The Importance of Tod Browning's Works - Movie Review Example

Research on Tod Browning’s Three Important Films: The Unknown, Freaks and Dracula All things considered, American movie director, Tod Browning, couldreally be considered an icon in American filmmaking. His works have covered the period of the silent film towards what was then called the “talkies” or the motion pictured with sound. The importance of his works is demonstrated in their popularity, influence and social commentaries. These variables are best represented by the movies he directed, namely, The Unknown (1927), Freaks (1931), and Dracula (1932). These three are all within the horror genre and would influence succeeding films that explore the macabre. The Unknown tells the story of Alonzo (played by Lon Chaney), a maimed knife thrower, set in an odd as well as cruel carnival sideshow. His performance’s main draw in the circus was his deformity. Alonzo was armless and that he uses his feet to throw knives. However, this was revealed to be a fraud since Alonzo was actually normal with both arms intact. The catch was that he tricked his audience and his coworkers into believing his disability by tying his arms closely in his torso. The conflict happened when Alonzo’s secret was discovered by the circus owner (Nick de Ruiz). For fear of losing his work and the woman called Nanon (Joan Crawford), whom he loves, he killed the man with his bare hands. Nanon had issues herself: she cannot bear being touched by any man. Her intimacy with Alonzo stemmed from the fact that she believed Alonzo as subhuman because of his disability. It is in this respect wherein Alonzo decided to contract the services of a surgeon and have his arms removed because he concluded that Nanon could never love him as he was. The result was tragic because after his operation, upon his return, Nanon already conquered her fear and fell in love with another man. The carnival is again used as a setting for the movie Freaks. An interesting aspect of the film is that most characters who were “freaks” were real disabled actors specifically chosen for their deformities. The tale was about a trapeze artist named Cleopatra (played by Olga Baclanova) who decided to marry a fellow circus performer, Hans (Harry Earles) who is a midget. It soon became clear that the marriage for Cleopatra was not because of love but that she was after Han’s inheritance. After the wedding Cleopatra started to poison Hans with the intention of murdering him. She tried to do this with the help of Hercules (Henry Victor) – the circus strongman and her lover. The other “freaks” got wind of the devious plot and, in retaliation; they attacked both Cleopatra and Hercules with guns and knives, maiming Cleopatra in the process, making her a freak herself as a punishment. Finally, there is the film Dracula, which is considered to be the most memorable of Browning’s films. It was loosely based from Bram Stoker’s Dracula through a theatrical adaptation with the same title, penned by Hamilton Deane and John Balderston. This latter work became the inspiration for the movie. The plot revolved around Renfield, played by Dwight Frye, who had to travel to Romania to see his client concerning some estate to be leased in London. The journey had been eventful, establishing rumors about vampires, as told by the locals. The client interested in the estate in London was Count Dracula (Bela Lugosi). After Renfield was feted, Dracula visited him at night in his room, bit him and turned him into a slave. The day after, they travelled to London in a ship and the Count properly fed on the crew’s blood leaving everyone dead upon their arrival in London. Renfield was confined into a mental institution afterwards because of his alleged lunatic behavior (he was preoccupied with eating spiders and flies). Meanwhile, Dracula ingratiated himself into the family of a doctor by the name of Dr. Seward (Herbert Bunston). It was this acquaintance that led him to Lucy (Frances Dade), a friend of the family, and, eventually, Mina (Helen Chandler), the good doctor’s daughter. Lucy fell first as a victim to Dracula’s thirst, turning her into a vampire haunting the park at night. Mina also suffered the same fate and was on the verge of turning into a blood-sucker as well. The family contracted the help of Professor Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan) to help Mina. This adventure culminated in the impalement of the Count by the learned professor and some happy ending for the healed Mina as well as she and her fiancée John Harker (David Manners) proceeded with their wedding. In the Dark Carnival, considered as an authoritative autobiography of Browning, authors David Skal and Elias Savada depicted how the shady environment of the then American tent show has defined the metaphor that was Brownings life. This position reinforces a widely held belief that people, especially artists can be understood best in their work - in writing, public statements, his professional work. For Browning, it was his films. For example, one observes that a number of his movies demonstrated his attitude and perspective towards women. Dark Carnival (1995) also quoted Browning as saying: "When youve been married to a woman for seven years, you get to take her presence and her work for granted... clothes werent in shape, house disorderly, and meals irregular." (Skal and Savada, p. 82) One finds vestiges of strain and stress in his married life and this reinforced his negative attitude of women, which in his films were depicted in stereotypical manner in the context of his personal opinion and biases. In Freaks, for example, there was an emphasis on male monsters and how they were portrayed as "good". In addition, the carnival "freaks" were more alluded to the feminine sex on the basis of their difference to men in terms of physical constitution. This is highly stereotypical and demeaning as well because even though the freaks were represented as creatures with human qualities such as the capacity for emotion and sensitivity, they were still treated in a horrific kind of way due to their very constitution. The significance of this theme when applied in the case of women being treated as such is quite significant. But Uddin (2009), in his commentary on Browning, admonished us that Browning "lived in a world based on masculine principles, and the social construction also appeared as natural to him." (p. 12) With respect to this last aspect, Browning’s familiarity with carnivals has been quite helpful. His knowledge on the dynamics of roles and relationships therein are reflected in his narrative and style, particularly in The Unknown and Freaks films. There are those who maintain that the carnival and the freak shows have infected Browning as much as his experiences with women. The “freaks” for instance, were depicted not merely as monsters or deformed sub-humans in a strategy to terrorize the audience with the sheer unpleasantness of their disability. Instead, they were depicted as humans with emotions and that their struggle reflect real social dilemma. For example, Rachel Adams wrote that Freaks’ dramatized contemporary class antagonisms and exposed them for everybody to ponder and take action on. (p. 62) Finally, Browning – through his works, particularly those three cited by this paper – allowed audiences to fundamentally appreciate and compare silent films and the talkies. It was insightful to see one director approach filmmaking using two very different narrative platforms. In my case, I thoroughly enjoyed the silent films. Having been exposed to “talkies” all my life, it was educational as much as marvelous (if not entirely ingenious) to see and think simultaneously how stories can be told by moving pictures without any sound and communicate feelings of dread, sadness and happiness. Bibliography Adams, Rachel. Sideshow U.S.A: freaks and the American cultural imagination. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001. Skal, David and Savada, Elias. Dark carnival: the secret world of Tod Browning: Hollywoods master of the macabre. Anchor Books, 1995. Uddin, Shahab. Masculinity, Femininity and Other Curiosities in Tod Brownings Freaks and Dracula. Norderstedt: GRIN Verlag, 2009. Read More