The three films included on the Criterion Collection’s Tod Browning’s Sideshow Shockers collectively suggest a miniature narrative of Browning’s evolution as a filmmaker. Though this two-disc set offers but a dip of the toe into Browning’s work, it’s governed by a persuasive through line. Here we get a film, 1925’s The Mystic, that’s rich in promise and less personal than the other two, one a perverse masterwork, 1927’s The Unknown, that’s criminally underseen by contemporary audiences, and the other a cult classic, 1932’s Freaks, that’s too often discussed in terms of its notoriety. Watching these films together offers a sketch of an artist’s sensibility reaching fruition, as a fine-grained empathy rises to the fore.
Browning’s affinity for outcasts has been well-documented and is discussed at length in the supplements included with this set, particularly in a new interview with author...
Browning’s affinity for outcasts has been well-documented and is discussed at length in the supplements included with this set, particularly in a new interview with author...
- 10/18/2023
- by Chuck Bowen
- Slant Magazine
Based on Victor Hugo’s 19th century novel, Paul Leni’s The Man Who Laughs is one of the most influential achievements in film history, if for no other reason than as the inspiration for The Joker. A soulful Conrad Veidt stars as Gwynplaine, a circus clown whose permanent grimace is a mocking reminder of his miserable fate. Mary Philbin plays his beloved Dea, a blind girl with the ability to “see” the real Gwynplaine. Olga Baclanova, villainess of 1932’s Freaks, co-stars, and Jack Pierce, the make-up genius behind Frankenstein’s monster and The Mummy, created Veidt’s nightmare smile.
A high quality print of Leni’s film can be seen here: The Man Who Laughs.
The post The Man Who Laughs appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
A high quality print of Leni’s film can be seen here: The Man Who Laughs.
The post The Man Who Laughs appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
- 12/20/2022
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Riddle me this: what do the Joker and "Casablanca" have in common? If you answered, "Conrad Veidt," then you've survived the first deathtrap, much like the Dynamic Duo coming out of a cliffhanger ending into the next episode of the 1966 "Batman" TV series.
80 years ago, Veidt received fifth billing in "Casablanca" after Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, and Claude Rains. His movie career, however, dates back even further than that to the silent era. In "The Man Who Laughs," the 1928 silent film helmed by German Expressionist director Paul Leni, Veidt shared top billing with Mary Philbin, and the indelible image of his grinning face left a mark on both movie history and comic book history.
The creation of Batman's greatest nemesis, the Joker, is attributed to writer Bill Finger and artists Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson. Over the years, conflicting accounts arose over who really originated the first idea for the character.
80 years ago, Veidt received fifth billing in "Casablanca" after Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, and Claude Rains. His movie career, however, dates back even further than that to the silent era. In "The Man Who Laughs," the 1928 silent film helmed by German Expressionist director Paul Leni, Veidt shared top billing with Mary Philbin, and the indelible image of his grinning face left a mark on both movie history and comic book history.
The creation of Batman's greatest nemesis, the Joker, is attributed to writer Bill Finger and artists Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson. Over the years, conflicting accounts arose over who really originated the first idea for the character.
- 10/15/2022
- by Joshua Meyer
- Slash Film
[Editor’s Note: This is Part 1 in a four-part series on disability and horror.]
“Watching horror films is a disabling experience,” Angela M. Smith, Associate Professor of English and Gender Studies for the University of Utah and author of the book “Hideous Progeny: Disability, Eugenics, and Classic Horror Cinema,” said. “It’s a controlled encounter with discomfort, with the vulnerability of our minds and bodies to images and suggestions that opens us to unwilled transformations.”
The horror film revels in the world of deformity and grotesqueness and, to a disabled viewer, that can be confusing in how relatable it is. For many, to be disabled is also to look different, so how does a person with a disability approach the horror genre when the presented thing to fear is themselves?
Smith said people weren’t ready for “Freaks” in the 1930s, and she’s absolutely correct. “Freaks,” for better and worse, remains one of the only U.S. features to have a predominately disabled...
