Editing Freaks (1932 film) (section)

==Plot==
A beautiful and conniving [[trapeze]] artist named Cleopatra seduces a [[traveling carnival|carnival]] [[sideshow]] dwarf named Hans after learning of his large inheritance. This is much to the chagrin of Frieda, his fiancée, also a dwarf. Cleopatra also conspires with circus strongman Hercules to kill Hans so she will inherit his wealth. Meanwhile, other romances flourish among the sideshow performers: the [[bearded lady|Bearded Lady]], who is in love with the Human Skeleton, gives birth to their daughter. The news is spread among the friends by [[Elizabeth Green the Stork Woman|the Stork Woman]]. Additionally, Violet, a [[Conjoined twins|conjoined twin]] whose sister Daisy is married to Roscoe, the stuttering circus clown, becomes engaged to the circus's owner.

Hans, enamored with Cleopatra, ultimately marries her. At their wedding, Cleopatra begins poisoning Hans's wine but drunkenly kisses Hercules in front of Hans, revealing her affair. Oblivious, the other "freaks" announce that they accept Cleopatra in spite of her being a "normal" outsider; they hold an initiation ceremony in which they pass a [[loving cup]] around the table while chanting, "We accept her, one of us. We accept her, one of us. Gooble-gobble, gooble-gobble."{{sfn|Peterson|2014|p=239}} However, Cleopatra's mean-spirited amusement at this ceremony soon turns into fear and anger after Hercules jokes that the rest of the entertainers plan to turn her into one of them. She mocks them, tosses the wine in their faces and drives them away before berating Hans and drunkenly parading him around on her shoulders like a child. The humiliated Hans realizes that he has been played for a fool and rejects Cleopatra's attempts to apologize, but then he falls ill from the poison. While bedridden, Hans "apologizes" to Cleopatra and also "takes" the poisoned medicine that she is giving him, but he secretly plots with the other entertainers to strike back at Cleopatra and Hercules.

In the film's climax, Hans confronts Cleopatra with three of the entertainers as backup thugs. However, Hans's circus wagon is overturned in a storm, giving Cleopatra the chance to escape into the forest, closely pursued by them. At the same time Hercules goes to kill sea lion trainer Venus for knowing about the plot. Venus's boyfriend, Phroso the clown, attempts to stop Hercules but is nearly killed before the rest of them intervene and injure Hercules, saving Phroso. They all pursue an injured Hercules.

The freaks then capture Cleopatra and sometime later, she is shown to be a grotesque, squawking "human [[duck]]" on display for carnival patrons; her tongue has been removed, one eye has been gouged out, the flesh of her hands has been melted and deformed to look like duck feet, her legs have been cut off, and what is left of her torso has been permanently [[Tarring and feathering|tarred and feathered]]. In the original version of the film, it is revealed that after the freaks caught Hercules, they made him into a [[castrato]] singer.

While some versions end on Cleopatra as the human duck, another ending shows Hans, now living in a mansion from his inheritance and still humiliated, visited by Phroso, Venus and Frieda. Frieda tells Hans she knows he just wanted to demand the bottle of poison from Cleopatra, not to mutilate her, and not to blame himself for what happened; and that she still loves him. The two then share a heartwarming hug.