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Summary:

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.

Table of Contents:

• Freaks / director, Tod Browning ; producer, Irving Thalberg ; screenplay, Willis Goldbeck and Leon Gordon, based on the short story "Spurs," by Clarence Aaron "Tod" Robbins (1932) (62 min.) (1.37:1 aspect ratio)
• The unknown / directed by Tod Browning ; story by Tod Browning (1927) (67 min.) (silent) (1.33:1 aspect ratio)
• The mystic / directed by Tod Browning ; story by Tod Browning (1925) (74 min.) (silent) (1.33:1 aspect ratio).

Contributors:

Browning, Tod, 1880-1962 , film director, screenwriter

Thalberg, Irving G., 1899-1936 , film producer

Goldbeck, Willis , screenwriter

Gordon, Leon, 1884-1960 , screenwriter

Ford, Wallace, 1898-1966 , actor

Hyams, Leila, 1905-1977 , actor

Baclanova, Olga, 1899-1974 , actor

Ates, Roscoe, 1895-1962 , actor

Chaney, Lon, 1883-1930 , actor

Kerry, Norman , actor

Crawford, Joan, 1908-1977 , actor

Pringle, Aileen, 1895-1989 , actor

Tearle, Conway, 1878-1938 , actor

Gerstad, Merritt , director of photography

Wrangel, Basil , editor of moving image work

Reynolds, Harry, 1901-1971 , editor of moving image work

Taggart, Errol , editor of moving image work

Morgan, Ira, 1889-1959 , director of photography

Sullivan, Frank, 1896-1972 , editor of moving image work

Nehme, Farran Smith , writer of supplemental material

Robbins, Tod, 1888-1949

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , production company, http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/prn

Criterion Collection (Firm) , publisher, http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/pbl

Languages:

English

Language Notes:

In English; silent features have English intertitles.

Included Works:

Motion picure adaptation of: Spurs [by Robbins, T.]

Freaks (Motion picture)

Unknown (Motion picture : 1927)

Mystic (Motion picture)

Related Series:

Criterion collection; [volume] 1194

Subjects:

Sideshows — Drama

Abnormalities, Human — Drama

Outcasts — Drama

Criminals — Drama

Crime — Drama

Swindlers and swindling — Drama

Knife throwing — Drama

Fugitives from justice — Drama

Unrequited love — Drama

Seances — Drama

Heiresses — Drama

Abnormalities, Human

Crime

Criminals

Fugitives from justice

Heiresses

Knife throwing

Outcasts

Seances

Sideshows

Swindlers and swindling

Unrequited love

Genres:

Motion pictures

Circus films

Crime films

Drama

Feature films

Fiction films

Horror films

Silent films

Video recordings for the hearing impaired

System Details:

Blu-ray; region A; mono sound; silent.

Performers:

Cast: Freaks: Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams, Olga Baclanova, Roscoe Ates.
Cast: The unknown: Lon Chaney, Norman Kerry, Joan Crawford.
Cast: The mystic: Aileen Pringle, Conway Tearle.

Production Credits:

Freaks: Photography, Merritt B. Gerstad; film editor, Basil Wrangell.
The unknown: Photographed by Merritt B. Gerstad; film editors, Harry Reynolds, Errol Taggart.
The mystic: Photography by Ira H. Morgan; film editor, Frank Sullivan.

General Notes:

Description based on: Title from container.
English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing (SDH)
Originally released as three films in 1932, 1927, and 1925.
Full screen (1.37:1).
Full screen (1.33:1).
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.

Audience:

MWT rating: NR.

Physical Description:

2 videodiscs (203 min.) : sound and silent, black and white ; 4 3/4 in. + 1 booklet (36 pages : illustrations ; 17 cm).

Physical Characteristics:

4 3/4 in.; monochrome

Audio Characteristics:

digital; optical; mono; sound; silent

Film Characteristics:

1.37:1; 1.33:1; full screen

Digital Characteristics:

video file; Blu-ray; region A

Call Numbers:

TOD 1925 BLU

ISBNs:

9798886070644

Other Standard Numbers:

Universal Product Code: 715515287814
Publisher Number, The Criterion Collection: CC3492BD (container)
Publisher Number, The Criterion Collection: CC3492BD-1 (Blu-ray one)
Publisher Number, The Criterion Collection: CC3492BD-2 (Blu-ray two)

OCLC Numbers:

1402231528