After all, the director of the film is the famous Browning, who had the success of "Dracula" before. At that time, MGM had extremely high expectations for "Freaks." According to scholars who study the history of American horror films, this film, like films such as "Dracula" and "Frankenstein", is a projection of the social trauma of the Great Depression era. Several other films were very successful at the time, but this film failed and was considered "disgusting" or "extremely unhealthy." MGM lost miserably and the director’s job under the studio system was lost. The freedom and dominance that I once had. This film has been shelved for a long time, and it will be 30 years after it is rediscovered and recognized for its intriguing story connotation and artistic value.
The story in the film takes place in France, and the original is a French novel that sounds a bit abnormal. Probably in that era when Freud was popular, many literary creations could be touched with psychoanalysis. The novel tells that the female rider of the circus falls in love with her partner, but cannot get married because she does not have a dowry. An ugly dwarf in the circus inherits a large inheritance and proposes to her. She thinks that the dwarf will not live long and decides to marry the dwarf. Then wait for her husband to die and marry her sweetheart to save the country. At the wedding banquet, she insulted her new husband. The dwarf held a grudge and tortured her for a year. She let her carry her on long distances and spur her from time to time. The heroine's elopement plan was also completely shattered. The violent dwarf husband stabbed her sweetheart with a sword, and she could only be tortured and punished by her husband for a lifetime. The novel is like this, and the movie is even more shocking. The dwarfs in the circus, intersex people, conjoined people, castrated clowns, girls without arms, and boys with only half of the body are all real physical defects or congenitals found by the director. Defective performer. When the heroine meets these actors for the first time under the leadership of the director, she directly scared and cried. It is said that Fitzgerald was in the MGM screenwriting department because of financial constraints and to feed his money-burning wife, because during the day in the studio’s cafeteria, he sat with the actors from the "Freaks" crew to have a meal. Scared and ran away, coupled with the alcohol scandal at the time, he was immediately fired. The movie has a lot of obscure sexual cues. It is really bold by the standards of the time. The sister of the Siamese sisters in Thailand marries the circus cross-dressing, because the feelings of the two people are interlinked, which actually implies 3P; The dwarf boy Hans, who married the tall heroine, has a castrated voice suggesting his impotence, and the heroine’s friend is a strong man named Hercules. This triangle relationship is very obvious to the so-called Oedipus complex. Performance. Although it is a movie from the 1930s, it is still very good in terms of visual perception and image style, especially the scene of the wedding banquet. It is said that it was filmed in accordance with the silent film method, and then added the soundtrack.
"Freaks" is relatively lucky to be rediscovered and changed from a commercial genre film with rave reviews to one of the examples of art films recognized by intellectuals and scholars. Well-known scholars like Raymond Dagnat who studied Hitchcock Bunuel Renoir directly put this film on the same status as Bunuel, let alone the famous female photographer Diane ·The uncomfortable photographic works of Arbus inspired or stimulated by this film. The automobile cinemas and art theaters of the 1960s often reproduced Hollywood movies from the 30s and 40s, which drove some cult movies, such as Casablanca or "Citizen Kane", but it was also an era when elegance and vulgar culture constantly met and collided. Junk films are also popular, good and bad are all together. It is said that I could see Antonioni or Godard's works from time to time in B-level films or exploitation films (exploitation films are too bad). "Freaks" wandered between mainstream audiences and B-rated film lovers. In order to attract the audience, the projectors who bought the distribution rights changed the name of the film to Forbidden Love. It was shown in many car theaters at the time. Those who thought the film was Some kind of bold young audiences who can straightforwardly express the bold pornography between the beautiful and healthy heroine and the ugly dwarf screamed, thanks to the preparation of the screeners, every time there is such a situation of audience protest, In the trunk of the car, a copy of the junk film with really bold pornographic content was put on the audience to calm everyone's anger. In 2013, the Halloween special of The Simpsons spoofed and paid tribute to the "Freaks". To be precise, the heroine was whitewashed. The translation of Renren's subtitles group appeared "Lao Mouzi", and laughed wildly.
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