Freaks: The 1932 Film That Ended a Career

Mon, 19 Feb 2024 11:00:00 +0000

In 1931 Tod Browning was one of the most bankable directors in Hollywood. He had just made Dracula for Universal, minted Bela Lugosi into an icon, and could more or less write his own ticket. In 1932 he made Freaks for MGM, and by the time the studio had finished mutilating it and the public had finished recoiling from it, his career was effectively over. He directed only a handful of films afterwards and retired into obscurity, a wealthy recluse largely forgotten by the industry he had helped build. Few films have cost their maker so much. Fewer still have been so thoroughly vindicated by the century that followed.

Pre-Code - vo.rs

Freaks: The 1932 Film That Ended a Career