Vincent Price is the chill in the air

 SHOCK (1946)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Vincent Price had the shock and awe of a feared presence whom we ought to be wary of. He was not a frightening monster to look at - he was handsome and had a rugged, delicate charm - yet it was that meticulously mellifluous voice that could either imply a cordial tone or something malevolent. Either way, Price unmistakably could bring a chill to the air in thrillers and horror. "Shock" is as mediocre and banal as any thriller yet Price does his best to elevate the "shock" value.

Janet (Anabel Shaw) is the wife of an army lieutenant husband who is awaiting his arrival at a San Francisco hotel. While staying overnight at the hotel, she witnesses a man clubbing his wife with a silver candlestick. She is horrified and is practically in a coma-like status. Her husband arrives and is "shocked" by her appearance. A certain doctor (Vincent Price) is consulted who has a room at the hotel and, surprise, he is the killer! Later on we get scenes at his sanitorium where he administers insulin shots to Janet with an evil plan to have her committed! 

Nothing in "Shock" is startling or inventive and it is mostly boring. Elaine Jordan (Lynn Bari) is the doctor's nurse and they are having an affair and there is that tingle of noirish feeling. Elaine wants the doctor to relax and is angered when he begins to develop a conscience. Even for an hour-long film, the film is deadening to a crawl and nothing here will keep you awake. Vincent Price is game for anything and is the best thing about this forgettable tripe. 

Cleopatra becomes one of them

 FREAKS (1932)
Retrospective by Jerry Saravia

To look at "Freaks," one presumes you look at the circus freaks depicted and are astonished and can't avert your eyes. The surprise in Tod Browning's film is that you are never astonished and you can't avert your eyes for other reasons - the "freaks" are seen as simple human beings with disabilities. Only point of contention is that they may stand out in a crowd but, to themselves, they are as normal as can be.

"Freaks" is engaging and never a freakshow of itself in its own right. Director Tod Browning (whose directorial career slowly ended after making such a controversial film) presents the circus freaks as people, human beings who are paid to perform and to be gawked at. It could be a half-man, half-woman (Josephine Joseph, who still seems more feminine than masculine), a bearded lady (Jane Barnell), a man without legs (Johnny Eck), another man who is a limbless torso (Prince Randian), the pinheads (the more appropriate term would be they suffer from microcephaly) who are like giggling children (Schlitzie is the most memorable), or the little people. They all have the same desires, the same problems, the same agonies as everyone else. Some are married and one, the bearded lady, gives birth. There is also the Siamese twin women (Daisy and Violet Hinson), both of whom feel the passion of a kiss from a gentleman - how is marriage going to work for these women? These "freaks" do not think of themselves as abnormal yet they see the evil that normal-looking people do. The real question is: who are the real freaks? 

After the duplicitous Russian trapeze artist Cleopatra (Olga Baclanova, devilishly good) decides to poison her newly-married husband, Hans (Harry Earles), the other circus members decide it is time to end Cleopatra's murderous impulses. Hercules (Henry Victor) is the strong man who has no scruples whatsoever, and clearly has an affair with Cleopatra (pre-Code films could only show some much sexuality). Cleopatra and Hercules sin mercilessly yet the beguiling Venus, a seal trainer (Leila Hyams), and Phroso, a clown (Wallace Ford), are normal with no disabilities and they are compassionate to the "freaks." They get along with them and treat them as family.

"Freaks" is not a masterpiece to me, it is often sloppily made and sloppily edited. Also, a good chunk of the film was excised - roughly 30 minutes - after some disastrous preview screenings. Still, the movie retains a raw, unfiltered power and explores a family dynamic in a community of people who do not judge, who do not discriminate. They are not grotesque these "freaks," only viewed and belittled by others who do judge, who do discriminate. In a creepy last scene of body horror, Cleopatra becomes the very thing the audience might have expected the circus folks to be - a grotesque, abnormal freak to be gawked at.