# What was cut from 'Freaks'? Is it lost forever?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-cut-from-freaks-is-it-lost-forever/172940
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [May 4, 2003, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-cut-from-freaks-is-it-lost-forever/172940 "2003-05-04T00:17:39Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@FisherQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FisherQueen)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2003, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-cut-from-freaks-is-it-lost-forever/172940/1 "2003-05-04T00:17:39Z")
All right, I’ve finally seen ‘Freaks,’ and thought it was pretty neat. But startlingly short. I have read that it was originally much longer, but was extensively cut, but don’t know if it’s true.
Were enormous chunks cut from this movie? Does the cut material still exist? Why can’t I find a DVD with this material on it? What was cut? Why? How much?
---
### Author:  [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2003, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-cut-from-freaks-is-it-lost-forever/172940/2 "2003-05-04T01:01:12Z")
Here’s what the IMDb says about alternate versions of _Freaks_:
[http://us.imdb.com/AlternateVersions?0022913](http://us.imdb.com/AlternateVersions?0022913)
---
### Author:  [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2003, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-cut-from-freaks-is-it-lost-forever/172940/3 "2003-05-04T02:10:20Z")
[http://us.imdb.com/Trivia?0022913](http://us.imdb.com/Trivia?0022913)
even more info.
---
### Author:  [@Gr8Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gr8Kat)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2003, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-cut-from-freaks-is-it-lost-forever/172940/4 "2003-05-04T03:31:31Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by MyFootsZZZ \*
> \*\*[http://us.imdb.com/Trivia?0022913](http://us.imdb.com/Trivia?0022913)
>
> even more info. \*\*
From this link:
[spoiler]“The film’s original ending showed Hercules singing soprano in Madame Tetralini’s new sideshow, but due to intense test audience reactions this scene was cut.”
I remember reading in Stephen King’s **Danse Macabre** that Hercules was castrated, but I don’t know if it was shown on screen or if it was just implied. [/spoiler]
(Just thought I’d play it safe and use spoiler tags.)
---
### Author:  [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2003, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-cut-from-freaks-is-it-lost-forever/172940/5 "2003-05-04T06:55:01Z")
Hmmm… Gr8Kat, I didn’t know what they ment by that.
[http://us.imdb.com/Keywords?0022913](http://us.imdb.com/Keywords?0022913)
first listed:
(spoiler)
.
.
.
.
.
.
“castration”
---
### Author:  [@FisherQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FisherQueen)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2003, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-cut-from-freaks-is-it-lost-forever/172940/6 "2003-05-04T18:05:08Z")
That’s so disappointing- that the footage was lost, I mean, not the Bad Thing that happened to Hercules.
---
### Author:  [@Tradnor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tradnor)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2003, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-cut-from-freaks-is-it-lost-forever/172940/7 "2003-05-05T01:39:33Z")
Warner Bros. is planning to release _Freaks_ on DVD in 2004, but to my knowledge they haven’t yet commented on what footage will be included.
---
### Author:  [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2003, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-cut-from-freaks-is-it-lost-forever/172940/8 "2003-05-05T02:20:17Z")
As long as it has more footage of Johhny Eck! I’ve had a swell crush on him for ages…
---
### Author:  [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2003, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-cut-from-freaks-is-it-lost-forever/172940/9 "2003-05-08T10:10:09Z")
**elelle** , there’s going to be a movie about [just him](http://movies.go.com/movies/J/johnnyeck_2001/) (and his brother).
But I had to push my jaw back into position when I saw who’s playing them.
---
### Author:  [@Papermache\_Prince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papermache_Prince)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2003, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-cut-from-freaks-is-it-lost-forever/172940/10 "2003-05-08T10:30:06Z")
Why would the castration of an **adult** male cause him to sing soprano? The vocal cords would be fully developed by that time.
---
### Author:  [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2003, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-cut-from-freaks-is-it-lost-forever/172940/11 "2003-05-08T13:08:54Z")
It’s just Hollywood shorthand. At that time they couldn’t show an actual genital amputation on screen.
---
### Author:  [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2003, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-cut-from-freaks-is-it-lost-forever/172940/12 "2003-05-08T16:32:40Z")
From [Dark Carnival](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0385474067/qid=1052411796/sr=1-4/ref=sr_1_4/104-0776386-7590369?v=glance&s=books) (a Browning bio):
> [@](#):
>
> A decision was made to radically cut Freaks from its running time of nearly an hour and a half to just over an hour. The truncated version jettisoned the horrifying details of the mud-dripping freaks swarming over the tree-pinned Olga Baclanova, and pouring into a circus wagon to castrate her lover. Several comic scenes were eliminated, including one of the Turtle Girl being amorously pursued by a seal. A rambling epilogue set in a London dime museum called TETRALLINI’S FREAKS AND MUSIC HALL (an elaborate, lighted facade was designed, down to the ground-floor touch of “Austin Ried Outfitters” window displays), was completely discarded, save for the final shot of Cleopatra quacking; instead a new prologue was added, featuring a spieling barker (dressed, rather uncannily, like Browning in any number of his publicity photographs) who introduce “the most amazing, the most astounding human monstrosity of all time.” And finally, a second epilogue, evidently intended as a happy (or at least happier) ending, depicted the reconciliation of the midget lovers in Hans’ palatial estate, approvingly witnessed by Phroso and Venus. Actress Louise Beavers originally played the midget’s maid in this sequence, but her contributions were cut, or simply replaced by a butler who appears in the restored version of the film.
According to Skal & Savada, none of this material exists anymore (as of 2000, at least).