Editing Tod Browning (section)

== Sound films: 1929–1939 ==
Upon completing ''Where East Is East'', MGM prepared to make his first sound production, ''The Thirteenth Chair'' (1929). The question as to Browning's adaptability to the film industry's ineluctable transition to sound technology is disputed among film historians.<ref>Towlson, 2012: Towlson cites David J Skal and Elias Savada, Ronald V. Borstas and Elliott Stein on the topic.</ref>

Biographers David Skal and Elias Savada report that Browning "had made his fortune as a silent film director but had considerable difficulties in adapting his talents to talking pictures."<ref>Skal and Savada, 1995 p. 4</ref> Film critic Vivian Sobchack notes that Browning, in both his silent and sound creations, "starts with the visual rather than the narrative" and cites director [[Edgar G. Ulmer]]: "until the end of his career, Browning tried to avoid using dialogue; he wanted to obtain visual effects."<ref>Sobchack, 2006, pp. 35–36: See footnotes for Ulmer source.</ref> Biographer Jon Towlson argues that Browning's 1932 [[Freaks (1932 film)|Freaks]] reveals "a director in full control of the [sound] medium, able to use the camera to reveal a rich subtext beneath the dialogue" and at odds with the general assessment of the filmmakers post-silent era pictures.<ref>Towlson, 2021: "the widely held critical opinion that Tod Browning was unable to adapt to the coming of sound in the 1930s...seems to me to be a fallacy that has unfortunately become general wisdom, arising from the necessity (originating in the 1940s, as a result of his falling out of favour with the studios) to denigrate Browning as a director [over the critical and financial disappointment of Freaks]...it subsequently became the adopted position of conservative-minded critics...tarnishing Browning's reputation as a filmmaker."</ref>

Browning's sound oeuvre consists of nine features before his retirement from filmmaking in 1939.<ref>Rosenthal, 1975 pp. 64–66: Filmography section</ref>

=== ''The Thirteenth Chair ''(1929) ===
[[File:The Thirteenth Chair (1929 film). M-G-M studios, publicity still. L to R, Actor Leila Hyams, director Tod Browning.png|thumb|The Thirteenth Chair (1929). Publicity still. L to R, Actor Leila Hyams, director Tod Browning]]
Browning's first sound film, ''[[The Thirteenth Chair (1929 film)|The Thirteenth Chair]]'' is based on a 1916 "drawing room murder mystery" [[The Thirteenth Chair (play)|stage play of the same title]] by [[Bayard Veiller]] first adapted to film in a [[The Thirteenth Chair (1919 film)|1919 silent version]] and later a [[The Thirteenth Chair (1937 film)|sound remake in 1937]].<ref>Eaker, 2016: "The Thirteenth Chair (1929) is... Browning's first sound film. Like a lot of early sound films, it is bogged down with that wax museum-like staging. This is yet another drawing room murder mystery, taken from an antiquated stage play..." And: "...in handling that new invention called sound, Browning nor the production team were comfortable..."</ref>

Set in [[Calcutta]], the story concerns two homicides committed at séances. Illusion and deception are employed to expose the murderer.<ref>Eaker, 2016: "Two murders...a phony medium, a series of séances, a mysterious manor, stolen love letters, and potential blackmail all add up to standard Browning fare..."</ref>

In a cast featuring some of MGM's top contract players including [[Conrad Nagel]], [[Leila Hyams]] and [[Margaret Wycherly]]<ref>Nixon, 2006 TCM: "The suspects are played by a virtual who's-who of recognizable character actors: Conrad Nagel...Leila Hyams, later Venus in Browning's Freaks... Margaret Wycherly...Joel McCrea's scenes were deleted before the film's release."</ref> Hungarian-American [[Bela Lugosi]], a veteran of silent films and the star of Broadway's ''[[Dracula (1924 play)|Dracula]]'' (1924) was enlisted by Browning to play Inspector Delzante, when Lon Chaney declined to yet embark on a talking picture.<ref>Nixon, 2006 TCM: "Lugosi made a number of silent film appearances before his runaway success on Broadway in Dracula." And: "...a matinee idol [in Germany]. His first American film was The Silent Command (1923)."</ref><ref>Barson, 2020: "...Chaney was not yet open to the notion of making a sound picture, so Hungarian actor Bela Lugosi was recruited to play the police inspector investigating a murder at a seance."</ref>

The first of his three collaborations with Lugosi, Browning's handling of the actor's role as Delzante anticipated the part of Count Dracula in his ''[[Dracula (1931 English-language film)|Dracula]]'' (1931).<ref>Eaker, 2016: "...the main testing was the upcoming role of Dracula and for that reason Browning grabbed Lugosi, who had made the role a mega hit on the stage circuit."... And: "Browning's work with Lugosi traces an interesting development through the three films they collaborated on."</ref> Browning endows Lugosi's Delzante with bizarre eccentricities, including a guttural, broken English and heavily accented eyebrows, characteristics that Lugosi made famous in his film roles as vampires.<ref>Eaker, 2016: "Lugosi had lived in the states and performed the [stage role in Dracula] for years before the film version so the actor's delivery for Dracula was a directorial choice, as indicated in interviews."</ref> Film historian Alfred Eaker remarks: "Serious awkwardness mars this film, a product from that transitional period from silent to the new, imposing medium of sound. Because of that awkwardness ''The Thirteenth Chair'' is not Browning in best form."<ref name=":4" />

=== ''Outside the Law'' (1930) ===
A remake of Browning's 1921 silent version starred [[Priscilla Dean]] and Lon Chaney who appeared in dual roles. ''[[Outside the Law (1930 film)|Outside the Law]]'' concerns a criminal rivalry among gangsters. It stars [[Edward G. Robinson]] as Cobra Collins and [[Mary Nolan]] as his moll Connie Madden. Film critic Alfred Eaker commented that Browning's remake "received comparatively poor reviews."<ref>Eaker, 2016: "Browning remade Outside the Law in 1930. The remake starred Edward G. Robinson and received comparatively poor reviews."</ref><ref>Barson, 2021: "Chaney finally made one sound film, a remake of The Unholy Three, before his sudden death from bronchial cancer in 1930, but Jack Conway directed it instead of Browning, who had jumped to Universal and could not take the property with him. Instead, he remade another of his Chaney silents, Outside the Law (1930), with Edward G. Robinson taking the part left vacant by Chaney's death."</ref>

=== ''Dracula'' (1931): The first talkie horror picture ===
{{quote box|width=30em|bgcolor=cornsilk | fontsize=100%|salign=center | quote="I am Dracula." – Bela Lugosi's iconic introduction as the vampire Count Dracula<ref>Bronfen, 2006 p. 154</ref>}}

Browning's ''[[Dracula (1931 English-language film)|Dracula]]'' initiated the modern horror genre, and it remains his only "one true horror film."<ref>Sobchack, 2006 p. 29: "Browning made only one true horror film, Dracula (1931)."</ref> Today the picture stands as the first of Browning's two sound era masterpieces, rivaled only by his [[Freaks (1932 film)|''Freaks'']] (1932).<ref>Bronfen, 2006 p. 158<br />Conterio, 2018: "Dracula (1931) and Freaks (1932) – his two most famous and enduring titles..."<br />Nixon, 2003 TCM "Dracula became Browning's most successful and lasting film, matched in film history only by what many consider his masterpiece, the unique and astonishing Freaks (1932)."<br />Morris, 1998: "Hugely popular and vastly influential, this is the ''magna carta'' of vampire movies and the first of the great cycle of Universal horror films."<br />Thomson, 2010: "The year 1931 was a turning moment in film horror history..."</ref> The picture set in motion Universal Studios' highly lucrative production of vampire and monster movies during the 1930s.<ref>Barson, 2021: "Dracula was an enormous success and was the first of the classic Universal horror films of the 1930s and '40s."</ref> Browning approached Universal's [[Carl Laemmle Jr.]] in 1930 to organize a film version of Bram Stoker's 1897 gothic horror novel ''[[Dracula]]'', previously adapted to film by director [[F. W. Murnau]] in 1922.<ref>Thomson, 2010: "Browning had already approached Universal with the idea of doing Dracula at the studio, with Lon Chaney. The Bram Stoker novel had become a sensation on the New York stage in 1927 ..."<br />Eaker, 2016: "Tod Browning's Dracula is often unfairly compared to Murnau's unauthorized [[Nosferatu]], and it is an unfair comparison because the two are very different films, which merely happen to share the same literary inspiration."</ref>

