#freask

Tod Browning had been a member of a traveling circus in his early years, and much of the film was drawn from his personal experiences.

The film was rejected for UK cinema showing in 1932 and again in 1952. It was finally passed for cinema with an uncut X rating in May 1963, making it one of the longest bans in UK film history.

In the United States, this film was banned in a number of states and cities. Although no longer enforced, some of the laws were never officially repealed. Therefore, it is still technically illegal for this film to be shown some areas of the USA.

The film's original ending showed Hercules singing soprano in Madame Tetralini's new sideshow because he has been castrated by the freaks. After intensely negative reaction by preview audiences, this scene was cut.

Freaks began filming in October 1931 and was completed in December. Following disastrous test screenings in January 1932 the studio cut the picture down from its original 90-minute running time to just over an hour. Much of the sequence of the freaks attacking Cleopatra, as she lay under a tree, was removed, as well as a gruesome sequence showing Hercules being castrated, a number of comedy sequences, and most of the film's original epilogue.  These parts of the film are now considered lost.

Prince Randian, the armless and legless man, took to lurking in dark corners during production and startling people with blood curdling cries.

Daisy and Harry Earles were actually brother and sister in real life, thus the on screen romance between them was subdued.  They were both members of the Doll Family, a group of four German siblings (their other three siblings were of average height), who performed in circuses and sideshows in America from the 1920s until their retirement in the mid 1950s.  All four played munchkins in "The Wizard of Oz" (1939), and Harry was part of the Lollipop League who welcomed Dorothy to Oz.  Daisy Earles was sometimes referred to as "The Midget Mae West".

Johnny Eck got along very well with director Tod Browning, and was often at his side during the shoot.  Eck claimed that Browning had wanted to do a follow up film with him, where he would play a mad scientist's creation.  However, upon the release of "Freaks", Browning's clout at the studios was hurt and he was no longer able to do many of the features he had wished to do.  Eck was also disappointed by how much his part had been trimmed in the edited version of the film.

Dwarf actor Angelo Rossitti, who appears as Angeleno, would go on to a successful career in television and film, appearing as Little Moe in the T.V. series "Baretta" (1975 - 1978), and as one half of the giant Master Blaster in "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdrome" (1985).

The original casting had Victor McLaglen as Hercules, Jean Harlow as Venus and Myrna Loy as Cleopatra.  All of them turned down the roles, as they thought the film would be offensive and Irving Thalberg decided to not cast any major stars in the film, as well.

During a publicity photo shooting session, Harry Earles kept making lewd remarks, shocking Olga Baclanova, thus her facial expressions of disgust in many of the photos are genuine.

Tod Browning, who had been famed at the time for his collaborations with Lon Chaney and for directing "Dracula" (1931), had difficulty finding work afterwards, (although he went on to make "Devil Doll" in 1935), the film brought his career to a virtual end.