NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Criterion Blu-ray (September 2023): Criterion have transferred three films; Freaks, The Unknown and The Mystic to two dual-layered Blu-rays as part of their Tod Browning’s Sideshow Shockers package. They are cited as being a "new 2K digital restoration of Freaks", "a new 2K digital reconstruction and restoration of 'The Unknown' by the George Eastman Museum" and "a new 2K digital restoration of The Mystic." Further to The Unknown: "The Unknown was reconstructed from the only two surviving nitrate prints, a French-language version in the George Eastman Museum collection and a Czech-language version in the Narodni filmovST archiv, Prague. The English titles have been recreated based on the original cutting continuity provided by Jon Mirsalis. They are marked by a George Eastman Museum logo. Based on the music cue sheet, the original release length of the film was 5,470 ft. The length of this reconstruction is 5,326 ft. " 19 years ago we reviewed the Warner DVD of Freaks, HERE. That Warner SD transfer looked pretty good for its time, but the higher 1080P resolution has over 8X the bitrate. The HD presentation is significantly more textured, shows more information in the 1.37:1 frame - mostly on the side edges - and the contrast has far more balance. The resulting, restored, image quality is a wonderful step foreword from the old DVD. Neither of the two older films, The Mystic (1925) and The Unknown (1927), - both silent - fare as well showing inconsistencies and wear with marks. The Unknown has a few scenes with semi-permanent vertical scratches down the side and can have a 'gauzy' look as if the video is seen through a patchwork of fine gauze (NOTE: We have been told the "gauze effect" is intentional - Thanks Brian!) I would say it is minimal and the film's riveting story and viewing experience weren't compromised at all. I was told the Warner DVD was interlaced. Still a fascinating film. The Mystic looks superior with deeper black levels with detail ratcheting up a notch. The film grain is more consistent although there are a few weak moments. Overall I was pleased with the, max'ed out bitrate, HD presentation on my system.       

NOTE: We have added 142 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-rays, Criterion use a linear PCM mono tracks (24-bit) for Freaks (English language talkie) + The Mystic (silent with a new score by composer Dean Hurley) and a stereo LPCM transfer for 1925's The Unknown's with a new score by composer Philip Carli. The audio in Freaks is still a function of its era - predictably weak as an early talkie but without egregious dropouts or hiss (although there is some.) Freaks has no credited score but some recognizable music including Irving Berlin's Alexander's Ragtime Band, Wagner's Shepherd's Mournful Tune, Act III, Tristan und Isolde. The silent scores, Hurley and Carli are great - with crisp piano leading the way with even more (see below) in tight lossless transfers. NOTE: Dean Hurley stated: "So, the concept that I rolled with here after settling into the film was to lean into doing something sonically authentic and believable for the film...a 'seance' in itself, if you will to call forward the 'ghost' of the film's soundtrack. I was really thinking of this as fabricating a complete missing 'soundtrack' to the film, not only just a score...as you'll hear there are quite a bit of sound effects, ambiences, and foley added to infuse the film with as much synchronous energy and life as possible. For a lot of the score, I dusted off my accordion and classical guitar (the first instruments I ever owned) as well as pump organ, hand bells and some modern tricks like string, brass and choir Kontakt instruments sampled through worn and unstable tape." Magnificent. Criterion offer optional English subtitles (SDH) for Freaks while The Mystic + The Unknown have original English intertitles (see samples below.) These two Blu-rays are Region 'A' / 'B' as I believe the films are all in the public domain.

The Criterion Blu-ray offers new (both) commentaries on Freaks and The Unknown by David J. Skal. He remains factual and thorough. There is also a 10-minute intro the The Mystic by Skal. Criterion include John Rust's hour long 2004 documentary Tod Browning's Freaks: The Sideshow Cinema that was also on the Warner DVD. It is prefaced with "This documentary includes some derogatory terms that may be offensive. Viewer discretion advised." and details the making of, and public reaction to, Tod Browning's Freaks with input from David J. Skal, Todd Robbins and archival footage of many of the film's sideshow performers. There is an excellent new 1/2 hour interview with author Megan Abbott (Bury Me Deep) about director Tod Browning and pre-Code horror discussing how he got away with so many controversial topics in his films. Criterion include and audio extra; an episode from 2019 of critic Kristen Lopez’s podcast Ticklish Business about disability representation in Freaks running over 50-minutes. plus we get a 48-minute reading by Skal of “Spurs,” the short story by Tod Robbins on which Freaks is based. There is a short prologue to Freaks, which was added to the film in 1947 and a revealing program on the alternate endings to Freaks for just over 6-minutes. Lastly is a video gallery of portraits from Freaks courtesy of the collection of David J. Skal and Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The Tod Browning’s Sideshow Shockers package has a liner notes booklet with an essay by film critic Farran Smith Nehme.

Tod Browning’s Freaks is based on a 1923 Munsey's Magazine short story entitled "Spurs" by Tod Robbins, about entering a relationship purely for the purpose of bilking a large inheritance. The story involved characters in a French traveling circus. The film has an attractive trapeze artist named Cleopatra (Olga Baclanova) seducing a carnival sideshow dwarf (Harry Earles.) The pre-Code Freaks was extremely controversial using real-life deformed or mutated characters with the film having alternate titles like "Forbidden Love" or "Nature's Mistakes" or "The Monster Show" and having characters including Siamese twins, - Daisy and Violet Hilton, a half-bodied boy named Johnny Eck (nothing below his waist,) Prince Randian billed as "The Living Torso" or "Larva Man" with no arms or legs, a Half-woman/Half-man androgynous hermaphrodite named Josephine-Joseph, the "Living Venus de Milo" -an armless girl named Frances O'Connor, to name a few. Sadly, the freakshow's voyeuristic appeal still holds true but Freaks is a good proto-noir story of crime and deception at its core. Tod Browning's The Unknown is fascinating. It has Lon Chaney as "Alonzo the Armless" - a carnival knife thrower and Joan Crawford as his performing partner Nanon. We see that Alonzo eats, drinks, shoots a rifle, smokes and dresses with his feet. Alonzo has a dark secret that he goes to great extremes to disguise. Rectifying with self-mutilation it presumes Nanon will be his...  It appears that there are repercussions to the multiple amputation of limbs. The Mystic may be the big star of this Tod Browning’s Sideshow Shockers package for many - as the film's last home video release was a VHS exclusive. It is another proto-noir and harkens directly to Nightmare Alley with con-artist spiritualists, phony séances, sham apparitions etc. taken to the big time by swindling the gullible wealthy (a favorite theme of Browning.) A fabulous three film Blu-ray set that will get plenty of year-end votes in our poll. Strongly recommended!

Gary Tooze