“Watching horror films is a disabling experience,” Angela M. Smith, Associate Professor of English and Gender Studies for the University of Utah and author of the book “Hideous Progeny: Disability, Eugenics, and Classic Horror Cinema,” said. “It’s a controlled encounter with discomfort, with the vulnerability of our minds and bodies to images and suggestions that opens us to unwilled transformations.”
The horror film revels in the world of deformity and grotesqueness and, to a disabled viewer, that can be confusing in how relatable it is. For many, to be disabled is also to look different, so how does a person with a disability approach the horror genre when the presented thing to fear is themselves?
Smith said people weren’t ready for “Freaks” in the 1930s, and she’s absolutely correct. “Freaks,” for better and worse, remains one of the only U.S. features to have a predominately disabled...
- 10/6/2020
- by Kristen Lopez
- Indiewire
The experts were right when they said that silent filmmaking was developing something unique and beautiful, before talkies came along and spoiled the party with all that noise. This ‘handy three-pack’ of once-obscure Josef von Sternberg classics proves the theory 100% — his intense dramas excite audiences with something that’s gone missing from the movies, or the cinema or whatever you want to call it: the magic of visual stylization in the service of basic human emotions. Before Marlene there was Evelyn Brent and Betty Compson: Sternberg presents them as shimmering visions.
3 Silent Classics by Josef von Sternberg
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 529, 530, 531
1927-28 / B&w / 1:33 Silent Ap / 81, 88, 75 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date October 8, 2019 / 79.96
Starring: George Bancroft, Evelyn Brent, Clive Brook; Emil Jannings, Evelyn Brent, William Powell; George Bancroft, Betty Compson, Olga Baclanova.
Cinematography: Bert Glennon; Bert Glennon; Harold Rosson
Original Music: multiple scores by Robert Israel,...
3 Silent Classics by Josef von Sternberg
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 529, 530, 531
1927-28 / B&w / 1:33 Silent Ap / 81, 88, 75 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date October 8, 2019 / 79.96
Starring: George Bancroft, Evelyn Brent, Clive Brook; Emil Jannings, Evelyn Brent, William Powell; George Bancroft, Betty Compson, Olga Baclanova.
Cinematography: Bert Glennon; Bert Glennon; Harold Rosson
Original Music: multiple scores by Robert Israel,...
- 10/22/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Attention classic movie freaks – Set your DVR for this Monday!!!!
Tod Browning (1880-1962) was a pioneering director who helped establish the horror film genre. Born in Louisville Kentucky, Browning ran away to join the circus at an early age which influenced his later career in Hollywood and echoes of those years can be found in many of his films. Though best known as the director of the first sound version of Dracula starring Bela Lugosi in 1931, Browning made his mark on cinema in the silent era with his extraordinary 10-film collaboration with actor Lon Chaney, the ‘Man of a Thousand Faces’. Despite the success of Dracula, and the boost it gave his career, Browning’s chief interest continued to lie not in films dealing with the supernatural but in films that dealt with the grotesque and strange, earning him the reputation as “the Edgar Allan Poe of the cinema”. Browning...
Tod Browning (1880-1962) was a pioneering director who helped establish the horror film genre. Born in Louisville Kentucky, Browning ran away to join the circus at an early age which influenced his later career in Hollywood and echoes of those years can be found in many of his films. Though best known as the director of the first sound version of Dracula starring Bela Lugosi in 1931, Browning made his mark on cinema in the silent era with his extraordinary 10-film collaboration with actor Lon Chaney, the ‘Man of a Thousand Faces’. Despite the success of Dracula, and the boost it gave his career, Browning’s chief interest continued to lie not in films dealing with the supernatural but in films that dealt with the grotesque and strange, earning him the reputation as “the Edgar Allan Poe of the cinema”. Browning...
- 1/21/2016
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
“Gooble-gobble, gooble-gobble, we accept her, we accept her, one of us, one of us.”
