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A Classic horror movie to say the least, one of the few brought out in the early 1900's to compete and win against most movies that came out recently, this year even. No special effects were involved in this movie, just humans with deformities under the direction of fellow side show freak, Tod Browning. Watching the special features on this movie shows alot of information, including that Tod Browning himself belonged to a sideshow, and knew some of the stars personally. It was one of the strangest films to date made by an American, showing physical anomalies on camera for one of the first times in cinematic history; all of the stars special and truly unique it their own way. The story focuses on a tiny man named Hans who falls for a trapeze artist named Cleopatra, who attempts to marry him and poison him; to then be left with his fortune and live happily ever after. Mistaking his kindness for weakness, Cleopatra surrounds Hans in the thought that she wants to be with him, yet Hans’ wife (who is actually his sister is real life) sees past it, as do some of the other performers. Seeing the two together on the screen when the film debuted really caused a stir in the film industry as well as society, as no type of a couple like this had ever been imagined, let alone shot on film. As the movie plays on, and the trap becomes set, many of the freaks sees Hans happy so they decide to accept her as one of them during their wedding; even though she has no deformities and has politically correct stick up her ass. After her poor behavior (kissing another man at the wedding) and sudden attitude change in front of Hans’ family of performers (screaming and badmouthing all of them when asked to drink from the same cup they all drank out of), the freaks decide it is time to take action against the woman plotting against their friend. The conclusion of this film was one that stuck with me, everything was just perfect as far as atmosphere, whether conditions, and overall fear put into shooting it. In the 62 minutes of the film, as promised; she became one of them.. To say the least!
Frieda: I was saying, tonight you must not smoke such a big cigar. Your voice was very bad at tonight's show.
Hans: Please, Frieda, don't tell me what I do. When I want a cigar, I smoke a cigar. I want no orders from a woman.
8/10
