it has been studied for its portrayal of people with disabilities, with theorists arguing that it presents an anti-eugenics message. The film has been highly influential, has become a cult classic, and, in 1994, was selected for preservation by the United States National Film Registry, which seeks to preserve films that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[4][5]

Plot

A beautiful and conniving trapeze artist named Cleopatra seduces a carnival sideshow dwarf named Hans after learning of his large inheritance. This is much to the chagrin of Frieda, his fiancée, also a dwarf. Cleopatra also conspires with circus strongman Hercules to kill Hans so she will inherit his wealth. Meanwhile, other romances flourish among the sideshow performers: the Bearded Lady, who is in love with the Human Skeleton, gives birth to their daughter. The news is spread among the friends by the Stork Woman. Additionally, Violet, a conjoined twin whose sister Daisy is married to Roscoe, the stuttering circus clown, becomes engaged to the circus's owner.

Hans, enamored of Cleopatra, ultimately marries her. At their wedding, Cleopatra begins poisoning Hans's wine but drunkenly kisses Hercules in front of Hans, revealing her affair. Oblivious, the other "freaks" announce that they accept Cleopatra in spite of her being a "normal" outsider; they hold an initiation ceremony in which they pass a loving cup around the table while chanting, "We accept her, one of us. We accept her, one of us. Gooble-gobble, gooble-gobble."Шаблон:Sfn However, Cleopatra's mean-spirited amusement at this ceremony soon turns into fear and anger after Hercules jokes that the rest of the entertainers plan to turn her into one of them. She mocks them, tosses the wine in their faces and drives them away before berating Hans and drunkenly parading him around on her shoulders like a child. The humiliated Hans realizes that he has been played for a fool and rejects Cleopatra's attempts to apologize, but then he falls ill from the poison. While bedridden, Hans "apologizes" to Cleopatra and also "takes" the poisoned medicine that she is giving him, but he secretly plots with the other entertainers to strike back at Cleopatra and Hercules.

In the film's climax, Hans confronts Cleopatra with three of the entertainers as backup thugs. However, Hans's circus wagon is overturned in a storm, giving Cleopatra the chance to escape into the forest, closely pursued by them. At the same time Hercules goes to kill sea lion trainer Venus for knowing about the plot. Venus's boyfriend, Phroso the clown, attempts to stop Hercules but is nearly killed before the rest of them intervene and injure Hercules, saving Phroso. They all pursue an injured Hercules.

The freaks then capture Cleopatra and sometime later, she is shown to be a grotesque, squawking "human duck" on display for carnival patrons; her tongue has been removed, one eye has been gouged out, the flesh of her hands has been melted and deformed to look like duck feet, her legs have been cut off, and what is left of her torso has been permanently tarred and feathered. In the original version of the film, it is revealed that after the freaks caught Hercules, they made him into a castrato singer.

While some versions end on Cleopatra as the human duck, another ending shows Hans, now living in a mansion from his inheritance and still humiliated, visited by Phroso, Venus and Frieda. Frieda tells Hans she knows he just wanted to demand the bottle of poison from Cleopatra, not to mutilate her, and not to blame himself for what happened; and that she still loves him. The two then share a heartwarming hug.

Cast

Шаблон:Cast list

Analysis and themes

Class conflict

Film critic Melvin Matthews has interpreted Freaks within the context of the Great Depression, writing that it "is essentially a story of the little people (average Americans) versus the big people (the rich and businessmen). The film makes it clear that the big people, personified by Cleopatra and Hercules, scorn the Freaks. Such a disdainful attitude was reflected in the real-life social outlook of some business tycoons during the Depression."Шаблон:Sfn Film studies academic Jennifer Peterson similarly identifies Freaks as an example of an "outsider film".Шаблон:Sfn Historian Jane Nicholas suggests that the film's conclusion, in which the circus performers mutilate Cleopatra whilst chanting "one of us", is reinforcing the freaks' social currency: "It is interesting that a statement that reads as one of inclusion is often cited as one that embodies horror in the film. What does it mean to be 'one of us'? The chilling horror of the chant 'one of us' reveals why the freak show persists."Шаблон:Sfn

