It's another Freaky Friday Halloween Countdown 2013 wif' Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Director Tod Browning had a penchant for helming productions dealing with touchy subjects and came to Hollywood with the knowledge of a circus background.
Eegah!! sent over a fun little soundclip from this flick for our earjoyment,
sooooo, you can push the big red
'GO' button there next to the big chicken woman,
NOW, Rufus The Gnat! Here's an earfull of...
FREAKS!
The story basically centers around a trapeze artist, Cleopatra, and Hans, a midget working in the sideshow who she's stringing along. She's only interested in the money Hans will be inheriting while she has an affair with the circus strongman, Hercules. Another performer, Frieda, knows she's really the one for Hans.
Some of the circus oddities dance and play in the forest after a stop.
Daisy and Violet Hilton were Siamese twins, here, they chat with the great Wallace Ford, who plays good guy, Phroso The Clown. When I was just a little tyke, like in 1951, I lived next to a girl named Buttercup!
Josephine Joseph plays the Half Woman-Half Man, she/he gets punched out by Hercules in a second for being too nosey!
Here's Johnny Eck as Half Boy.
Phroso tries out a new gag!
Zip and Pip always have something interesting to say...
Frances O'Connor plays The Armless Girl... So,
who needs arms?!
Frieda pleads with Cleopatra to leave Hans alone. Look how Cleopatra mocks little Frieda with her facial expressions!
At the birthday party, Cleopatra gets drunk and spills the beans about how much she despises having to hang out with all you freaks! Angelo Rossitto brings her a queen sized drink that she then tosses back in his face as they are all laughing and mocking her!
Well, well, well... Bad move, maybe they'll just have to bring her down a notch or two!..
Cleo ends up the Chicken Woman, just another freak in the old sideshow!..
Great movie. Love it. Remember when I was younger and I thought this movie was so taboo. Something you weren't supposed to watch cause it was dark. Now, I see it is just a great, albeit creepy, film. Zip and Pip used to scare the beejeezus out of, I think because I knew they were real, not makeup or something.
ReplyDeleteYou left out my favorite, Koo Koo the Bird Woman!
ReplyDeleteThe image of the man with no arms nor legs crawling through the mud with a knife clenched in his teeth always puzzles me. As a nightmare image, it's unforgettable, but as a menace, it's ridiculous. What's he going to do? Spit the knife at her? Wriggle on her?
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