Tod Browning's Sideshow Shockers (Freaks / Unknown / The Mystic) (2 Blu-ray) (Criterion)

Freaks/The Unknown/The Mystic

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.

Freaks (1932)
Cleopatra is a beautiful acrobat. The dwarf Hans is in love with her, to whom she preferred the strong man Hercules. When Cleopatra finds out that Hans is the heir to a huge fortune, she decides to first marry the unfortunate dwarf and then poison him.

The Unknown (1927)
Spain, early 20th century. Antonio Zanzi's gypsy traveling circus gives performances in provincial towns. The main act of the show is the armless knife thrower Alonzo. In fact, Alonzo has hands, but no one knows about this except his midget assistant Coho. Pretending to be armless, Alonzo hides from the police - he has a dark past, and there are human lives on his conscience. His left hand is especially noticeable due to partial polydactyly - it has two fused thumbs. Alonzo is in love with the circus owner's daughter Nanon. The girl has a phobia - she cannot stand the touch of men’s hands and therefore tries to stay close to the “armless” Alonzo, who soon realizes her fears and begins to play on them.

The Mystic (1925)
An American swindler and adventurer is looking all over the world for performers for his new scam, which, if successful, can bring considerable profits. His search leads him to Hungary, where, having seen the performance of gypsies who made their living by performing an act with the participation of a false medium, he, promising a substantial benefit, makes them a very tempting offer.