In the book Midnight Movies (1991), critics J. Hoberman and Jonathan Rosenbaum compare Freaks to Gold Diggers of 1933, writing that the former is "almost literally dealing with the same thing [class disparity]... but more directly—because the end product isn't just putting on a show, but slaves breaking their chains and triumphing over their masters. Freaks is asking a Depression audience to identify not with the Beautiful People, but with sideshow mutations, a total underclass."Шаблон:Sfn

John Stanley, longtime publisher of the San Francisco Chronicle, describes the film as "A Classic of the Grotesque" in Creature Features.[6]

Disability and eugenics

Файл:Wallace Ford, Johnny Eck, and Leila Hyams in Freaks.jpg
Critic Jon Towlson notes that the everyday interaction between the able-bodied and disabled circus performers serves to uphold an anti-eugenics sentiment.

The film's depiction of people with disabilities has been a significant point of analysis amongst film critics and scholars.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn In his book Subversive Horror Cinema: Countercultural Messages of Films from Frankenstein to the Present (2014), critic Jon Towlson proposes that Freaks exemplifies an anti-eugenics sentiment.Шаблон:Sfn In presenting this idea, Towlson cites vignette sequences that make up the beginning of the film, largely consisting of the freaks in the context of their sideshow, before Browning "begins to undercut the voyeuristic aspects of the traditional freakshow by showing the freaks engaged in the activities of everyday life, dispelling the initial shock and revulsion, and encouraging the viewer to see the freaks as individuals who have overcome their disabilities."Шаблон:Sfn

Towlson also notes that the freaks' everyday interactions with the able-bodied sideshow performers, such as Phroso, Roscoe, and Venus, who treat the freaks as equals and friends, further blurs the distinction between the able-bodied and disabled members of the circus, and that the physically beautiful characters—such as trapeze artist Cleopatra—are the ones who are vindictive, supremacist, and immoral.Шаблон:Sfn He further argues that the implied sexuality in the film—such as the implication that the conjoined twin sisters (played by Daisy and Violet Hilton) carry on their own separate sex livesШаблон:Sfn—is an affront to the eugenic stance against reproduction and sexual activity among the "physically unfit."Шаблон:Sfn Towlson ultimately concludes that this subversion of character exemplifies a stark opposition to the core belief of eugenics, which is that physical appearance is equated with internal worth.Шаблон:Sfn

Angela Smith, a scholar of film and disability, similarly notes that Freaks presents numerous scenes in which the freaks engage in routine and ordinary domestic behavior.Шаблон:Sfn Among them, Smith cites the freaks' celebration of the birth of the Bearded Lady's baby, and the film's key dinner party sequence in which Cleopatra grows enraged when the freaks sing "We accept her, we accept her, one of us, one of us" as a welcoming song.Шаблон:Sfn Film scholars Martin Norden and Madeleine Cahill, however, question Browning's intention of the film's final revenge sequence, in which the freaks mutilate the able-bodied, morally cruel Cleopatra.Шаблон:Sfn "The implications of the violence against [Cleopatra] are far from clear," they write. "Members of a traditionally disempowered minority use their collective force to disempower a majority member—turn her into one of them, in effect—leading us to wonder if she is truly disempowered or empowered in a new way. Browning's ambiguity on this point only enhances the film's unsettling properties."Шаблон:Sfn

Status as a horror film

Some critics, such as John Thomas and Raymond Durgnat, have noted that Freaks does not fully embody the genre.Шаблон:Sfn Thomas wrote in Film Quarterly that Freaks would "disappoint no one but the mindless children who consume most horror films... Certainly it is macabre... But the point is that Freaks is not really a horror film at all, though it contains some horrifying sequences."Шаблон:Sfn Durgnat made a similar observation, writing that, like the films of Luis Buñuel, its shock value "mingles with moments which seem shallow, but by the end of the film one begins to catch their mood, a calm, cold combination of guignol and eerily matter-of-fact Шаблон:Sic."Шаблон:Sfn