In an effort to avoid copyright infringement lawsuits, Universal opted to base the film on [[Hamilton Deane]]'s and [[Louis Bromfield]]'s melodramatic stage version ''[[Dracula (1924 play)|Dracula]]'' (1924), rather than Stoker's novel.<ref name=":8">Bronfen, 2006 p. 158</ref><ref>Thomson, 2010: "The Bram Stoker novel had become a sensation on the New York stage in 1927..."</ref>

Actor Lon Chaney, then completing his first sound film with director [[Jack Conway (filmmaker)|Jack Conway]] in a remake of Browning's silent ''[[The Unholy Three (1925 film)|The Unholy Three]]'' (1925), was tapped for the role of Count Dracula.<ref>Sobchack, 2006 p. 29: Dracula (1931) "originally slated for Lon Chaney..."</ref> Terminally ill from lung cancer, Chaney entered negotiations for the project. The actor died a few short weeks before shooting was set to commence on ''Dracula'' — a significant personal and professional loss to long-time collaborator Browning.<ref>Sobchack, 2006 p. 36: "Chaney's connection with Browning was, at the very least, catalytic."<br />Baxter, 1970 p. 100: "Browning had hoped to use Chaney in Dracula, but the actor died in August 1930, just after completing work on his first sound film, a remake by Jack Conway of his 1925 success The Unholy Three..."<br />Harvey, 2009: Chaney's "complications from pneumonia and lung cancer ...spiraled out of control. He'd been originally cast as the star..."<br />Nixon, 2003 TCM: "Universal first intended to make the picture with Lon Chaney, under the guidance of Chaney's frequent director, Tod Browning."</ref> Hungarian expatriate and actor Bela Ferenc Deszo Blasco, appearing under the stage name [[Bela Lugosi]], had successfully performed the role of Count Dracula in the American productions of the play for three years.<ref>Bronfen, 2006 pp. 158, 159</ref> According to film historian David Thomson, "when Chaney died, it was taken for granted that Lugosi would have the role in the film."<ref>Thomson, 2010<br />Baxter, 1970 p. 100: Due to Chaney's terminal illness "Browning had to use the Hungarian Bela Lugosi, who had played the role on Broadway."<br />Harvey, 2009: "With Chaney gone, the role went to its stage interpreter, Hungarian thespian Bela Lugosi..." <br />Barson, 2021: "Lugosi had already played the part [of Dracula] onstage for three years, and that version was the primary basis for the film."<br />Brogan, year: "Browning originally wanted Chaney for Dracula and was reportedly unhappy with Bela Lugosi's portrayal."</ref>

{{quote box|width=30em|bgcolor=cornsilk | fontsize=100%|salign=center | quote= The most awesome powers of control belong to the vampires, and Browning's attitude toward these undead poses a particularly intriguing problem. The vampires depend, for support, upon the infirm and innocent elements of society the Browning scorns. They sustain themselves through the blood of the weak...but they are vulnerable to those with the determination to resist them. – Stuart Rosenthal in ''Tod Browning: The Hollywood Professionals, Volume 4'' (1975)<ref>Rosenthal, 1975 pp. 16–17</ref>}}

Lugosi's portrayal of Count Dracula is inextricably linked to the vampire genre established by Browning. As film critic Elizabeth Bronfen observes, "the notoriety of Browning's Dracula within film history resides above all else in the uncanny identification between Bela Lugosi and his role."<ref>Bronfen, 2006 p. 160<br />Barson, 2021: "Lugosi's " unctuous line readings that made him inseparable from the character of the elegant vampire.<br />Eaker, 2016: "Lugosi himself discussed how intensely Browning directed his acting in the film, stating that the direction was very different than the way he had played the part on Broadway."</ref> Browning quickly establishes what would become Dracula's— and Bela Lugosi's—''sine qua non'': "The camera repeatedly focuses on Dracula's hypnotic gaze, which, along with his idiosyncratic articulation, was to become his cinematic trademark."<ref>Bronfen, 2006 p. 153</ref> Film historian Alec Charles observes that "The first time we see Bela Lugosi in Tod Browning's Dracula...he looks almost directly into the camera...Browning affords the audience the first of those famously intense and direct into-the-camera Lugosi looks, a style of gaze that would be duplicated time and again by the likes of [[Christopher Lee]] and Lugosi's lesser imitators..."<ref>Charles, 2006 p. 81</ref> Lugosi embraced his screen persona as the preeminent "aristocratic Eastern European vampire" and welcomed his typecasting, assuring his "artistic legacy".<ref>Bronfen, 2006 p. 160: Bronfen provides a sympathetic sketch of Lugosi's post-Dracula career.<br />Eaker, 2016: "...Browning did have a rewarding collaborative partnership with...Lugosi, even if he did not find it as satisfying" as his association with Lon Chaney.</ref>

Film critic Elizabeth Bronfen reports that Browning's cinematic interpretation of the script has been widely criticized by film scholars. Browning is cited for failing to provide adequate "montage or shot/reverse shots", the "incoherence of the narrative" and his putative poor handling of the "implausible dialogue" reminiscent of "filmed theatre." Bronfen further notes critic's complaints that Browning failed to visually record the iconic vampiric catalog: puncture wounds on a victims necks, the imbibing of fresh blood, a stake penetrating the heart of Count Dracula. Moreover, no "transformation scenes" are visualized in which the undead or vampires morph into wolves or bats.<ref>Bronfen, 2006 p. 157: "Critics have repeatedly faulted Browning for not having adequately used the filmic means available to him, by letting not only the vampires fatal bites but also his own death occur off screen..." And pp. 158–159: Bronfen includes David Skal and James Ursine among Browning critics on these matters. And p. 163: "Browning does not show the actual consummation of the Count's lust."</ref>

Film critics have attributed these "alleged faults" to Browning's lack of enthusiasm for the project. Actor [[Helen Chandler]], who plays Dracula's mistress, Mina Seward, commented that Browning seemed disengaged during shooting, and left the direction to cinematographer Karl Freund.<ref>Bronfen, 2006 p. 159: "This shift in attitude is often attributed to Browning ...had wanted Lon Chaney for the part of the Count" but had Chaney had declined the role "because of the progressive stage of his throat cancer... [and died] during the shooting." And: See Chandler's observations on Browning.<br />Nixon, 2003 TCM: "According to David Manners, the production was "extremely disorganized." Asked about the experience of working with Tod Browning, Manners said, "It's funny you should ask. Someone asked me who directed [Dracula] and I had to say, I hadn't the faintest idea!...the only directing I saw was done by Karl Freund, the cinematographer."<br />Towlson, 2012: "...Karl Freund (who himself had ambitions to direct, took advantage of Browning's problems with Universal on Dracula to direct The Mummy)."</ref>

Bronfen emphasizes the "financial constraints" imposed by Universal executives, strictly limiting authorization for special effects or complex technical shots, and favoring a static camera requiring Browning to "shoot in sequence" in order to improve efficiency.<ref>Bronfen, 2006 p. 158: Universal "categorically opposed any hefty additional production costs...forced to shoot the film in sequence [and a] frugal use of special effects" enforced by studio management.</ref> Bronfen suggests that Browning's own thematic concerns may have prompted him—in this, 'the first talkie horror picture'—to privilege the spoken word over visual tricks.":

{{blockquote|Browning's concern was always with the bizarre desires of those on the social and cultural margins. It is enough for him to render their fantasies as scenic fragments, which require neither a coherent, nor a sensational story line... the theatricality of his filmic rendition emphasizes both the power of suggestion emanating from Count Dracula's hypnotic gaze and Professor Van Helsing's will power, as well as the seduction transmitted by foregrounding the voices of the marginal and monstrous... even the choice of a static camera seems logical, once one sees it as an attempt to savour the newly discovered possibilities of sound as a medium of seductive film horror.<ref>Bronfen, 2006 pp. 159–160</ref>}}

The scenario follows the vampire Count Dracula to England where he preys upon members of the British upper-middle class, but is confronted by nemesis Professor Van Helsing, ([[Edward Van Sloan]]) who possesses sufficient will power and knowledge of vampirism to defeat Count Dracula.<ref>Rosenthal, 1975 pp. 16–17: Van Helsing's "will is strong."<br />Eaker, 2016: "The Dracula of Browning and Lugosi is an outsider...who comes to nourish on the aristocratic London Society, who he, paradoxically, yearns to join."</ref> Film historian Stuart Rosenthal remarks that "the Browning version of Dracula retains the Victorian formality of the original source in the relationships among the normal characters. In this atmosphere the seething, unstoppable evil personified by the Count is a materialization of Victorian morality's greatest dread."<ref>Rosenthal, 1975 p. 35</ref>

