The three films included on the Criterion Collection’s Tod Browning’s Sideshow Shockers collectively suggest a miniature narrative of Browning’s evolution as a filmmaker. Though this two-disc set offers but a dip of the toe into Browning’s work, it’s governed by a persuasive through line. Here we get a film, 1925’s The Mystic, that’s rich in promise and less personal than the other two, one a perverse masterwork, 1927’s The Unknown, that’s criminally underseen by contemporary audiences, and the other a cult classic, 1932’s Freaks, that’s too often discussed in terms of its notoriety. Watching these films together offers a sketch of an artist’s sensibility reaching fruition, as a fine-grained empathy rises to the fore.
Browning’s affinity for outcasts has been well-documented and is discussed at length in the supplements included with this set, particularly in a new interview with author...
Browning’s affinity for outcasts has been well-documented and is discussed at length in the supplements included with this set, particularly in a new interview with author...
- 10/18/2023
- by Chuck Bowen
- Slant Magazine
"Freaks" is one of the most impactful films ever made about humanity's cruelty and the power of solidarity. It tells the story of a beautiful but conniving trapeze artist named Cleopatra who plans to seduce and murder Hans, a circus sideshow performer and a person of short stature, for his inheritance. Director Tod Browning's dark film was a critical and box office failure during its 1932 release because of its unflinching depiction of persons with disabilities, causing it to fade into obscurity for many years.
Today, many critics debate whether or not "Freaks" is an exploitative product of its time or actually sympathetic towards the sideshow characters. It spotlights persons with all sorts of disabilities such as dwarfism (the siblings Harry and Daisy Earles), sacral agenesis (Johnny Eck), conjoined twins (Daisy and Violet Hilton), microcephaly (Schlitzie), and more. Yet at the same time, the film contains terrifying scenes where the...
Today, many critics debate whether or not "Freaks" is an exploitative product of its time or actually sympathetic towards the sideshow characters. It spotlights persons with all sorts of disabilities such as dwarfism (the siblings Harry and Daisy Earles), sacral agenesis (Johnny Eck), conjoined twins (Daisy and Violet Hilton), microcephaly (Schlitzie), and more. Yet at the same time, the film contains terrifying scenes where the...
- 9/6/2022
- by Caroline Madden
- Slash Film
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