Film-studies scholar Joan Hawkins describes the evolution of how the film's genre was perceived, noting that it "started as a mainstream horror film that migrated into the exploitation arena before finally being recuperated as an avant-garde or art project."Шаблон:Sfn Hawkins notes that Browning inverts the audience's expectations, demonstrating that it is "the ordinary, the apparently normal, the beautiful which horrify—the monstrous and distorted which compel our respect, our sympathy, ultimately our affection."Шаблон:Sfn Smith writes that the inclusion of Freaks within the horror genre "forces our reconsideration of the genre's status [and] challenges readings in which all horror movies are seen to use monstrous bodies to the same effects."Шаблон:Sfn Film theorist Eugenie Brinkema suggests that Freaks functions as a horror film "not because Cleo is mutilated and Hercules killed, all lightning and dark shadows—no, Freaks is a horror film because the gaze itself is horrific, because locating the gaze is a work in terror."Шаблон:Sfn

Production

Development

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) had purchased the rights to Tod Robbins's short story "Spurs" in the mid-1920s at Tod Browning's urging for a reported $8,000.Шаблон:Sfn Harry Earles, a dwarf who had appeared in Browning's The Unholy Three (1925)—and who would ultimately star as Hans in Freaks—had originally proposed the idea of making a film version of "Spurs" to Browning.Шаблон:Sfn The studio agreed to hire Browning to direct the project based on his past success at Universal Pictures with Dracula (1931) and for his collaborations with Lon Chaney.Шаблон:Sfn

In June 1931, MGM production supervisor Irving Thalberg offered Browning the opportunity to direct Arsène Lupin with John Barrymore. Browning declined, preferring to develop Freaks, a project he had started as early as 1927; Browning had worked with a traveling carnival prior to becoming a filmmaker.Шаблон:Sfn Screenwriters Willis Goldbeck and Elliott Clawson were assigned to the project at Browning's request.Шаблон:Sfn Leon Gordon, Edgar Allan Woolf, Al Boasberg and an uncredited Charles MacArthur would also contribute to the script.Шаблон:Sfn The script was shaped over five months.Шаблон:Sfn Little of the original story was retained beyond the marriage between a dwarf and an average-sized woman and their wedding feast, and the setting—originally France—was relocated to the United States.Шаблон:Sfn Both Thalberg and Harry Rapf served as uncredited co-producers on the film.Шаблон:Sfn

Casting

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Johnny Eck as Half-Boy and Angelo Rossitto as Angeleno

Victor McLaglen was considered for the role of Hercules, while Myrna Loy was initially slated to star as Cleopatra, with Jean Harlow as Venus.Шаблон:Sfn Ultimately, Thalberg decided not to cast any major stars in the picture.Шаблон:Sfn Instead, Russian actress Olga Baclanova was cast as Cleopatra, based on her success in a Los Angeles-produced stage production of The Silent Witness.Шаблон:Sfn

Harry Earles was cast as Hans, the carnival sideshow performer whom Cleopatra attempts to murder for his estate.Шаблон:Sfn Earles' real-life sister, Daisy, portrayed his dwarf love interest, Frieda.Шаблон:Sfn

Among the supporting characters featured as "freaks", casting agent Ben Piazza scoured the East Coast for over a month and put out advertisements for photographs and screen tests, scouting carnivals and sideshows for Browning, amongst them a girl with "Elephant skin", "a boy with dog legs", "a giant", "a bunch of pygmies" and the legendary dwarf performer "Mega Mite" didn't make the cut.[2][7] The cast that would included Peter Robinson ("The Human Skeleton"); Olga Roderick ("The Bearded Lady");[8] Frances O'Connor and Martha Morris ("armless wonders");Шаблон:Sfn and the conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton.Шаблон:Sfn Among the microcephalic characters who appear in the film (and are referred to as "pinheads" throughout) were Zip and Pip (Elvira and Jenny Lee Snow) and Schlitzie, a male named Simon Metz who wore a dress.Шаблон:Sfn

