The following is a guest post by Jenny Paxson at the Packard Campus.
Thursday, October 4 (7:30 p.m.)
Tod Browning Double Feature
Freaks (MGM, 1932)
Master horror film director Tod Browning assembled a cast of genuine sideshow oddities for this chilling tale of camaraderie, persecution and revenge, with Olga Baclanova as the cruelly manipulative trapeze artist and Harry Earles as the freak she torments. The film’s unusual subject matter, its cast of curiosities, and its untraditional moral sympathy combined to create a cult following for this film, which was severely edited in the U.S. at the time of release and banned in the U.K. for 30 years. Freaks was added to the National Film Registry in 1994. Digital presentation, 64 min.
Iron Man (Universal, 1931)
Though Tod Browning is best known for his silent film collaborations with Lon Chaney and as the director of Dracula (1931) and Freaks, he directed many movies in a wide range of genres other than horror. In this pre-Code sports drama, Lew Ayres stars as a prizefighter Kid Mason whose gold-digging wife Rose (Jean Harlow in an early role), leaves him in disgust after he loses a fight. Robert Armstrong as Mason’s manager turns the dejected Kid into a champion and runs interference when Rose returns. This 35mm film print was produced by the Library of Congress Film Preservation Lab in 2000. 73 min.
For more information on our programs, please visit the website at: www.loc.gov/avconservation/theater/.