Freaks (1932)

I saw this a few years ago, but for some reason just started reading up more on it today.

To summarize, the movie stars a number of handicapped people as the "Freaks", and some able bodied folks as well. The story revolves around a young midget named Hans who is engaged to another midget. He becomes infatuated with a 'normal' woman named Cleopatra, and decides to persue her. She flirts with him, and develops a plan to marry him and kill him with poison and take all of his money (oh yeah, he's apparently rich). So they get married, and she gets all loopy at the wedding when they chant "one of us, one of us" and she calls them names and runs off. Over the next week or so, Hans starts to get sick and the "Freaks" soon realize that she's trying to poison him. So they get revenge by turning her into a human chicken.

Okay, now to the problem I'm having. I knew this movie was banned for many years, but was never able to work it out. Today I did. It was just because the stars were, for lack of a better word, Freaks. I found some quotes from complaints and reviews and stuff like that, and they quite appaulingly refer to the actors in this film as attrocities and things like that... I mean, just thinking of the prejudice makes me sick... But then, it was the 30's... still...

The best part of this flick is where pillow man rolls the cigarette and lights it with just his mouth. That's brilliant!