Also featured were the intersex Josephine Joseph, with her left-right divided gender;Шаблон:Sfn Johnny Eck, the legless man, who was scouted for the role while performing in Montreal;Шаблон:Sfn the completely limbless Prince Randian (also known as The Human Torso and miscredited as "Rardion");Шаблон:Sfn Elizabeth Green the Stork Woman; and Koo-Koo the Bird Girl, who had Virchow-Seckel syndrome or bird-headed dwarfism and is most remembered for the scene wherein she dances on the table.Шаблон:Sfn

Filming

Freaks began principal photography in November 1931,Шаблон:Efn with a 24-day shooting schedule.Шаблон:Sfn At the time of the production's beginning, the film had a budget of approximately $209,000,Шаблон:Sfn though it would eventually expand to more than $300,000.Шаблон:Efn The film was shot on the MGM studio lot in Culver City, California.Шаблон:Sfn Baclanova recalled her time first meeting her co-stars on the set:

Шаблон:Blockquote

During the shoot, the film had already begun to draw disgusted reactions, resulting in MGM segregating the film's cast and crew to a separate cafeteria so that "people could get to eat in the commissary without throwing up."Шаблон:Sfn Filming was completed on December 16, 1931, and Browning began retakes on December 23.Шаблон:Sfn

Release

Censorship

In January 1932, MGM held test screenings of the film, which proved disastrous: Art director Merrill Pye recalled that "Halfway through the preview, a lot of people got up and ran out. They didn't walk out. They ran out."Шаблон:Sfn Others reportedly became ill, or fainted; one woman who attended the screening threatened to sue MGM, claiming the film had caused her to suffer a miscarriage.Шаблон:Sfn Due to the extremely unfavorable response, the studio cut the picture down from its original 90-minute running time to just over an hour.Шаблон:Sfn Much of the sequence of the circus entertainers attacking Cleopatra as she lies under a lightning-struck tree was removed, as well as a sequence showing Hercules being castrated and made into a castrato, a number of comedy sequences, and most of the film's original epilogue, which included Hercules singing in a falsetto (a reference to his castration) with Cleopatra quacking along.Шаблон:Sfn[9]Шаблон:Sfn These excised sequences are considered lost.[9] In order to pad the running time after these cuts, a new prologue featuring a carnival barker was added, as was the alternate epilogue featuring the reconciliation of the dwarf lovers.Шаблон:Sfn

The truncated version—now only 64 minutes long—had its premiere at the Fox Criterion in Los Angeles on February 12, 1932.[10][11] It subsequently opened in New York City that summer, premiering on July 8, 1932.[12] Regionally, the film attracted controversy upon its theatrical release, and was pulled from screenings in Atlanta.Шаблон:Sfn In the United Kingdom, the film was banned by the British censors,Шаблон:Sfn[13] and remained as so for more than 30 years before being passed with an X rating in August 1963.[12]

Box office

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Freaks lobby card

Freaks was a box-office bomb,Шаблон:Sfn recording a total loss of $164,000.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn It grossed $289,000 in the United States, and $52,000 internationally.Шаблон:Sfn Though not a financial success, the film had greater earnings in smaller cities such as Cincinnati, Boston, and Saint Paul than it did in larger metropolitan cities such as Los Angeles or Chicago.Шаблон:Sfn

Critical response

Contemporaneous

Шаблон:Quote box

Despite the extensive cuts, the film was still negatively received by moviegoers, and remained an object of extreme controversy amongst the public upon initial release.Шаблон:Sfn Critics' responses were also divided.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn MGM attempted to address criticisms of exploitation by promoting the film as one compassionate toward its subjects, with tagline such as "What about abnormal people? They have their lives, too!"Шаблон:Sfn At the time of its release, the film was regarded by numerous critics as marking the end of Browning's career.Шаблон:Sfn Freaks became the only MGM film ever to be pulled from release before completing its domestic engagements,Шаблон:Sfn and it was pulled from distribution after its New York engagements concluded in the summer of 1932.Шаблон:Sfn Disillusioned by the backlash the film received, MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer sold the distribution rights to Dwain Esper for a 25-year period for $50,000.Шаблон:Sfn

