Freaks (1932)
 

Has anyone seen the director (Tod Browning's) cut of this? I've only seen the commercial 64minute version and heard that it was originally a longer film. Does anyone know of anything extra that I didn't see?

i think i watched the full uncut but was ages ago,i did not like the movie the ending was awful,but that's my veiw.

Yeah I actually watched it the other night with my pristine copy of London at Midnight.

PM me and I'll hook u up.

Browning's original version included many more comedic scenes (including one of Prince Randian, the "Human Torso", not only lighting his cigarette, but rolling it, too), a longer climax featuring the freaks attacking Cleo and Hercules, implying castration on the latter, and an additional scene during the epilogue showing Hercules singing soprano. The only venue to ever show the uncut film was the Fox Theatre in San Diego. And most of those scenes are now considered lost, which as much of a bummer that is, it's still a great, absolutely singular film.

Thank you all for your help with this-I hope those additional scenes (which sound great thanks fortunato) have not been lost-I really really enjoyed this and hope I can get to see more looking forward to hunting the uncut version down!

Freaks?
 

.........sending pm

Scoring one point for Ferox.

You barely got it though- it was too easy.

And I should take the point away for incorrectly titling London After Midnight.

I've walked right into a trap I see-goodness I even sent a PM and asked ferox if London after midnight was the same film as meeting at midnight-is that the film he meant?

No- London After Midnight is the most infamous lost movie. There have been several hoaxes over the years claiming to have found it, but they've all been exposed.

There is no such thing as a "director's cut" of Freaks. There was an original cut, that didn't test well, so it was shortened for general release. The footage has been lost for 80 years. You're not going to find it by snooping around on the internet.

Miracles can happen though- as seen by the recent uncovering of additional footage for Metropolis.

Jeez you are too hard on me :(

I actually just realised it wasn't a typo and I've been calling it the wrong title all along.

I had no idea the cut footage had been lost for so long its a sad loss.

Extended version or not this movie is an all time classic.

on the DVD you get to see Prince Randian, the "Human Torso", rolling a cigarette and lighting it, also the DVD has history of the "Freaks" in the film and what happend to them. like the "Human Torso" had a family that he toke care of, which blows my mind a bit... also a history of the making of the film "Freaks" or what they could dig up and put togather history wise. The DVD has some cool stuff with it. I do have to say tho the "Human Torso" blows my mind, the guy had a family with a lot of kids that he toke care of...

Easily my favorite Tod Browning film (which is no small feat given his body of work).

Watching The Living Torso fetch the match from the box and light that cigarette solely with his mouth is to this day one of the most inspiring things I have ever seen.

I believe that 'Island of Lost Souls' made a year later also uses microcephalic men or 'pin heads' cast as the animal-men.
Was this influenced by Freaks? Or was there something about the early 30s and using people with deformities on film?

A great Tod Browning film. I have a copy and I just love it.

I've always been bothered by this film being classified as horror. There's nothing horror involved with it at all. It's a romance film. The only thing I can think of as to why it's classified as horror is that people of the time period considered the "freaks" to be horror.

Like many horror films its not strictly horror. As many love stories are horror movies. The darkness of how the 'freaks' were treated is coupled without how strange they appear to us. Its not a monster/killer after teens at night, or traveling to hell, etc. Its beautiful people we don't often see as beautiful. For me horror does not exclude dark, stark reality.

i've never being comfortable with this film. Its something about the personal exploitative nature of the film that just sits uncomfortably with me. I do actually love exploitation movies, however its the genre being exploited that i like, rather than individuals

I liked it
:: sokkolta ::

No Explotation
 

It actually was not exploitation. Tod Browning performed in the circus prior to his stint as a director. After his success with Dracula the studio pulled up the money truck but also gave him 100% creative control to make whatever he wanted. Big mistake. Tod brought up some of his old friends (read circus freaks) and adapted the short store 'Spurs'. His passion project was of course a financial failure and pretty much signaled the end of his career. Tod certainly didn't think he was exploiting his friends, he was probably more happy to give them Hollywood paydays which I doubt the sideshow could even come close to matching.

Dante
http://horrifyou.com