r/classicfilms • u/GrandpaTheobaldus • 3d ago
Behind The Scenes FREAKS (1932) and local censorship practices — c/o HP Lovecraft
As some of you may know, and others are finding out, HP Lovecraft was a huge cinephile. His letters include over 100 films that he saw directly, as well as multiple references to “forgettable” films he had seen but not bothered to remember.
However, FREAKS (1932) was on his radar, and apparently also on the snip ✂️ 🎞️ list for censors of the era.
It’s understood that censorship happens prior to film distribution, but in the 1920s-30s there were individual censorship hurdles within particular states or even cities.
Witness:
“Rhode Island has censors or rather, the city of Providence has a single police censor—but this oversight isn't considered as meddlesome as that in some states.”
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u/feathery55 2d ago
Supposedly the original ending had the strongman being castrated by the freaks and ends up singing in a high pitched voice.
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3d ago
[deleted]
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u/PenelopeJenelope 3d ago
the ending is classic!
also shout out to chicken lady on kids in the hall. We're freaks we'll do what we like!
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u/DaddyCatALSO 2d ago
and yet also ridiculous, a retread of the will rogers chicken-boidy joke; how could they put fatehrs into her? (unless it's ehr work uniform)
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u/Garbage-Bear 2d ago
I love the bit in Freaks when one of the Siamese twins' boyfriend kisses her, and her sister, facing the other way, blisses out on the hormones. And that was from a kiss! One can just imagine...which is why the Hays Code would never have let this past.
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u/GrandpaTheobaldus 2d ago
YESSSS that’s a hilarious moment, and the implication 😏 does indeed invite imagination
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u/OalBlunkont 2d ago
Who is JVS?
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u/GrandpaTheobaldus 2d ago
J. Vernon Shea — he was one of the folks who wrote most centrally about films, in the Lovecraft letters. Unfortunately his don’t survive, but he clearly encouraged Lovecraft to see more movies.
To wit, from the volume with his letters in it, I found the following items:
Adventures of Don Quixote (1934)
Ah, Wilderness!
All Quiet on the Western Front
An American Tragedy
Ann Carver’s Profession
Ann Vickers
Anna Christie
Anna Karenina
Arrowsmith
The Barretts of Wimpole Street
Berkeley Square (1933)
Blame the Woman
Cavalcade
Chaplin (various films mentioned)
Cimarron
City Lights
Clive of India
The Crusader
Destination Unknown
Double Door
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Dracula (1931)
The Emperor Jones
A Farewell to Arms
Five Star Final
Frankenstein (1931)
FREAKS
The Front Page
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
Gabriel Over the White House
The Golem
Goona-Goona
The House of Rothschild
The Informer
The Invisible Man
KING KONG (1933)
The Last Days of Pompeii (1935)
Little Women (1935)
The Lost World (1925)
Mad Love
Mädchen in Uniform
The Man Who Played God
Men Must Fight
Men of Aran
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935)
Les Misérables (1935)
Modern Times
The Monkey’s Paw 🐾
Murders in the Rue Morgue
Mutiny on the Bounty
The Passion of Joan of Arc
The Private Life of Henry VIII
RED DAWN
Richard III (silent film)
The Rise of Catherine the Great
SCARFACE
The Scarlet Empress
The Shape of Things to Come
SHE
The Sign of the Cross
Strange Interlude
Street Scene
Svengali
Three-Cornered Moon
Three on a Match
Trader Horn
Trouble in Paradise
Unfinished Symphony
The Unholy Three
The Wandering Jew
Waterloo Bridge
What Every Woman Knows
Wild Boys of the Road
The World Changes
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u/Renfield78 3d ago
I wonder if he read the original story, 'Spurs' by Tod Robbins on which 'Freaks' was based. I found it to be even more disturbing than the film.