A number of sequences in ''Dracula'' have earned special mention, despite criticism concerning the "static and stagy quality of the film."<ref>Sobchack, 2006 p. 29: "Much has been written by various critics about the static and stagy quality of the film...Nonetheless, every critic who emphasizes the film's 'uncinematic' qualities goes on to describe those 'few' scenes that ''are'' cinematic. Indeed, there is quite a list."<br />Eaker, 2016: "The much maligned second half of the film shifts perspective, but still does not resemble a real world at all and casts an aquatic spell over the receptive viewer."</ref> The dramatic and sinister opening sequence in which the young solicitor Renfield ([[Dwight Frye]]) is conveyed in a coach to Count Dracula's Transylvanian castle is one of the most discussed and praised of the picture. [[Karl Freund]]'s [[German Expressionism (cinema)|Expressionistic]] technique is largely credited with its success.<ref>Nixon, 2003 TCM: "The opening sequence of Dracula, with its Transylvania setting, is among the finest work Browning ever did on screen, and it owes much to cameraman Karl Fruend."<br />Bronfen, 2006 p. 152: "Most critics have praised the opening sequences of Dracula for its convincing cinematic dramaturgy, attributing it primarily to [cameraman] Karl Freund..."<br />Eaker, 2016: "The introduction to the inhabitants of Castle Dracula is among the most discussed in the annals of Universal Horror...The static silence is punctuated with genuine dread, surreal humor, and the unnerving whimpers of an opossum. Karl Freund's camera pans over a decidedly unreal set..."<br />Sobchack, 2006 p. 29: "...the artistry of Renfield's (Dwight Frye) carriage ride to Castle Dracula" [Sobchack quoting critic Roy Huss]</ref>

Browning employs "a favorite device" with an animal montage early in the film to establish a metaphoric equivalence between the emergence of the vampires from their crypts and the small parasitic vermin that infest the castle: spiders, wasps and rats.<ref>Rosenthal, 1975 p. 54: "In Dracula, Browning clarifies some of the early action by means of one of his favorite devices, an animal montage in which a particularly sinister event is intercut with shots of small creatures. As each of Dracula's wives emerges from her tomb a rooting rat disappears behind a ledge or a wasp pulls itself from a tiny coffin-shaped compartment. The metaphor defines the nature of the vampire and conveys the impression of a reawakening of evil and parasitic search for sustenance."</ref> Unlike Browning's previous films, ''Dracula'' is not a "long series of [illusionist] tricks, performed and explained"<ref name=":9" /> but rather an application of cinematic effects "presenting vampirism as scientifically verified 'reality'."<ref>Solomon, 2006 p. 58: "Unlike Browning's Dracula (1931), which uses largely cinematic effects to ultimately present vampirism as scientifically verified 'reality', London After Midnight presents apparently supernatural phenomena as the work of stage magic."<br />Bronfen, 2006 pp. 167–168: "The danger of Browning's vampire consists precisely in the fact that it isn't corporeal but spectral." [Count Dracula's figure produces no reflection in a mirror.] The illusionist legerdemain is not explained to the movie audience.</ref>

Despite Universal executives editing out portions of Browning's film, Dracula was enormously successful.<ref>Conterio, 2018: "Dracula (1931)...[was] altered by Universal to avoid offending the public and religious groups...Dracula was recut for its 1936 rerelease, shorn of roughly 10 minutes and tweaks made to the soundtrack (the muting of Dracula's death sigh, for example)."<br />Eaker, 2016: In his original edit, Dracula was ten minutes longer and was even more deliberately paced, with Lugosi's count almost entirely invisible during the second half...But, Universal spoiled that by cutting several scenes and adding close-up shots of the vampire grimacing, much to Browning's permanent dismay (he refused to ever watch the film again)."</ref> Opening at New York City's [[Roxy Theatre (New York City)|Roxy Theatre]], ''Dracula'' earned $50,000 in 48 hours, and was Universal's most lucrative film of the [[Great Depression|Depression Era]].<ref>Bronfen, 2006 p. 158: "After its opening night on February 13, 1931, at the Roxy Theatre in New York City, it sold over 50,000 tickets within the first two days, bringing in a profit of $700,000 in the first year. As the most commercially successful film for Universal during the Depression."</ref> Five years after its release, it had grossed over one million dollars worldwide.<ref name=":8" /> Film critic Dennis Harvey writes: "Dracula's enormous popularity fast-tracked Browning's return to MGM, under highly favorable financial terms and the protection of longtime ally, production chief [[Irving Thalberg]]."<ref>Harvey, 2009</ref><ref>Barson, 2021: "The success of Dracula enabled Browning to flourish throughout the early 1930s."</ref>

=== ''Iron Man'' (1931) ===
The last of Browning's three sound films he directed for Universal Studios, ''[[Iron Man (1931 film)|Iron Man]]'' (1931) is largely ignored in critical literature.<ref>Herzogenrath, 2006 p. 16: "Browning's boxing drama Iron Man is one of the rarely discussed movies of this cinematic auteur (italics)."</ref><ref>Grindon, 2006 p. 173: "Neither Stuart Rosenthal nor Elliott Stein discusses the picture in their profiles of the filmmaker...David J. Skal and Elias Savada...fail to mention the title" in their index" of Browning's films.</ref>

Described as "a cautionary tale about the boxer as a physically powerful man brought down by a woman",<ref name=":12">Grindon, 2006 p. 173</ref> Browning's boxing story lacks the macabre elements that typically dominate his cinema.<ref>Grindon, 2006 p. 173: Iron Man is "an important but neglected film among Browning's ourve...the film has been neglected in the critical literature, probably because it lacks the macabre quality for which Browning's films are known."</ref> Film historian Vivian Sobchack observes that "Iron Man, in subject and plot, is generally regarded as uncharacteristic of Browning's other work."<ref name=":6" /> Thematically, however, the picture exhibits a continuity consistent with his obsessive interest in "situations of moral and sexual frustration."<ref>Rosenthal, 1975 p. 9</ref><ref>Herzogenrath, 2006 p. 16: "...the thematic continuity between Browning's more famous tales of grotesque horror and this boxing film. The moral and sexual frustrations that Stuart Rosenthal argues are central to Browning's work are readily apparent."</ref>

Film critic Leger Grindon cites the four "subsidiary motifs" recognized by Browning biographer Stuart Rosenthal: "appearances hiding truth (particularly physical beauty as a mask for villainy), sexual frustration, opposing tendencies within a protagonist that are often projected onto alter egos and finally, an inability to assign guilt." These themes are evident in Iron Man.<ref>Grindon. 2006 p. 175</ref><ref>Rosenthal, 1975 pp. 8–9: "obsessive" and "compulsive." And pp. 23–43 for Rosenthal's discussion of these four themes.</ref>

Actor [[Lew Ayres]], following his screen debut in Universal's immensely successful anti-war themed ''[[All Quiet on the Western Front (1930 film)|All Quiet on the Western Front]]'' (1930), plays Kid Mason, a [[Lightweight]] boxing champion. This sports-drama concerns the struggle between the Kid's friend and manager George Regan [[Robert Armstrong (actor)|Robert Armstrong]], and the boxer's adulterous wife Rose ([[Jean Harlow]]) to prevail in a contest for his affection and loyalty.<ref>Grindon, 2006 p. 175: "Jean Harlow's golddigging vamp is avaricious, aspiring and sexually predatory." Caption for photo.</ref>

Rather than relying largely upon "editing and composition as expressive tools" Browning moved away from a stationary camera "toward a conspicuous use of camera movement" under the influence of [[Karl Freund]], cinematographer on the 1931 [[Dracula (1931 English-language film)|''Dracula'']]. Iron Man exhibits this "transformation" in Browning's cinematic style as he entered the sound era.<ref>Herzogenrath, 2006 p. 16</ref> Leger Grindon provides this assessment of Browning's last picture for Universal:
{{blockquote|''Iron Man'' is not an anomaly in Tod Browning's career; rather, it is a work that testifies to the continuity of his thematic concerns, as well as showcasing his growing facility with the camera after his work with [cameraman] Karl Fruend...<ref>Grindon, 2006 p. 178</ref>}}

Though box office earnings for ''Iron Man'' are unavailable, a measure of its success is indicated in the two remakes the film inspired: ''[[Some Blondes Are Dangerous]]'' (1937) and ''[[Iron Man (1951 film)|Iron Man]]'' (1950).<ref name=":12" />

Browning returned to MGM after completing ''Iron Man'' to embark upon the most controversial film of his career: ''Freaks'' (1932).<ref>Baxter, 1970 p. 100: "Browning left Universal and joined Metro [after completing The Iron Man]. MGM appears frequently in the Thirties as a producer of horror films..."</ref><ref>Harvey, 2009: "Dracula's enormous popularity fast-tracked Browning's return to MGM, under highly favorable financial terms and the protection of longtime ally, production chief Irving Thalberg.</ref>

