- Let's start with the facts: Tod Browning's Freaks features a memorable cast of unique individuals including little people Hans and Frieda (Harry and Daisy Earles), a pair of conjoined twins (Daisy and Violet Hilton), a half woman-half man (Josephine Joseph), and various other characters played by actors with missing limbs, microcephaly, and other unusual afflictions. These characters work for a traveling carnival sideshow, along with Phroso the clown (Wallace Ford), lovely ladies Venus (Leila Hyams) and Cleopatra (Olga Baclanova), and a strong man named Hercules (Henry Victor). Cleopatra and Hercules are the villains of the piece, conspiring to use Cleopatra's alleged charms to con Hans out of his family fortune.
- For most of the movie, the so-called freaks are presented sympathetically, as real people with unfortunate conditions that would naturally steer them toward carnival work. There is obvious camaraderie and love amongst this group in a way that is not true for the "normal" people, though, half of whom are just downright evil. But shortly after the film's infamous "One of us!" scene, this endearing group transforms into a violent mob that (and I never thought I'd be writing this phrase) carves Cleopatra into a duck lady. Say it ain't so, Living Torso (Prince Randian)! By the end, I guess I'm not really sure where the film stands on whether or not it is okay to exploit people because of their appearances. Does that make me one of them or not?