Cinema St. Louis presents a Tribute to Tod Browning Friday November 13th at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium as part of this year’s St. Louis International Film Festival. The program includes a 35mm screening of Browning’s 1927 silent shocker The Unknown with live music by The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra followed by a screening of Browning’s 1932 masterpiece Freaks. The event begins at 7:30pm and will be hosted by We Are Movie Geeks own Tom Stockman. Ticket information can be found Here
Tod Browning (1880-1962) was a pioneering director who helped establish the horror film genre. Born in Louisville Kentucky, Browning ran away to join the circus at an early age which influenced his later career in Hollywood and echoes of those years can be found in many of his films. Though...
Cinema St. Louis presents a Tribute to Tod Browning Friday November 13th at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium as part of this year’s St. Louis International Film Festival. The program includes a 35mm screening of Browning’s 1927 silent shocker The Unknown with live music by The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra followed by a screening of Browning’s 1932 masterpiece Freaks. The event begins at 7:30pm and will be hosted by We Are Movie Geeks own Tom Stockman. Ticket information can be found Here
Tod Browning (1880-1962) was a pioneering director who helped establish the horror film genre. Born in Louisville Kentucky, Browning ran away to join the circus at an early age which influenced his later career in Hollywood and echoes of those years can be found in many of his films. Though...
- 11/10/2015
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Constance Cummings: Actress in minor Hollywood movies became major London stage star. Constance Cummings: Actress went from Harold Lloyd and Frank Capra to Noël Coward and Eugene O'Neill Actress Constance Cummings, whose career spanned more than six decades on stage, in films, and on television in both the U.S. and the U.K., died ten years ago on Nov. 23. Unlike other Broadway imports such as Ann Harding, Katharine Hepburn, Miriam Hopkins, and Claudette Colbert, the pretty, elegant Cummings – who could have been turned into a less edgy Constance Bennett had she landed at Rko or Paramount instead of Columbia – never became a Hollywood star. In fact, her most acclaimed work, whether in films or – more frequently – on stage, was almost invariably found in British productions. That's most likely why the name Constance Cummings – despite the DVD availability of several of her best-received performances – is all but forgotten.
- 11/4/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
“Gooble-gobble, gooble-gobble, we accept her, we accept her, one of us, one of us.”
Cinema St. Louis presents a Tribute to Tod Browning Friday November 13th at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium as part of this year’s St. Louis International Film Festival. The program includes a 35mm screening of Browning’s 1927 silent shocker The Unknown with live music by The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra followed by a screening of Browning’s 1932 masterpiece Freaks. The event begins at 7pm and will be hosted by We Are Movie Geeks own Tom Stockman
Tod Browning (1880-1962) was a pioneering director who helped establish the horror film genre. Born in Louisville Kentucky, Browning ran away to join the circus at an early age which influenced his later career in Hollywood and echoes of those years can be found in many of his films. Though best known as the director of the...
Cinema St. Louis presents a Tribute to Tod Browning Friday November 13th at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium as part of this year’s St. Louis International Film Festival. The program includes a 35mm screening of Browning’s 1927 silent shocker The Unknown with live music by The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra followed by a screening of Browning’s 1932 masterpiece Freaks. The event begins at 7pm and will be hosted by We Are Movie Geeks own Tom Stockman
Tod Browning (1880-1962) was a pioneering director who helped establish the horror film genre. Born in Louisville Kentucky, Browning ran away to join the circus at an early age which influenced his later career in Hollywood and echoes of those years can be found in many of his films. Though best known as the director of the...