A number of reviews were not only highly critical of the film, but expressed outrage and revulsion.Шаблон:Sfn Harrison's Reports wrote that "Any one who considers this entertainment should be placed in the pathological ward in some hospital."Шаблон:Sfn In The Kansas City Star, John C. Moffitt wrote, "There is no excuse for this picture. It took a weak mind to produce it and it takes a strong stomach to look at it."[14] The Hollywood Reporter called the film an "outrageous onslaught upon the feelings, the senses, the brains and the stomachs of an audience."Шаблон:Sfn Variety also published an unfavorable review, writing that the film was "sumptuously produced, admirably directed, and no cost was spared, but Metro heads failed to realize that even with a different sort of offering the story is still important. Here the story is not sufficiently strong to get and hold the interest, partly because interest cannot easily be gained for too fantastic a romance." The review went on to state that the story "does not thrill and at the same time does not please, since it is impossible for the normal man or woman to sympathize with the aspiring midget. And only in such a case will the story appeal."[15]

While a significant number of reviews were unfavorable, the film was well-received by some: The New York Times called it "excellent at times and horrible, in the strict meaning of the word, at others" as well as "a picture not to be easily forgotten."[16] The New York Herald Tribune wrote that it was "obviously an unhealthy and generally disagreeable work," but that "in some strange way, the picture is not only exciting, but even occasionally touching."[14] Columnist Louella Parsons wrote an enthusiastic report on the film, noting that "for pure sensationalism, Freaks tops any pictures yet produced...  In Freaks there are monstrosities such as never before have been known. If you are normal go and see them for yourself, if not, well, use your own judgment."Шаблон:Sfn

John Mosher of The New Yorker wrote a favorable review, calling it "a little gem" that "stands in a class by itself, and probably won't be forgotten in a hurry by those who see it." He found its "perfectly plausible story" a key to the effectiveness of its horror, writing that "It's a chilling notion to imagine these weird beings, with their own lives and vanities and passions, all allied in a bitter enmity against us." Addressing the controversial subject matter, Mosher stated: "if the poor things themselves can be displayed in the basement of Madison Square Garden, pictures of them might as well be shown in the Rialto. They may hereafter even be regarded in the flesh with a new dread bordering on respect."[17]

Retrospective

Файл:Joe Morgenstern.jpg
Critic Joe Morgenstern considers Freaks to feature some of the most terrifying scenes in film history.[18]

In the mid/late 20th century, Freaks began to garner critical reassessment after developing a cult following in Europe, and was subject to renewed praise by critics and audiences.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn[19] The film's growing popularity abroad led to a renewed interest in it among American audiences, and it was subject of a retrospective review in Film Quarterly by John Thomas in 1964, in which he deemed it "a minor masterpiece."Шаблон:Sfn

Critic Kim Newman suggests that the film's warmer reception amongst mid/late-20th-century audiences was partly due to the term "freak" having taken on a more positive connotation, as something to be celebrated rather than reviled; Newman also adds that the film "shows obvious fondness for its carny cast."[19] The Los Angeles TimesШаблон:'s Mark Chalon Smith declared in a 1995 retrospective review: "Freaks is a wild ride, but it's not the monster-trip some say it is. It is macabre and disturbing, but Browning chose to humanize the deformed characters at the movie's shadowy center, not to demonize them."[13] Nonetheless, the film has still been noted for its stark horror imagery in the 21st century, with Joe Morgenstern writing in 2009 that it boasts "some of the most terrifying scenes ever consigned to film."[18] Jamie Russell of the BBC similarly observed in 2002: "It's easy to see why reactions to the film have been so strong—it's a catalogue of the abnormal, the bizarre, and the grotesque that's still as unsettling today as it was 70 years ago."[20]

