Editing Freaks (1932 film) (section)

===Censorship===
In January 1932, MGM held [[test screening]]s of the film, which proved disastrous: Art director [[Merrill Pye]] recalled that "Halfway through the preview, a lot of people got up and ran out. They didn't walk out. They ''ran'' out."{{sfn|Matthews|2009|p=53}} Others reportedly became ill, or fainted; one woman who attended the screening threatened to sue MGM, claiming the film had caused her to suffer a [[miscarriage]].{{sfn|Smith|2012|p=93}} Due to the extremely unfavorable response, the studio cut the picture down from its original 90-minute running time to just over an hour.{{sfn|Matthews|2009|p=53}} Much of the sequence of the circus entertainers attacking Cleopatra as she lies under a lightning-struck tree was removed, as well as a sequence showing Hercules being castrated and made into a [[castrato]], a number of comedy sequences, and most of the film's original epilogue, which included Hercules singing in a [[falsetto]] (a reference to his castration) with Cleopatra quacking along.{{sfn|Mank|2005|p=125}}<ref name=bmd/>{{sfn|Matthews|2009|pages=53–55}} These excised sequences are considered [[lost film|lost]].<ref name=bmd>{{cite web|url=https://birthmoviesdeath.com/2014/10/03/the-unseen-freaks|work=[[Birth.Movies.Death]]|publisher=[[Alamo Drafthouse Cinema]]|title=The Unseen ''Freaks''|date=October 3, 2014|last=Faraci|first=Devn|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151207163856/https://birthmoviesdeath.com/2014/10/03/the-unseen-freaks|archive-date=December 7, 2015}}</ref> In order to pad the running time after these cuts, a new prologue featuring a [[Barker (occupation)|carnival barker]] was added, as was the alternate epilogue featuring the reconciliation of the dwarf lovers.{{sfn|Smith|2012|p=267}}

The truncated version—now only 64 minutes long—had its premiere at the Fox Criterion in [[Los Angeles]] on February 12, 1932.<ref name=lat1932>{{cite news|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|location=Los Angeles, California|date=February 7, 1932|page=49|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/38717889/the_los_angeles_times/|title=Circus Freaks Invade Field of Film Work|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/38718043/the_los_angeles_times/|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|location=Los Angeles, California|date=February 5, 1932|page=6|via=Newspapers.com|title=Odd Story Booked at Criterion}}</ref> It subsequently opened in New York City that summer, premiering on July 8, 1932.<ref name=afi>{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/3996-FREAKS?sid=c8eb1126-735e-46ca-8fe8-8d66848b38da&sr=15.466755&cp=1&pos=0|work=[[AFI Catalog of Feature Films]]|location=Los Angeles, California|publisher=[[American Film Institute]]|title=Freaks|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191109085209/https://catalog.afi.com/Film/3996-FREAKS?sid=c8eb1126-735e-46ca-8fe8-8d66848b38da&sr=15.466755&cp=1&pos=0|archive-date=November 9, 2019}}</ref> Regionally, the film attracted controversy upon its theatrical release, and was pulled from screenings in [[Atlanta, Georgia|Atlanta]].{{sfn|Smith|2012|p=94}} In the United Kingdom, the film was [[list of banned films|banned]] by the British censors,{{sfn|Smith|2012|p=94}}<ref name=smithmark>{{cite web|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|location=Los Angeles, California|title=Grotesquerie Is Merely a Sideshow in 'Freaks'|date=October 30, 1995|author=Smith, Mark Chalon|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-10-30-ca-62791-story.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170325170109/http://articles.latimes.com/1995-10-30/entertainment/ca-62791_1_freaks-movie-browning|archive-date=March 25, 2017}}</ref> and remained as so for more than 30 years before being passed with an [[X rating]] in August 1963.<ref name=afi/>