- 10/8/2015
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Virginia Bruce: MGM actress ca. 1935. Virginia Bruce movies on TCM: Actress was the cherry on 'The Great Ziegfeld' wedding cake Unfortunately, Turner Classic Movies has chosen not to feature any non-Hollywood stars – or any out-and-out silent film stars – in its 2015 “Summer Under the Stars” series.* On the other hand, TCM has come up with several unusual inclusions, e.g., Lee J. Cobb, Warren Oates, Mae Clarke, and today, Aug. 25, Virginia Bruce. A second-rank MGM leading lady in the 1930s, the Minneapolis-born Virginia Bruce is little remembered today despite her more than 70 feature films in a career that spanned two decades, from the dawn of the talkie era to the dawn of the TV era, in addition to a handful of comebacks going all the way to 1981 – the dawn of the personal computer era. Career highlights were few and not all that bright. Examples range from playing the...
- 8/26/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Los Angeles' Bendix Building. Photo by Jordan Cronk.The bats have left the bell towerThe victims have been bled Red velvet lines the black boxBela Lugosi's dead —BauhausBela-Bonkers Brit Bloke Brazenly Boosts Bendix-Building Black Bandana!In the annals of Los Angeles crime, it was hardly an episode to titillate James Ellroy. Was it even really a crime? I was on the short stairwell that connects the 11th—the top—floor of the Bendix Building, a Garment District block on the corner of Maple St and 12th St, when I spotted the square of white-patterned black cotton. Into my pocket it rapidly went, compensation for the fact that my quest for rooftop access had been stymied. An orange plastic sign across the door up ahead, warning (bluffing?) of alarms that would ring out if opened, dissuaded further progress. I wasn't too disheartened—my unplanned visit to the Bendix Building had yielded sufficient delights.
- 6/22/2015
- by Neil Young
- MUBI
Top 100 horror movies of all time: Chicago Film Critics' choices (photo: Sigourney Weaver and Alien creature show us that life is less horrific if you don't hold grudges) See previous post: A look at the Chicago Film Critics Association's Scariest Movies Ever Made. Below is the list of the Chicago Film Critics's Top 100 Horror Movies of All Time, including their directors and key cast members. Note: this list was first published in October 2006. (See also: Fay Wray, Lee Patrick, and Mary Philbin among the "Top Ten Scream Queens.") 1. Psycho (1960) Alfred Hitchcock; with Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin, Martin Balsam. 2. The Exorcist (1973) William Friedkin; with Ellen Burstyn, Linda Blair, Jason Miller, Max von Sydow (and the voice of Mercedes McCambridge). 3. Halloween (1978) John Carpenter; with Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasence, Tony Moran. 4. Alien (1979) Ridley Scott; with Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt. 5. Night of the Living Dead (1968) George A. Romero; with Marilyn Eastman,...
- 10/31/2014
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Freaks
Written by Tod Robbins
Directed by Tod Browning
USA, 1932
“For the love of beauty is a deep-seated urge which dates back to the beginning of civilization. The revulsion with which we view the abnormal, the malformed, and the mutilated is the result of long conditioning by our forefathers.” – Introduction, Freaks
Tod Browning’s cult film depicting the terrors of sideshow performers, both how they are perceived by the public and the acts of violence they are driven to commit, sets an unusual and intriguing precedent for future horror cinema tropes.
Freaks initially portrays the titular troupe with unique deformities as unsuspecting prey to two of the carnival’s “normal” performers and lovers, Cleopatra the trapeze artist (Olga Baclanova) and Hercules the strong man (Henry Victor). Cleopatra’s plan to marry and murder Hans the dwarf man (Harry Earles) for his large inheritance victimizes the condition of the “freaks,” placing...
Written by Tod Robbins
Directed by Tod Browning
USA, 1932
“For the love of beauty is a deep-seated urge which dates back to the beginning of civilization. The revulsion with which we view the abnormal, the malformed, and the mutilated is the result of long conditioning by our forefathers.” – Introduction, Freaks
Tod Browning’s cult film depicting the terrors of sideshow performers, both how they are perceived by the public and the acts of violence they are driven to commit, sets an unusual and intriguing precedent for future horror cinema tropes.