Film critic Mark Kermode awarded the film four out of five stars in a 2015 review, noting that, "today, Browning's sympathies are clear; if there are 'freaks' on display here, they are not the versatile performers to whom the title seems to allude."[21] Film theorist and critic Andrew Sarris echoed this sentiment, proclaiming Freaks "one of the most compassionate films ever made."Шаблон:Sfn Ed Gonzalez of Slant Magazine wrote in a 2003 retrospective that the film's moral significance has often been obscured by critical attention to its more shocking elements, noting that this "seriously underplay[s] the film's blistering humanity and the audacious aesthetic and philosophical lengths to which Browning goes to challenge the way we define beauty and abnormality."[22]

Шаблон:As of, Freaks holds an approval rating of 94% on the internet review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 53 reviews, and boasts an average rating of 8.48/10. Its consensus reads, "Time has been kind to this horror legend: Freaks manages to frighten, shock, and even touch viewers in ways that contemporary viewers missed."[23]

Home media

Freaks was first issued on Beta, VHS, and LaserDisc by MGM/UA Home Video in 1986,[24] and was rereleased on VHS by MGM/UA Home Video in 1990.[25] MGM/UA then issued a remastered LaserDisc in 1993.

In 2004, Warner issued the film on DVD for the first time.[25] It contained the film, a “Special Message” prologue added in 1947 by re-release distributor Dwain Esper, an audio commentary by Browning historian David J. Skal, a documentary entitled Freaks: The Sideshow Cinema, and a shorter documentary on the film’s various alternate endings. This disc went out of print in 2016.

Films Around The World (FAT-W) released Freaks on DVD in 2016, and Frolic Pictures released Freaks on a double feature DVD with Browning’s 1931 film Dracula in 2018. However, neither of these discs were authorized releases of either film.

In 2023, The Criterion Collection announced the release of Tod Browning’s Sideshow Shockers, a set which contains new 2K restorations of Freaks, The Unknown and The Mystic. It is set to be released on Blu-ray and DVD on October 17, 2023.[26] David J. Skal recorded a new commentary for this release of Freaks.[27]

Legacy

Freaks is now widely considered among director Browning's best films.[28][29] The film's growing esteem among critics traces back to the early 1960s, when it was rediscovered as a counterculture cult film, particularly among European audiences.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn It was screened at the 1962 Venice Film Festival, and shortly after was shown for the first time in the United Kingdom, having been banned there since 1932.Шаблон:Sfn Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the film was regularly shown at midnight movie screenings in the United States.Шаблон:Sfn It also enjoyed a critical reappraisal in France during this period,Шаблон:Sfn as, according to Hawkins, Browning had achieved a "certain Poe-esque stature among French intellectuals."Шаблон:Sfn Critic Derek Malcolm noted in 1999 that the film is "one of the masterpieces of baroque cinema," and a "damning antidote to the cult of physical perfection and an extraordinary tribute to the community of so-called freaks who made up its cast."[30]

In 1994, Freaks was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry, which preserves "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" films.[31][32] Film scholar Jennifer Peterson cites Freaks as one of the 50 most important American films ever made.Шаблон:Sfn In a 2018 retrospective on Browning's career, Martyn Conterio of the British Film Institute assesses the film as "best approached with a fuller understanding of Browning's work, specifically, the director's emotionally complicated interest in human abnormality and the severely disabled," and considers it among Browning's films that "are pioneering and boundary-pushing, amounting to repeat attacks on Hollywood's standardised images of beauty and glamour."[33] It is also listed in the film reference book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, which says "No mere plot summary can do justice to this alarming yet profound movie, which truly must be seen to be believed. It is a supreme oddity (freak?) of world cinema considered by many to be the most remarkable film in the career of a director whose credits include the original version of Dracula (1931)."Шаблон:Sfn

