Tod Browning's 'Freaks': The Sideshow Cinema

Freaks: The Sideshow Cinema (2004)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

David Skal (film historian), Todd Robbins (sideshow expert), Mark Povinelli (midget actor) and Jerry Maren (midget actor - THE WIZARD OF OZ) are just a few of the people who are involved in this documentary about the making of FREAKS, which is certainly one of the most controversial movies ever made. This documentary clocks in two-minutes longer than the film itself and really gives one a great idea of the making of the film. We start off hearing about director Tod Browning and learning about his like of sideshows and the circus. From here we learn how the actors were picked for the film and we also learn that Myrna Loy was assigned but begged to be released because she was terrified by the screenplay. We even learn that Jean Harlow almost appeared in it. From here the majority of the running time is devoted to the actual sideshow actors that appeared in the movie. I think this here is perhaps the most interesting thing because all of the sideshow people are probably far less none so it's interesting to hear what they were doing when they were cast in the film and what they would do in their later years. The amount of detail giving is rather amazing and it's great for fans to see what they went onto do. There's also talk about the various issues that the film ran into including the studio cutting the film after horrendous public reaction.