=== Magnum opus: ''Freaks'' (1932) ===
{{quote box|width=30em|bgcolor=cornsilk | fontsize=100%|salign=center | quote=Freaks may be one of the most compassionate movies ever made. – Film critic [[Andrew Sarris]] in ''The American Cinema: Directors and Directions, 1929–1968'' (1968) p. 229}}

{{quote box|width=30em|bgcolor=cornsilk | fontsize=100%|salign=center | quote=Not even the most morbidly inclined could possibly find this picture to their liking. Saying it is horrible is putting it mildly. It is revolting to the extent of turning one's stomach...Anyone who considers this [to be] entertainment should be placed in the pathological ward in some hospital. — [[Harrison's Reports]], 16 July 1932<ref name=":13">Sobchack, 2006 p. 28</ref><br />If ''Freaks'' has caused a furor in certain censor circles, the fault lies in the manner in which it was campaigned to the public. I found it to be an interesting and entertaining picture, and I did not have nightmares, nor did I attempt to murder any of my relatives. — ''[[Motion Picture Herald]]'', 23 July 1932<ref name=":13" />}}

After the spectacular success of ''Dracula'' (1931) at Universal, Browning returned to MGM, lured by a generous contract and enjoying the auspices of production manager Irving Thalberg.<ref>Harvey, 2009: "Dracula's enormous popularity fast-tracked Browning's return to MGM, under highly favorable financial terms and the protection of longtime ally, production chief Irving Thalberg.<br />Cady, 2004 TCM: "Brought back at some cost to MGM, Browning made his ultimate horror movie ''Freaks'' (1932)."</ref> Anticipating a repeat of his recent success at Universal, Thalberg accepted Browning's story proposal based on [[Tod Robbins]]' circus-themed tale [[Spurs (short story)|"Spurs"]] (1926).<ref>Eaker, 2016: "After the 1931 box office success of Browning's Dracula and Whale's Frankenstein, MGM second- in-command Irving Thalberg approached Browning and asked him to come up with something to outdo both of those films. Browning responded with his manifesto, Freaks."<br />Baxter, 1970 p. 101: "Browning had been hired by Metro to make a more ambitious version of the many circus films then being produced. Characteristically, he took as his subject not a conventional drama of life under the [[wikt:big top| ]] but a cynical story called "Spurs" by fantasy writer [[Tod Robbins]]."<br />Towlson, 2012: "In the case of Freaks it seems that Thalberg hired Browning to direct, but Browning had known of the short story, "Spurs," on which Freaks is based for years..."<br />Rosenthal, 1975 p. 14: "The dwarf in "Spurs" is a hideously arbitrary and vicious individual compared to the victimized Hans in Freaks."</ref>

The studio purchased the rights and enlisted screenwriter [[Willis Goldbeck]] and [[Leon Gordon (playwright)|Leon Gordon]] to develop the script with Browning.<ref>Sobchack, 2006 p. 34: Sobchack, reports that Browning (who produced the film for MGM), convinced Thalberg that the story by Tod Robbins was suitable for adaption, and Thalberg purchased the rights.<br />Morris and Vieira, 2001: "In mid-1931, MGM production head Irving Thalberg summoned scenarist Willis Goldbeck [and] commissioned Goldbeck to write a vehicle for Browning's comeback, something 'even more horrible than Dracula.'"<br />Henry, 2006 p. 42</ref> Thalberg collaborated closely with the director on pre-production, but Browning completed all the actual shooting on the film without interference from studio executives.<ref>Towlson, 2012: "While Browning helped Thalberg oversee the whole production [for Freaks], there is no evidence that the mogul interfered during shooting once production commenced. Browning was left alone to direct.<br />Rosenthal, 1975 pp. 58–59: "Tod Browning had the good fortune of being a complete filmmaker, producing and developing scenarios for many of his pictures. Without this kind of independence Freaks, undoubtedly the most personal film made at MGM during the Thirties, would have been an impossible project."</ref> Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's president, [[Louis B. Mayer]], registered his disgust with the project from its inception and during the filming, but Thalberg successfully intervened on Browning's behalf to proceed with the film.<ref>Eaker, 2016: "From the beginning of Freaks' genesis...Louis B. Mayer, was vehemently opposed to it even at the conceptual stage, and his objections only intensified... Fortunately, Thalberg came to Browning's aid and saved filming from being sabotaged on numerous occasions."<br />Sobchack, 2006 p. 34: "Thalberg came to Browning's defense in relation to ''Freaks'' (1932)."</ref> The picture that emerged was Browning's "most notorious and bizarre melodrama."<ref>Sobchack, 2006 p. 27</ref>

A "morality play", ''Freaks'' centers around the cruel seduction of a circus sideshow midget Hans ([[The Doll Family|Harry Earles]]) by a statuesque trapeze artist Cleopatra ([[Olga Baclanova]]). She and her lover, strongman Hercules ([[Henry Victor]]), scheme to murder the diminutive Hans for his inheritance money after sexually humiliating him. The community of freaks mobilizes in Hans' defense, meting out severe justice to Cleopatra and Hercules: the former trapeze beauty is surgically transformed into a sideshow freak.
<ref>Barson, 2021: "Browning delivered a surprise with Freaks (1932), a truly shocking morality play that boldly cast a number of actual sideshow performers."</ref>

Browning enlisted a cast of performers largely assembled from carnival freak shows—a community and milieu both of which the director was intimately familiar. The circus freaks serve as dramatic and comedic players, central to the story's development, and do not appear in their respective sideshow routines as novelties.<ref>Eaker, 2016: "...Browning only shows the freaks in their natural, behind the scene, daily environment. Browning never resorts to showing the freaks on stage or in performance."<br />Sobchack, 2006 p. 27: "Not only does the film treat the freaks compassionately, it also allows for a humor that underscores their humanity and Browning's respect for them."</ref><ref>Eaker, 2016: "During filming, many on the MGM lot found the sight of the freaks so disturbing that they sought to have the production stopped..."</ref>

Two major themes in Browning's work—"Sexual Frustration" and "Reality vs. Appearances"—emerge in ''Freaks'' from the conflict inherent in the physical incompatibility between Cleopatra and Hans.<ref>Towlson, 2017 Part 2: "Reality vs. appearance (physical beauty masking perversity) is one of the key themes in Browning's work. Another is sexual frustration and emasculation. These themes lie at the very heart of Freaks."</ref>
The guileless Hans' self-delusional fantasy of winning the affection of Cleopatra—"seductive, mature, cunning and self-assured"—provokes her contempt, eliciting "cruel sexual jests" at odds with her attractive physical charms.<ref>Morris and Vieira, 2001: "...The "beautiful" characters – Cleopatra and Hercules, whose working lives depend (like movie stars) almost entirely on the way they look – are maimed or killed. The movie shows the folly of trusting the kind of beautiful surface..."<br />Rosenthal, 1975 pp. 35–36: "Sexual frustration is the very essence of Freaks...We are struck by the gross incongruity of the pair [and] the collision of absolute sexual opposites...an opportunity [for Cleopatra] to enjoy the kind of cruel sexual jest upon which she thrives." Browning emphasizes the disparity in their physical stature, appearance.</ref> Browning provides the moral rationale for the final reckoning with Cleopatra ''before'' she has discovered Hans' fortune and plans to murder him. Film historian Stuart Rosenthal explains:

{{blockquote|It is here that Browning justifies the disruption of an individual's sexual equanimity as a cause for retaliation. Cleopatra's decision to wed the dwarf for his wealth and then dispose of him is not, in itself, a significant advance in villainy...her most heinous crime is committed when she teases Hans by provocatively dropping her cape to the floor, then gleefully kneels to allow her victim to replace it upon her shoulders...This kind of exploitation appears more obscene by far than the fairly clean act of homicide.<ref name=":5" />}}

Browning addresses another theme fundamental to his work: "Inability to Assign Guilt". The community of freaks delay judgement on Cleopatra when she insults Frieda ([[Daisy Earles]]), the midget performer who loves Hans.<ref>Rosenthal, 1975 p. 36: See here for description of scene.</ref> Their social solidarity cautions restraint, but when the assault on Hans becomes egregious, they act single-mindedly to punish the offender. Browning exonerates the freaks of any guilt: they are "totally justified" in their act of retribution.<ref>Rosenthal, 1975 p. 14: "Since this is one of those rare instances in Browning's pictures in which guilt can be indisputably fixed, the freaks can be totally justified in their attack."</ref> Stuart Rosenthal describes this doctrine, the "crux" of Browning's social ideal:

{{blockquote|''Freaks'' is the film that is most explicit about the closeness of equability and retribution. The freaks live by a simple and unequivocal code that one imagines might be the crux of Browning's ideal for society: 'Offend one of them, and offend them all'...if anyone attempts to harm or take advantage of one of their number, the entire colony responds quickly and surely to mete out appropriate punishment.<ref>Rosenthal, 1975 pp. 13–14<br />Herzogenrath, 2006 p. 194: Herzogenrath reminds us that "Offend one, offend them all" is a paraphrase from a passage in The Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians, 12:26–27.</ref>}}

Browning cinematic style in ''Freaks'' is informed by the precepts of [[German Expressionism (cinema)|German Expressionism]], combining a subdued documentary-like realism with "chiaroscuro shadow" for dramatic effect.<ref>Sobchack, 2006 p. 27: "Freaks combines the heightened chiaroscuro shadows and lightning bolts of Expressionism with a flat gray documentary style." And p. 28: "...the freaks' revenge on Cleopatra and Hercules is visualized in near Expressionistic style."<br />Towlson, 2012: "...''Freaks'' demonstrate a sophisticated use of staging, framing, editing, and camera movement...Browning's control of the editing...is reflected in his comment that 'the director does the real writing of the story in the cutting and projection rooms'...Browning's close involvement in all the facets of production, the guiding hand in the script-to-screen process, including the camera shots and the editing, seems to have been Browning's...the cinematic skill evidenced in ''Freaks''...is attributable mainly to him."</ref>

The wedding banquet sequence in which Cleopatra and Hercules brutally degrade Hans is "among the most discussed moments of ''Freaks''" and according to biographer Vivian Sobchack "a masterpiece of sound and image, and utterly unique in conception and realization."<ref>Sobchack, 2006 pp. 27–28: "...the famous wedding feast..sequence is a masterpiece of sound and image, and utterly unique in conception and realization."<br />Eaker, 2016: "The wedding banquet scene is still among the most discussed moments of Freaks." And: "The sequence is beautifully filmed by Browning."<br />Rosenthal, 1975 pp. 37–38: Rosenthal explains the significance of the scene.</ref><ref>Herzogenrath, 2006 p. 196: The significance of the wedding banquet sequence presented here.</ref>

The final sequence in which the freaks carry out their "shocking" revenge and Cleopatra's fate is revealed "achieves the most sustained level of high-pitched terror of any Browning picture."<ref>Diekmann and Knörer, 2006 pp. 75–76: The final scene in ''Freaks'' "a shocking fit of grandguignolesque mutilation and horrific vengeance..."<br />Rosenthal, 1975 p. 50: See here of Browning's technical handling of the sequence.</ref>

''Freaks'' was given general release only after Thalberg excised 30 minutes of footage deemed offensive to the public.<ref>Eaker, 2016: "When Browning finished ''Freaks'', Thalberg, who had previously defended Browning, did not hesitate to cut nearly a half hour of footage from the film (and, as was the norm at that time, burned the excised footage)."<br />Conterio, 2018: "...Freaks (1932)...was altered by MGM, to avoid offending the public and religious groups. Up to 30 minutes was chopped from Freaks..."</ref>
Though Browning had a long history of making profitable pictures at MGM, Freaks was a "disaster" at the box office, though earning mixed reviews among critics.

Browning's reputation as a reliable filmmaker among the Hollywood establishment was tarnished, and he completed only four more pictures before retiring from the industry after 1939. According to biographer Alfred Eaker,  "''Freaks'', in effect, ended Browning's career."<ref>Rosenthal, 1975 p. 59: "The disastrous public reaction to ''Freaks'' seems to have shaken front office confidence in the director. In the following seven years he worked on only four pictures..."<br />Barson, 2021: "...Freaks was greeted with almost universal revulsion upon its original release...''Freaks'' all but finished Browning's Hollywood career; he would direct only four more films."</ref><ref>Harvey, 2009: "...Freaks struck many as deeply distasteful and it proved a major contributor to Hollywood's stringent enforcement of the Production Code beginning in 1934. Though not universally decried at the time, Freaks was enough of a scandal and money-loser that Browning's career never fully recovered."<br />Eaker, 2016: "...''Freaks'', in effect, ended Browning's career."</ref>

=== ''Fast Workers'' (1933) ===
In the aftermath of the commercial failure of his 1932 ''Freaks'', Browning was assigned to produce and direct (uncredited) an adaptation of [[John McDermott (director)|John McDermott]]'s play ''Rivets''.<ref>Herzogenrath, 2006 p. 11: "Keeping his hands clean from controversial material after the scandal that ''Freaks'' (1932) had caused, Browning shot some 'lighter' movies..."</ref>

The script for ''[[Fast Workers]]'' by [[Karl Brown (cinematographer)|Karl Brown]] and [[Laurence Stallings]] dramatizes the mutual infidelities, often humorous, that plague a [[ménage à trois]] comprising a high-rise construction worker and seducer Gunner Smith ([[John Gilbert (actor)|John Gilbert]]), his co-worker and sidekick, Bucker Reilly ([[Robert Armstrong (actor)|Robert Armstrong]]) and Mary ([[Mae Clarke]]), an attractive "[[Gold digger]]" seeking financial and emotional stability during the [[Great Depression]].<ref>Cady, 2004 TCM: "...both Gilbert and Browning managed to transform Fast Workers into a perversely fascinating melodrama cut with streetwise humor."The title "fast workers" is a [[double entendre]] alluding "both to the construction workers' skill at riveting and to their style with women."<br />Rosenthal, 1975 p. 44<br />Wood, 2006 TCM: "Browning and Gilbert re-teamed in 1933 for the racy pre-Code drama Fast Workers, where Gilbert plays 'Gunner' Smith, another detestable womanizer in need of redemption."</ref> Browning brings to bear all the thematic modes that typically motivate his characters.<ref>Rosenthal, 1975 p. 23-24</ref> Film historian Stuart Rosenthal writes:

{{blockquote |In ''Fast Workers'' the four varieties of frustration<ref>Rosenthal, 1975 p. 23-24: See here for explanation of categories.</ref> are so well integrated among themselves that it is difficult, if not impossible to say where one ends and another begins. These interrelations make it one of the most perplexing of Browning's films, especially with regard to morality and justice.<ref name="Rosenthal, 1975 p. 44">Rosenthal, 1975 p. 44</ref>}}

The betrayals, humiliations and retaliations that plague the characters, and the moral legitimacy of their behaviors remains unresolved. Rosenthal comments on Browning's ambivalence: "''Fast Workers'' is Browning's final cynical word on the impossibility of an individual obtaining justice, however righteous his cause, without critically sullying himself. Superficially, things have been set right. Gunner and Bucker are again friends and, together are equal to any wily female. Yet Gunner, the individual who is the most culpable, finds himself in the most secure position, while the basically well-intentioned Mary is rejected and condemned by both men."<ref>Rosenthal, 1975 p. 46</ref> An outstanding example of Browning's ability to visually convey terror—a technique he developed in the silent era—is demonstrated when Mary perceives that Bucker, cuckolded by Gunner, reveals his homicidal rage.<ref>Rosenthal, 1975 p. 44: "...the series of events that lead to Bucker's premeditatedly allowing Gunner to fall off a skyscraper." And p. 45: "The technique that Browning used for constructing instants of terror was workably carried over into the sound era. It is apparent that Browning conceived horror primarily in visual terms...the camera movement in ''Fast Workers'', when Mary realizes that Bucker is contemplating murder, is positively chilling."<br />Cady, 2004 TCM: "As for Browning, he stages several strong scenes, particularly one in which Robert Armstrong's Bucker realizes the depth of his friend's betrayal. The director's style here has echoes of his [silent era] work with Lon Chaney..."</ref>

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer committed $525,000 to the film's production budget, quite a high sum for a relatively short feature. Ultimately, MGM reported earnings of only $165,000 on the film after its release, resulting in a net loss of $360,000 on the motion picture.<ref name="TFSociety">[http://torontofilmsociety.com/film-notes/fast-workers-1933/ "Fast Workers (1933)], Toronto Film Society ([[Ontario, Canada]]), June 20, 2018. Retrieved November 19, 2020.</ref>