Several sequences in the film have been noted for their lasting cultural impact, particularly the freaks' climactic revenge sequence, which was ranked 15th on Bravo TV's list of the 100 Scariest Movie Moments.[34] The banquet sequence in which the freaks chant "We accept her, we accept her, one of us" has also been noted, with Mike D'Angelo of The A.V. Club describing it as "the film's greatest cultural legacy...  "One of us, one of us, one of us" reliably gets trotted out in situations involving an individual being forced to conform by the masses—I can recall seeing homages on both The Simpsons and South Park, and there are probably dozens of others out there."[35]

Freaks has inspired two unofficial remakes: She Freak (1967) and Freakshow (2007).[28]Шаблон:Sfn It also served as a major inspiration for the fourth season of the television series American Horror Story, titled Freak Show (2014–2015).[36] Freaks was adapted into a 1992 comic book series, published by Fantagraphics, written by Jim Woodring and illustrated by Francisco Solano Lopez.[37]

In popular culture

Browning and the film are mentioned in the 1974 David Bowie song "Diamond Dogs".[38]

The song "Pinhead" (1977) by the punk-rock band Ramones was inspired by Freaks, which the band saw in Cleveland, Ohio, after their gig was cancelled. Joey Ramone's brother Mickey Leigh said that the line "Gabba Gabba, we accept you, we accept you one of us" was specifically taken from the scene in which "the midget groom does a dance on the banquet table and sings 'Gooble gobble, we accept you, one of us' to his bride." The song is an audience participation song, and during live performances, Leigh used to run out on stage with a big sign that bore the text "Gabba Gabba, Hey" and pass it to Joey who'd hold it up urging the crowd to join in. The song was featured on their album Leave Home.[39]

In The Wolf of Wall Street, Jordan Belfort and associates chant 'Gooble gobble, we accept you, one of us' while making plans for a darts tournament that involves throwing little people at a target.[40]

The film was mentioned in the third season episode of The Sopranos, "University," when the character Caitlin expresses disgust at her classmates' callous reaction to characters in the film.[41]

See also

Explanatory notes

Шаблон:Notelist

Citations

Шаблон:Reflist

General sources

Шаблон:Refbegin

Шаблон:Refend

External links

Шаблон:Commons category Шаблон:Wikiquote

Шаблон:Freaks Шаблон:Tod Browning Шаблон:Irving Thalberg Шаблон:Authority control

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Разное

  1. ↑ 1,0 1,1 Шаблон:Cite web
  2. ↑ 2,0 2,1 2,2 2,3 2,4 Шаблон:Cite web
  3. ↑ Шаблон:Cite news
  4. ↑ Шаблон:Cite news
  5. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  6. ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
  7. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  8. ↑ Шаблон:Cite news
  9. ↑ 9,0 9,1 Шаблон:Cite web
  10. ↑ Шаблон:Cite news
  11. ↑ Шаблон:Cite news
  12. ↑ 12,0 12,1 Шаблон:Cite web
  13. ↑ 13,0 13,1 Шаблон:Cite web
  14. ↑ 14,0 14,1 Шаблон:Cite web
  15. ↑ Шаблон:Cite journal
  16. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  17. ↑ Шаблон:Cite magazine
  18. ↑ 18,0 18,1 Шаблон:Cite web Шаблон:Closed access
  19. ↑ 19,0 19,1 Шаблон:Cite web
  20. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  21. ↑ Шаблон:Cite news
  22. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  23. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  24. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  25. ↑ 25,0 25,1 Шаблон:Cite web
  26. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  27. ↑ https://www.criterion.com/boxsets/6911-freaks-the-unknown-the-mystic-tod-brownings-sideshow-shockers Шаблон:Bare URL inline
  28. ↑ 28,0 28,1 Шаблон:Cite web
  29. ↑ Шаблон:Cite news
  30. ↑ Шаблон:Cite news
  31. ↑ Шаблон:Cite news
  32. ↑ Шаблон:Cite news
  33. ↑ Шаблон:Cite news
  34. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  35. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  36. ↑ Шаблон:Cite magazine
  37. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
  38. ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
  39. ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
  40. ↑ Шаблон:Cite video
  41. ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
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