Freaks

Freaks

 Cast: Harry Earles
Harry Earles
, Olga Baclanova
Olga Baclanova
, Wallace Ford
Wallace Ford
, Leila Hyams
Leila Hyams
, Roscoe Ates
Roscoe Ates
Freaks

Freaks

 Cast: Harry Earles
Harry Earles
, Olga Baclanova
Olga Baclanova
, Wallace Ford
Wallace Ford
, Leila Hyams
Leila Hyams
, Roscoe Ates
Roscoe Ates

DVD

$14.99 
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Overview

The genesis of MGM's Freaks was a magazine piece by Ted Robbins titled Spurs. The story involved a terrible revenge enacted by a mean-spirited circus midget upon his normal-sized wife. In adapting Spurs for the screen, writers Willis Goldbeck, Leon Gordon, Edgar Allan Wolf, and Al Boasberg retained the circus setting and the little man-big woman wedding, all the while de-vilifying the midget and transforming the woman into the true "heavy" of the piece. German "little person" Harry Earles plays Hans, who falls in love with long-legged trapeze artist Cleopatra (Olga Baclanova). Discovering that Hans is heir to a fortune, Cleopatra inveigles him into a marriage, all the while planning to bump off her new husband and run away with brutish strongman Hercules (Henry Victor). What she doesn't reckon with is the code of honor among circus freaks: "offend one, offend them all." What set this film apart from director Tod Browning's earlier efforts was the fact that genuine circus and carnival sideshow performers were cast as the freaks: Harry Earles and his equally diminutive sister Daisy, Siamese twins Violet and Daisy Hilton, legless Johnny Eck, armless-legless Randian (who rolls cigarettes with his teeth), androgynous Josephine-Joseph, "pinheads" Schlitzie, Elvira, Jennie Lee Snow, and so on. Upon its initial release, Freaks was greeted with such revulsion from movie-house audiences that MGM spent the next 30 years distancing themselves as far from the project as possible. For many years available only in a truncated reissue version titled Nature's Mistakes, Freaks was eventually restored to its original release print.

Product Details

Release Date: 04/13/2016
UPC: 0889290615480
Original Release: 1932
Source: Mr. Fat-W Video
Language: English
Time: 1:05:00
Sales rank: 14,479

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits
Harry Earles Hans,Frieda
Olga Baclanova Cleopatra
Wallace Ford Phroso
Leila Hyams Venus
Roscoe Ates Roscoe,Actor
Henry Victor Hercules
Rose Dione Madame Tetrallini
Daisy Hilton Siamese Twin,Siamese Twin
Edward Brophy Rollo Brother,Rollo Brother
Matt McHugh Rollo Brother
Olga Roderick Bearded Lady
Johnny Eck Boy with Half a Torso
Prince Randian Hindu Living Torso
Schlitze Herself
Pip Pinhead
Pete Robinson Living Skeleton
Koo Koo Bird Girl
Josephine-Joseph Half Woman-Half Man
Martha Morris Armless Wonder
Frances O'Connor The Living Venus de Milo,Herself
Angelo Rossitto Angeleno
Elizabeth Green Stork Woman
Albert Conti Monsieur Duval, the Landowner
Michael Visaroff Jean the Caretaker
Murray Kinnell Sideshow Barker
Ernie S. Adams Sideshow Patron
Louise Beavers Maid
Elvira Snow Pinhead
John Aasen Giant
Demetrius Alexis Mr. Rogers
Jerry Austin Knife-Throwing Dwarf
Mathilde Comont Madame Bartet
Burgess Meredith Carny Caller
Randian Himself
Zip Themselves
Peter Robinson Human Skeleton

Technical Credits
Tod Browning Director,Producer
Willis Goldbeck Screenwriter
Leon Gordon Screenwriter
Edgar Allan Woolf Screenwriter
Al Boasberg Screenwriter
Irving Thalberg Producer
Ted Robbins Stunts
Charles MacArthur Screenwriter
Dwain Esper Producer
Harry Rapf Producer
Hildegarde Stadie Producer
Douglas Shearer Sound Effects
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