=== ''Mark of the Vampire'' (1935) ===
Browning returned to a vampire-themed picture with his 1935 ''[[Mark of the Vampire]]''.<ref>Eaker, 2016: "In 1935, Browning requested to remake Midnight as Mark of the Vampire... even though he was still under Thalberg's protection... neither Mayer nor the studio had forgiven Browning for ''Freaks'' (1932) and his salary for Mark was cut to half of its former amount...."</ref> Rather than risk a legal battle with Universal Studios who held the rights to Browning's 1931 ''[[Dracula (1931 English-language film)|Dracula]]'', he opted for a reprise of his successful silent era ''[[London After Midnight (film)|London After Midnight]]'' (1927), made for MGM and starring [[Lon Chaney]] in a dual role.<ref>Eaker, 2016: "...Thalberg did give Browning the green light to proceed with the inferior Mark of the Vampire (1935) three years [after completing ''Freaks (1932)].}<br />Rosenthal, 1975 p. 15: Browning's ''Mark of the Vampire'' a "remake" of his London After Midnight (1927).<br />Sobchack, 2006 p. 31: "Mark of the Vampire is essentially a remake of London After Midnight…"<br />Wood, 2006 TCM: "After the enormous success of Dracula (1931), director Tod Browning was inclined to return to the vampire film...Universal Studios owned the rights to the Dracula franchise...He maneuvered around this obstacle by remaking a vampire chiller he had shot in 1927: London After Midnight."</ref>

With ''Mark of the Vampire'', Browning follows the plot conceit employed in ''London After Midnight'': An investigator and hypnotist seeks to expose a murderer by means of a "vampire masquerade" so as to elicit his confession.<ref>Rosenthal, 1975 p. 63: See synopsis for ''London After Midnight'' in Filmography</ref> Browning deviates from his 1927 silent film in that here the sleuth, Professor Zelen ([[Lionel Barrymore]]),<ref>Sobchack, 2006 p. 31:"Barrymore "resembles...Dr. Van Helsing ([[Edward Van Sloan]]) in Dracula (1931)</ref> rather than posing as a vampire himself in a dual role, hires a troupe of talented thespians to stage an elaborate hoax to deceive the murder suspect Baron Otto von Zinden ([[Jean Hersholt]]).<ref>Evans and Banks, 2020: "It would definitely be London After Midnight, a 1927 film with Lon Chaney and directed by Tod Browning. That was really the template for Mark of the Vampire…"<br />Conterio, 2018: "1935's Mark of the Vampire, an atmospheric remake of London after Midnight, re-teamed Browning with Bela Lugosi.</ref> Bela Lugosi was enlisted to play the lead vampire in the troupe, Count Moro.<ref>Charles, 2006 p. 83: "...Count Moro is not vampire at all but an actor hired to scare a murder suspect…"<br />Eaker, 2013: "Browning ended his collaboration with Lugosi with this film. Their work together started with The Thirteenth Chair (1929) ."</ref>
As a direct descendant of Browning's carnival-themed films, Browning offers the movie audience a generous dose of Gothic iconography: "hypnotic trances, flapping bats, spooky graveyards, moaning organs, cobwebs thick as curtains – and bound it all together with bits of obscure Eastern European folklore..."<ref>Wood, 2006 TCM: "Intending to one-up his own definitive vampire film, Browning loaded Mark of the Vampire with horror movie iconography…"<br />Eaker, 2016: "...Mark of the Vampire is saturated with sensational Gothic texture (which includes opossums inhabiting the castle).<br />Sweney, 2006 p. 203-204: "Mark of the Vampire is not a typical vampire film. The opening sequence signals of world of different traditions, one with a different language and beliefs we may not share nor understand...the villagers and servants in the film speak Czech...the world is split between what is 'real' and what is 'modern'."</ref>

As such, ''Mark of the Vampire'' leads the audience to suspend disbelief in their skepticism regarding vampires through a series of staged illusions, only to sharply disabuse them of their credulity in the final minutes of the movie.<ref>Herzogenrath, 2006 p. 16-17: "The exposition of the vampires as faked by a theatre company puts the film into Browning's pictures about the carnival…"</ref><ref>Sweney, 2006 p. 206: The picture is "in the realm of Browning's carnival films...showing the audience how easy it is to dupe them…In the last five minutes of the film, the vampires are revealed to be actors" hired by Professor Zelen.</ref> Browning reportedly composed the conventional plot scenes as he would a stage production, but softened the static impression through the editing process. In scenes that depicted the supernatural, Browning freely used a moving camera. Film historian Matthew Sweney observes "the [special] effects shots...overpower the static shots in which the film's plot and denouement take place...creating a visual tension in the film."

Cinematographer [[James Wong Howe]]'s lighting methods endowed the film with a spectral quality that complimented Browning's "sense of the unreal".<ref>Sweney, 2006 p. 204: See here for cinematographer [[James Wong Howe]]'s comments on Browning film direction. Quotation are Sweney's, not Howe's.<br />Sweney, 2006 p. 204-205: Though Howe was "credited as the film's sole cinematographer" though he was removed by production manager [[JJ Cohn]] because of Howe's handling of the lighting effects . See p. 205 for complaint registered by star [[Elizabeth Allan]] re: Howe.<br />Conterio, 2018: " James Wong Howe's spectral use of light bathes gothic sets in an eerie glow."<br />Eaker, 2016: "For Mark of the Vampire, Browning worked with cinematographer James Wong Howe. Howe's work in the film was praised, but Howe did not care for working with Browning, who he said 'did not know one end of the camera from the other'"</ref>
Critic Stuart Rosenthal writes:

{{blockquote|"The delicate, silkily evil texture [that characterizes the imagery] is as much a triumph for James Wong Howe's lighting as it is for Browning's sense of the unreal. Howe has bathed his sets in the luminous glow which is free of the harsh shadows and contrasts that mark [[Karl Freund|Freund]]'s work in [[Dracula (1931 English-language film)|Dracula]]."<ref>Rosenthal, 1975 p. 54</ref>}}

''Mark of the Vampire'' is widely cited for its famous "tracking shot on the stairwell" in which Count Mora ([[Bela Lugosi]]) and his daughter Luna ([[Carol Borland]]) descend in a stately promenade. Browning inter-cuts their progress with images of vermin and venomous insects, visual equivalents for the vampires as they emerge from their own crypts in search of sustenance.<ref>Sweney, 2006 p. 205-206: "By far the most interesting part of the film is its famous tracking shot which occurs approximately 17 minutes into the film...This one-minute sequence is one of the greatest visual feasts in the cinema of the macabre..."</ref> Rosenthal describes the one-minute sequence:

{{blockquote|"...Bela Lugosi and the bat-girl [Carol Borland] descend the cobweb-covered staircase of the abandoned mansion, their progress broken into a series of shots, each of which involves continuous movement of either the camera, the players, or both.  This creates the impression of a steady, unearthly gliding motion...the glimpses of bats, rats and insects accent the steady, deliberate progress of the horrific pair…the effect is disorienting and the viewer becomes ill-at-ease because he is entirely outside his realm of natural experience."<ref>Rosenthal, 1975 p. 54-55<br />Sweney, 2006 p. 206: "The motion of the two nightwalkers, the motion of the bats and the motion of the camera all combine in a fluid journey that takes the viewer down into the castle cellar and through its walls...conducted without dialogue, their silence lends a further tension to the film."</ref>}}

In another notable and "exquisitely edited" scene Browning presents a lesbian-inspired seduction. Count Mora, in the form of a bat, summons Luna to the cemetery where Irene Borotyn ([[Elizabeth Allan]]) (daughter of murder victim Sir Karell, awaits in a trance.) When vampire Luna avidly embraces her victim, Count Moro voyeuristically looks on approvingly. Borland's Luna would inspire the character Morticia in the TV series ''[[The Addams Family (1964 TV series)|The Addams Family]]''.<ref>Sweney, 2006 p. 206: "The sexual aspect, here a lesbian scene with a male voyeur, in undeniable...inherent in vampirism itself. Sweney praises Ben Lewis for the "exquisite" editing.<br />Eaker, 2016: "The visceral editing somehow adds to the film's appeal...adding up to an outrageous, hallucinatory film with genuinely perverse personality and a surreal, ominous style…" And: "...Borland is equally impressive. Her Luna...inspired [[Charles Addams]]' Morticia in [[The Addams Family (1964 TV series)]]</ref>

The soundtrack for ''Mark of the Vampire'' is notable in that it employs no orchestral music aside from accompanying the opening and closing credits. Melodic passages, when heard, are provided only by the players. The sound effects provided by recording director [[Douglas Shearer]]  contribute significantly to the film's ambiance.<ref>Sweney, 2006 p. 204: "...there is no orchestral music in the film at all, except for the opening and closing credits (it is an MGM film)..." And: "The soundtrack of Mark of the Vampire contributes in no small part to the overall atmosphere…[[Douglas Shearer]], 12-time Oscar winner and brother to [[Norma Shearer]], is credited as Recording Director."</ref>
<ref>Sweney, 2006 p. 204: "...the only melodic music within the film is made by the performers: the singing and violin playing of the villagers, and the melodramatic organ (played by a dead man…)"</ref>
Film historian Matthew Sweney writes:

