Tod Browning's sideshow shockers : Freaks ; The Unknown ; The Mystic
(Blu-ray) 

Book Cover
Average Rating
Contributors
Browning, Tod, 1880-1962, film director,
Thalberg, Irving G., 1899-1936, film producer.
Goldbeck, Willis screenwriter.
Gordon, Leon, 1884-1960, screenwriter.
Young, Waldemar, 1878-1938, screenwriter.
Published
[New York, New York] : The Criterion Collection, [2023].
Status
On Shelf
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Copies

LocationCall NumberStatus
Oak Park Public Library Main Branch - 2nd Flr - VideoBLURAY GOLDEN ERA TOn Shelf
Tinley Park Public Library - 1st FloorMOVIES TODOn Shelf

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Subjects

LC Subjects
Abnormalities, Human -- Drama.
Circus films.
Crime -- Drama.
Crime films.
Criminals -- Drama.
Drama.
Fugitives from justice -- Drama.
Heiresses -- Drama.
Horror films.
Knife throwing -- Drama.
Outcasts -- Drama.
Seances -- Drama.
Sideshows -- Drama.
Swindlers and swindling -- Drama.
Unrequited love -- Drama.
Video recordings for the hearing impaired.

More Details

Published
[New York, New York] : The Criterion Collection, [2023].
Format
Blu-ray
Physical Desc
2 Blu-ray discs (203 min.) : sound and silent, black and white ; 4 3/4 in. + 1 booklet (36 pages : illustrations ; 17 cm).
Language
English
UPC
715515287814

Notes

General Note
Originally released as three films in 1932, 1927, and 1925.
General Note
Full screen (1.37:1 and 1.33:1).
General Note
Special features: new 2K digital restoration of 'Freaks'; new 2K digital reconstruction and restoration of 'The unknown' by the George Eastman Museum, with a new score by composer Philip Carli; new 2K digital restoration of 'The mystic', with new score by composer Dean Hurley; audio commentaries on 'Freaks' and 'The unknown' and an introduction to 'The mystic' by film scholar David J. Skal ; new interview with author Megan Abbott about director Tod Browning and pre-Code horror; archival documentary on 'Freaks'; episode from 2019 of critic Kristen Lopez's podcast 'Ticklish business' about disability representation in 'Freaks'; reading by Skal of 'Spurs,' the short story by Tod Robbins on which 'Freaks' is based; prologue to 'Freaks,' which was added to the film in 1947; program on the alternate endings to 'Freaks'; video gallery of portraits from 'Freaks'; plus: an essay by film critic Farran Smith Nehme.
Creation/Production Credits
The mystic: composer, Dean Hurley.
Participants/Performers
Freaks: Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams, Olga Baclanova, Roscoe Ates, Henry Victor, Harry Earles, Daisy Earles, Rose Dione, Daisy Hilton, Violet Hilton, Schlitze Surtees, Josephine Joseph, Prince Randian, Olga Roderick, Frances O'Connor, Martha Morris, Elvira Snow, Jenny Lee Snow, Angelo Rossitto, Edward Brophy, Matt McHugh, Johnny Eck, Peter Robinson, Elizabeth Green, Minnie Woolsey, Albert Conti, Michael Visaroff, Murray Kinnell, Hooper Atchley, Jerry Austin, Mathilde Comont, Ernie S. Adams, Edith, Delmo Fritz, Constantine Romanoff, Sidney Bracey.
Participants/Performers
The unknown: Lon Chaney, Norman Kerry, Joan Crawford, Nick De Ruiz, John George, Frank Lanning, John St. Polis, Julian Rivero, Billy Seay, Tom Amandares, Louise Emmons, Italia Frandi, Venezia Frandi, Polly Moran, Margaret Bert, Paul Desmuke.
Participants/Performers
The mystic: Aileen Pringle, Conway Tearle, Mitchell Lewis, Robert Ober, Stanton Heck, David Torrence, Gladys Hulette, DeWitt Jennings, Carrie Daumery, Joseph Hazelton.
Description
Freaks: A tale of love, deception, and retribution set among troupe of carnival sideshow performers, shunned by society because of their physical deformities.
Description
The unknown: An unrequited infatuation leads a circus knife-thrower on the run from the law into a troubled state, but when the circus owner discovers the desperate man's secret identity, things become markedly worse.
Description
The mystic: A confederacy of unsavory characters conspire to cheat an heiress out of her fortune by way of conducting fraudulent séances.
Description
The world is a carnival of criminality, corruption, and psychosexual strangeness in the twisted pre-Code shockers of Tod Browning. Early Hollywood's edgiest auteur, Browning drew on his experiences as a circus performer to create subversive pulp entertainments set amid the world of traveling sideshows, which, with their air of the exotic and the disreputable, provided a pungent backdrop for his sordid tales of outcasts, cons, villains, and vagabonds. Bringing together two of his defining works (The Unknown and Freaks) and a long-unavailable rarity (The Mystic), this cabinet of pre-Code curiosities reveals a master of the morbid whose ability to unsettle is matched only by his daring compassion for society's most downtrodden.
Target Audience
MWT rating: NR.
Accessibility Note
English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing (SDH).
System Details
Blu-ray; region A; mono; requires Blu-ray player.
Language
In English; silent features have English intertitles.
Local note
BLU-RAY

Citations

APA Citation, 7th Edition (style guide)

Browning, T., Thalberg, I. G., Goldbeck, W., Gordon, L., Young, W., Ford, W., Hyams, L., Baclanova, O., Ates, R., Victor, H., Earles, H., Earles, D., Dione, R., Hilton, D., Hilton, V., Schlitzie, 1., Joseph, J., O'Connor, F., Morris, M., Brophy, E., McHugh, M., Robinson, P., Green, E., Conti, A., Visaroff, M., Kinnell, M., Atchley, H., Austin, J., Comont, M., Adams, E., Romanoff, C., Bracey, S., Chaney, L., Kerry, N., Crawford, J., George, J., Lanning, F., Sainpolis, J. F. 1., Rivero, J., Emmons, L., Frandi, I., Frandi, V., Moran, P., Bert, M., Desmuke, P., Pringle, A., Tearle, C., Lewis, M., Ober, R., Heck, S., Torrence, D., Hulette, G., Jennings, D., Daumery, C., Hazelton, J., Hurley, D., Nehme, F. S., & Robbins, T. (2023). Tod Browning's sideshow shockers: Freaks ; The Unknown ; The Mystic (Two-Blu-ray special edition.). The Criterion Collection.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

Tod Browning et al.. 2023. Tod Browning's Sideshow Shockers: Freaks ; The Unknown ; The Mystic. [New York, New York]: The Criterion Collection.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities (Notes and Bibliography) Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

Tod Browning et al.. Tod Browning's Sideshow Shockers: Freaks ; The Unknown ; The Mystic [New York, New York]: The Criterion Collection, 2023.

Harvard Citation (style guide)

Browning, T., Thalberg, I. G., Goldbeck, W., Gordon, L., Young, W., Ford, W. and Hyams, L. et al (2023). Tod browning's sideshow shockers: freaks ; the unknown ; the mystic. Two-Blu-ray special edn. [New York, New York]: The Criterion Collection.

MLA Citation, 9th Edition (style guide)

Browning, Tod, et al. Tod Browning's Sideshow Shockers: Freaks ; The Unknown ; The Mystic Two-Blu-ray special edition., The Criterion Collection, 2023.

Note! Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy. Citation formats are based on standards as of August 2021.

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