Freaks initially portrays the titular troupe with unique deformities as unsuspecting prey to two of the carnival’s “normal” performers and lovers, Cleopatra the trapeze artist (Olga Baclanova) and Hercules the strong man (Henry Victor). Cleopatra’s plan to marry and murder Hans the dwarf man (Harry Earles) for his large inheritance victimizes the condition of the “freaks,” placing...
- 10/25/2013
- by Amanda Williams
- SoundOnSight
Freaks (1932)
Directed by Tod Browning
Written by Willis Goldbeck & Leon Gordon based on the story “Spurs” by Tod Robbins
Starring Wallace Ford (Phroso the Clown), Leila Hyams (Venus), Olga Baclanova (Cleopatra), Henry Victor (Hercules), Harry Earles (Hans)
Director Tod Browning grew up in the circus – under the big top – amidst manic clowns, hairy women and human deformity all lined up for our entertainment. These were his people. Roll up, roll up.
Roll up, roll!! Dare you see Freaks: the controversial classic, banned in the UK for 30 years!! Gather round and gasp at these misshapen misfits. Dance with the Pinheads; lust after sexy Siamese Sisters; be confused by Joseph/Josephine the half man, half woman; and cower at the murderous Code of the Freaks!!!!
“Gooble-gobble, Gooble-gobble,
One of us, one of us!”
It was made in 1932 and has gathered a reputation as a perverse masterpiece. People cower at its name,...
Directed by Tod Browning
Written by Willis Goldbeck & Leon Gordon based on the story “Spurs” by Tod Robbins
Starring Wallace Ford (Phroso the Clown), Leila Hyams (Venus), Olga Baclanova (Cleopatra), Henry Victor (Hercules), Harry Earles (Hans)
Director Tod Browning grew up in the circus – under the big top – amidst manic clowns, hairy women and human deformity all lined up for our entertainment. These were his people. Roll up, roll up.
Roll up, roll!! Dare you see Freaks: the controversial classic, banned in the UK for 30 years!! Gather round and gasp at these misshapen misfits. Dance with the Pinheads; lust after sexy Siamese Sisters; be confused by Joseph/Josephine the half man, half woman; and cower at the murderous Code of the Freaks!!!!
“Gooble-gobble, Gooble-gobble,
One of us, one of us!”
It was made in 1932 and has gathered a reputation as a perverse masterpiece. People cower at its name,...
- 10/3/2011
- by Tom Fallows
- Obsessed with Film
Some films make controversy, some films achieve controversy, and some films have controversy thrust onto them. With Tod Browning's Freaks (1932) it had been all three. Freaks tells the story of a beautiful but selfish trapeze artist named Cleopatra (Olga Baclanova), who seduces and then marries side-show dwarf Hans (Harry Earles) after learning of his large inheritence. Cleopatra then starts to slowly poison Hans, hoping to kill him so that she run off with his money and marry the traveling carnival's handsome strongman Hercules (Henry...
- 9/28/2010
- by Daniel DiMattei, Boston Classic Movies Examiner
- Examiner Movies Channel
Film Forum is freakin' out with a 10-film salute to Tod Browning (1880-1962), the carnival barker turned film maker with a taste for the macabre.
The flicks will unreel as Monday-night double features through June 8.
"Freaks" (1932), Browning's most notorious work, kicks off the series tomorrow.
Rarely shown and banned in Britain for 30 years, it is set in a circus sideshow featuring "nature's mistakes," played by real-life freaks: the co-joined Hilton sisters (no relation to you know who), Pinheads Pip and Zip, the Armless Wonder, Frances the Turtle Girl,...
The flicks will unreel as Monday-night double features through June 8.
"Freaks" (1932), Browning's most notorious work, kicks off the series tomorrow.
Rarely shown and banned in Britain for 30 years, it is set in a circus sideshow featuring "nature's mistakes," played by real-life freaks: the co-joined Hilton sisters (no relation to you know who), Pinheads Pip and Zip, the Armless Wonder, Frances the Turtle Girl,...
- 5/10/2009
- by By V.A. MUSETTO
- NYPost.com
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