{{blockquote|"The only incidental music...consisting as it does with groans and nocturnal animal sounds is perhaps minimalistic, but it is not used minimally, occurring throughout film expressly to score the vampire scenes...frightning scenes are not punctuated with orchestral crescendos, but by babies crying, women screaming, horses neighing, bells striking."<ref>Sweney, 2006 p. 204:</ref>}}

The climatic ''coup-de-grace'' occurs when the murderer's incredulity regarding the existence of vampires is reversed when Browning cinematically creates an astonishing illusion of the winged Luna in flight transforming into a human. The rationalist Baron Otto, a witness to this legerdemain, is converted into a believer in the supernatural and ultimately confesses, under hypnosis, to the murder of his brother Sir Karell.<ref>Sweney, 2006 p. 206-207: "...a great piece of cinematography" with Luna's "extraordinarily convincing transformation form monster to human...it makes [murderer] Baron Otto a believer" in vampires.</ref>

In the final five minutes of ''Mark of the Vampire'', the theatre audience is confronted with the "theatrical trap" that Browning has laid throughout the picture: none of the supernatural elements of film are genuine—the "vampires" are merely actors engaged in a deception. This is made explicit when Bela Lugosi, no longer in character as Count Moro, declares to a fellow actor: "Did you see me? I was greater than any real vampire!"<ref>Diekmann and Knörer, 2006 p. 74: "...only in the last five minutes of Mark of the Vampire (1935), the audience will learn that everything it has witnessed over the last 50 or 60 minutes was nothing but a setup – a theatrical trap designed to lure a suspect into a reenactment of a crime."<br />Wood, 2006 TCM: "But the film's crowning achievement is the elaborately twisted ending that Browning springs on the viewer like a diabolical jack-in-the-box."<br />Sweney, 2006 p. 201: "...its melodramatic plot only enhances the surprise ending; its surprise ending, so patently false, does not negate what has come before it, but rather asserts the dream logic of the film itself." And p. 207: Lugosi quote.</ref>

=== ''The Devil-Doll'' (1936) ===

Browning created a work reminiscent of his collaborations with actor [[Lon Chaney]] in the "bizarre melodrama" ''[[The Devil-Doll]]''.<ref>Sobchack, 2006 p. 28: "The Devil Doll, 1936, Browning's last bizarre melodrama and his penultimate film, is reminiscent of his The Unholy Three, 1925." And: p. 36: "...The Devil Doll...heavily influenced, perhaps, by Browning former association with Chaney."<br />Toole, 2003 TCM: "Odd as The Devil Doll may sound (it was co-scripted by [[Erich von Stroheim]], it fits well within the Browning canon of bizarre storylines."</ref>

Based on the novel ''Burn, Witch, Burn'' (1932) by [[Abraham Merritt]], the script was crafted by Browning with contributions from [[Garrett Fort]], [[Guy Endore]] and [[Erich von Stroheim]] (director of ''[[Greed (1924 film)|Greed]]'' (1924) and ''[[Foolish Wives]]'' (1922)), and "although it has its horrific moments, like ''Freaks'' (1932), ''The Devil-Doll'' is not a horror film."<ref>Herzogenrath, 2006 p. 11: "The Devil-Doll, scripted with Erich von Stroheim…"<br />Eaker, 2016: "The Devil Doll (1936) is based on Abraham Merritt's novel "Burn, Witch, Burn" with the screenplay by Guy Endore, Erich von Stroheim, and Browning. "<br />Sobchack, 2006 p. 29: See here for quotation.</ref>

In ''The Devil-Doll'', Browning borrows a number of the plot devices from his 1925 [[The Unholy Three (1925 film)|The Unholy Three]].<ref>Rosenthal, 1975 p. 25: "...''The Devil-Doll'' follows the same pattern as in Browning's The Unholy Three (1925)."</ref>

Paul Lavond ([[Lionel Barrymore]]) has spent 17 years incarcerated at [[Devil's Island]], framed for murder and embezzlement committed by his financial associates. He escapes from the prison with fellow inmate, the ailing Marcel ([[Henry B. Walthall]]). The terminally ill scientist divulges to Lavond his secret formula for transforming humans into miniature, animated puppets. In alliance with Marcel's widow Malita ([[Rafaela Ottiano]]), the vengeful Lavond unleashes an army of tiny living "dolls"  to exact a terrible retribution against the three "unholy" bankers.<ref>Rosenthal, 1975 p. 25: "...Lionel Barrymore breaks out of prison in order to destroy the three bankers who framed him for the embezzlement they committed." And: p. 14: "Barrymore's instruments of revenge in The Devil-Doll are tiny, deadly, living dolls who have no wills of their own and respond to his telepathic commands. By extension through these miniatures he is able to dominate his enemies..."<br />Eaker, 2016: "Malita (Rafaela Ottiano), who also is, conveniently, a mad scientist. Marcel dies, but not before showing Lavond the scientific discovery that he and Malita have been working on for years. They are able to shrink animals and people to a sixth of their normal size."</ref> Biographer Vivian Sobchack acknowledges that "the premises on which the revenge plot rest are incredible, but the visual realization is so fascinating that we are drawn, nonetheless, into a world that seems quite credible and moving" and reminds viewers that "there are some rather comic scenes in the film..."<ref>Sobchack, 2006 p. 28-29<br />Toole, 2003 TCM: "...part of the film's cult appeal is Browning's twisted sense of humor, which is most evident in the scenes with Malita who becomes addicted to miniaturizing humans."</ref>

Barrymore's dual role as Lavond and his cross-dressing persona, the elderly Madame Mandilip, a doll shop proprietor, is strikingly similar to Lon Chaney's Professor Echo and his transvestite counterpart "Granny" O'Grady, a parrot shop owner in ''The Unholy Three'' (1925).
<ref>Rosenthal, 1975 p. 25: "Browning drags out Chaney's old lady make-up from ''The Unholy Three'' (1925) as a disguise for Barrymore as he goes about his work of angry destruction… Echo [Chaney] made up as the grandmother [Granny O'Grady] bears a remarkable resemblance to Barrymore disguised as the elderly woman [Madame Mandilip] who sells dolls in the Devil-Doll."<br />Baxter, 1970 p. 101-102: "The Devil Doll (1936) is still one of the Thirties' most effective examples of atmospheric fantasy. The characteristic Browning elements- long dash greed as a motive, transvestism- long dash reappear in the story of an escaped convict who is given the secret of reducing human beings to miniatures and uses it to revenge himself on the men who put him on [[Devil's Island]]."</ref> Film critic Stuart Rosenthal notes that Browning recycling of this characterization as a plot device "is further evidence for the interchangeability of Browning's heroes, all of whom would act identically if given the same set of circumstances."<ref>Rosenthal, 1975 p. 25</ref>

Thematically, ''The Devil-Doll'' presents a version of Browning "indirect" sexual frustration.<ref>Rosenthal, 1975 p. 25: See here for "indirect frustration" definition, also p. 23.</ref> Here, Lavond's daughter Lorraine ([[Maureen O'Sullivan]]), ignorant of her father's identity, remains so. Stuart Rothenthal explains:

{{blockquote | "Lionel Barrymore in ''The Devil-Doll'' makes an attempt [as did Lon Chaney in ''[[The Road to Mandalay (1926 film)|The Road to Mandalay]]'' (1926) and ''[[West of Zanzibar (1928 film)|West of Zanzibar]]'' (1928)] to protect his daughter from embarrassment and unhappiness by concealing his identity from her even after he has been cleared of embezzlement. In an ironic way, by denying himself his daughter, he is punishing himself for the crimes he committed in the course of his self-exoneration...Clearly, the most deplorable consequence [of his frameup] was not the years he spent in prison, but the alienation of his daughter's love and respect."<ref>Rosenthal, 1975 p. 27-28<br />Eaker, 2016: "Ironically, to prove his innocence Lavond must again go into exile at the film's end and must forever forsake his daughter..."</ref>}}

Rosenthal points out another parallel between ''The Devil-Doll'' and ''The Unholy Three'' (1925): "Lavond's concern for his daughter and refusal to misuse his powers mark him as a good man...when his revenge is complete, like Echo [in ''The Unholy Three''], Lavond demonstrates a highly beneficent nature."<ref>Rosenthal, 1975 p. 25: See here for "indirect frustration" definition, also p. 23. And: p. 39: "In Browning's films, real suffering brings out the dangerous qualities in a man. Whatever good deed he may eventually do is the result of his initial strength of character and in spite of externally imposed suffering that forces men like Paul Lavond into new and deeper guilt. Levond is a snarling, hateful man."<br />Eaker, 2016: "As Lavond, Barrymore delivers a subdued, controlled performance...  Although a sympathetic character, Barrymore conveys genuine creepiness in the revenge scenes..."</ref>

Browning proficient use of the camera and the remarkable special effects depicting the "miniature" people are both disturbing and fascinating, directed with "eerie skill."<ref>Toole, 2003 TCM:  ''The Devil-Doll'' is a "very smooth, visually accomplished piece of cinema...The special effects are impressive for the era, particularly the scenes featuring oversized sets and "miniature" people."<br />Eaker, 2016: "By the time of ''The Devil Doll'', Browning was comfortable with the sound medium and the film benefits from this, fluid camera work, and the charmingly rudimentary flx for the incredibly shrunken people."<br />Sobchack, 2006 p. 28-29: "The scenes that involve the 'dolls' (really miniaturized people) as they attempt to carry out the murderous telepathic commands of a vengeful Lavond are often chilling, but most often also interesting (italics) – observed by a camera objectively recording the fascinating details of their progress."<br />Baxter, 1970 p. 102: The idea of miniaturization is used with more drama in this film than in others of its kind, and the attacks which Lionel Barrymore engineers...are directed with eerie skill…"</ref>

Film historians Stefanie Diekmann and Ekkehard Knörer report that the only direct link between Browning's fascination with "the grotesque, the deformed and the perverse"<ref name="Sobchack, 2006 p. 31">Sobchack, 2006 p. 31</ref> and the traditions of the French [[Grand Guignol]] is actor [[Rafaela Ottiano]] who plays doll-obsessed scientist Matila. Before her supporting role in ''The Devil-Doll'', she enjoyed "a distinguished career as a Grand Guignol performer."<ref>Diekmann and Knörer, 2006 p. 73: "The only direct connection we could find between the worlds of Grand Guignol and Browning is the actress [[Rafaela Ottiano]] who, after a distinguished career as a Grand Guignol performer went on to play went on to play in a number of supporting roles in a number of Hollywood movies, Tod Browning's ''The Devil Doll'', 1936, among them."<br />Eaker, 2016: "What makes The Devil Doll unique is the science fiction angle and a female mad scientist in Ottiano (who has an [[Elsa Lanchester]] like streak in her hair)."</ref>

Shortly after the completion of ''The Devil-Doll'', Irving Thalberg, Browning's mentor at MGM, died at age 37. It would be two years before his final film: ''Miracles for Sale'' (1939).<ref>Eaker, 2015: "...Thalberg's protective umbrella vanished when the producer died prematurely, shortly after the release of Browning's ''The Devil Doll'' (1936)." And: "...The Devil Doll (1936) he did not even receive screen credit…" And "...The Devil Doll. was also the beginning of the end for Browning's unparalleled brand of artistry." And:  "After Devil Dolls, Browning sat dormant for two years until he was able to direct ''Miracles for Sale'' (1939)... "</ref>

=== ''Miracles for Sale'' (1939) ===
''[[Miracles for Sale]]'' (1939) was the last of Browning's 46 feature films since he began directing in 1917.<ref name="Rosenthal, 1975 p. 8" /><ref>Eaker, 2016: "Tod Browning's final film, Miracles For Sale (1939)..."</ref>
Browning's career had been in abeyance for two years after completing ''[[The Devil-Doll]]'' in 1936.<ref>Eaker, 2016: "After ''The Devil Dolls'', Browning sat dormant for two years until he was able to direct ''Miracles for Sale'' (1939)..."</ref>

In 1939, he was tasked with adapting [[Clayton Rawson]]'s [[locked-room mystery]], ''[[Death from a Top Hat]]'' (1938).

[[Robert Young (actor)|Robert Young]] appears as "The Amazing Morgan", a conjurer and "purveyor of magic show equipment." [[Florence Rice]] plays the ingenue, Judy Barkley. In this, his cinematic "[[swan song]]", Browning "revisits obsessive, familiar themes of fake spiritualism, magic acts [and] transformation through disguises..."<ref>Eaker, 2016: <br />Rosenthal, 1975 p. 49: "Browning's swan song...is a fairly routine mystery against a background of the occult."</ref> and, as with virtually all of Browning's explorations of the arts of illusion and the "realms of theatrical magic", his denoumae provides "an impirical solution" to the mystery murder.<ref>Solomon, 2006 p. 51: Miracles for Sale, 1939, a murder mystery set in the realm of theatrical magic..."<br />Sobchack, 2006 p. 31: "Browning's last film, Miracles for Sale, is a mystery melodrama" that is immersed in sideshow illusionism but "the murder has an empirical solution."</ref>

''Miracles for Sale'' opens with a startling sequence that includes a graphic illusion depicting a "below-the-waist mutilation." Film critic Stuart Rosenthal writes:

{{blockquote|"On the sideline of a battlefield, an [[Orient]]al military officer chides a beautiful female spy for having dispatched intelligence that has led to the bombing of a schoolhouse. He orders her placed in a child's coffin ('You understand why we only have small coffins available' he sneers) with her head and feet protruding from either end, and tells his men to machine-gun the casket in half. After the grisly order has been carried out, to the [movie] viewer's amazement, it is revealed that the execution is merely a variation on the traditional 'sawing-a-woman-in-half' stunt. The illusion is being offered for sale by 'The Amazing Morgan' [Robert Young], a purveyor of magician's paraphernalia…"<ref>Eaker, 2016:  Miracles for Sale...featured yet another Browning depiction of below-the-waist mutilation." And: "''Miracles For Sale'' begins with a typical Browning scenario: mutilation." And: ""Browning...retains thematic continuity up to this, his last work."<br />Rosenthal, 1975 p. 49-50: See here for entire quote.</ref>}}

Despite this "inspired jolt" at the film's outset, ''Miracles for Sale'' is the most "studio bound" of Browning's sound oeuvre, and according to film critic Stuart Rosenhal "the only Browning production that really looks like an MGM studio job..."<ref>Eaker, 2016: "...the most studio bound of Browning's films…"<br />Rosenthal, 1975 p. 49</ref>

''Miracles for Sale'' lost money at the box-office, returning only $39,000 to MGM on a $297,000 investment. Critical evaluation was generally positive.<ref>Kalat, 2013 TCM: "Released on August 10, 1939, Miracles for Sale, which had been budgeted at $297,000, ended up losing $39,000 at the box office. The film did receive decent reviews from publications like [[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] [and] [[The New York Times]]…"<br />Eaker, 2016: "Tod Browning was unceremoniously (and inevitably) fired after this film, even though Miracles for Sale did fairly well at the box office and with critics."</ref>

By the early 1940s, Browning's macabre sensibilities were no longer welcome in a Hollywood that was striving for "glamour and prestige."<ref>Harvey, 2009: Browning's "gruesome sensibility grew increasingly out of place amid MGM's reach for glamour and prestige. By the end of 1941, his status at the studio was so reduced that he preferred retirement."</ref> Browning was summarily terminated at MGM by producer [[Carey Wilson (writer)|Carey Wilson]] after the release of Miracles for Sale and was, by the director's own account "[[Blacklisting|blackballed]]" from Hollywood as a filmmaker.<ref>Eaker, 2016: "Browning's career came to a whimpering close in 1939." And: "He was unceremoniously fired by MGM producer [[Carey Wilson (writer)|Carey Wilson]], whose early career Browning had greatly assisted."<br />Towlson, 2012: "After Miracles for Sale (1942), he never made another film and felt himself 'blackballed' by Hollywood."</ref> Stephanie Diekmann and Ekkehard Knörer offer this assessment of Browning's final cinematic effort:

{{blockquote| "Browning's post-''Freaks'' films were themselves close to parodies of what had made him one of the great directors of the 1920s. The one exception is his marvelous [[swan song]], Miracles for Sale, which in the farcical form of [[screwball comedy]] conjures up a world of traps and sleights-of-hand, of crookery and trickery — in short, the world of Tod Browning's theatre, one last time. His is a career that ended neither with a bang nor a whisper, but a performance that makes fun of an audience that believes what it sees."<ref>Diekmann and Knörer, 2006 p. 76</ref>}}

Film historian Alfred Eaker adds that "the entire structure of ''Miracles for Sale'' is an illusion itself, making it a sublime curtain call for the director..."<ref name=":4" />

Browning occasionally offered screenplays to MGM, but eventually disengaged entirely from the film industry and in 1942 retired to his home in [[Malibu, California]].<ref>Herzogenrath, 2006 p. 11: "After his final film ''Miracles for Sale'' (1939)...[he did] some occasional scenario writing for MGM. In 1942, Browning retired to Malibu, California."</ref>