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Release: October 17, 2023

$7.99

Description

The world is a carnival of criminality, corruption, and psychosexual strangeness in the twisted pre-Code shockers of Tod Browning. Early Hollywood’s edgiest auteur, Browning drew on his experiences as a circus performer to create subversive pulp entertainments set amid the world of traveling sideshows, which, with their air of the exotic and the disreputable, provided a pungent backdrop for his sordid tales of outcasts, cons, villains, and vagabonds. Bringing together two of his defining works (The Unknown and Freaks) and a long-unavailable rarity (The Mystic), this cabinet of curiosities reveals a master of the morbid whose ability to unsettle is matched only by his daring compassion for society’s most downtrodden. TWO-BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES New 2K digital restoration of Freaks, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack New 2K digital reconstruction and restoration of The Unknown by the George Eastman Museum, with a new score by composer Philip Carli New 2K digital restoration of The Mystic, with a new score by composer Dean Hurley Audio commentaries on Freaks and The Unknown and an introduction to The Mystic by film scholar David J. Skal New interview with author Megan Abbott about director Tod Browning and pre-Code horror Archival documentary on Freaks Episode from 2019 of critic Kristen Lopez’s podcast Ticklish Business about disability representation in Freaks Reading by Skal of “Spurs,” the short story by Tod Robbins on which Freaks is based Prologue to Freaks, which was added to the film in 1947 Program on the alternate endings to Freaks Video gallery of portraits from Freaks English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing PLUS: An essay by film critic Farran Smith Nehme

Release: June 7, 2019

$7.99

Description

Flicker Alley, in partnership with Universal Pictures, are proud to present Universal Pictures' new 4K restoration of the 1928 silent classic, The Man Who Laughs, accompanied by a newly recorded orchestral score by the Berklee School of Music. Based on the novel by Victor Hugo, the story centers on the extraordinary adventures of Gwynplaine (Conrad Veidt), whose wide and mirthless grin inspired DC Comics' legendary Batman villain, the Joker. Veidt's character has become well known to most cinephiles. Orphaned as a child, Gwynplaine is punished by the king for his father's transgressions by having his face carved into a hideous grin. Disfigured and alone, Gwynplaine rescues a blind girl named Dea (Mary Philbin), and both end up starring in a sideshow where they fall in love. Because she cannot see, Dea does not know about her lover's tormented grin.Masterfully directed by Paul Leni, The Man Who Laughs marks Leni's penultimate work. Having grown up in Germany during the era of Expressionism, Leni embraces haunting characters, twisted sets, harsh angles, and deep shadows. Heralded as one of the best American silent emulating German Expressionism, The Man Who Laughs presents Leni at his creative directorial peak. Originally released silent, the film was enough of a hit for Universal in 1928 that the studio released it with a synched musical score using the Movietone sound-on-film process, presented here as a secondary audio track.

Release: October 17, 2023

$7.99

Description

The world is a carnival of criminality, corruption, and psychosexual strangeness in the twisted pre-Code shockers of Tod Browning. Early Hollywood’s edgiest auteur, Browning drew on his experiences as a circus performer to create subversive pulp entertainments set amid the world of traveling sideshows, which, with their air of the exotic and the disreputable, provided a pungent backdrop for his sordid tales of outcasts, cons, villains, and vagabonds. Bringing together two of his defining works (The Unknown and Freaks) and a long-unavailable rarity (The Mystic), this cabinet of curiosities reveals a master of the morbid whose ability to unsettle is matched only by his daring compassion for society’s most downtrodden. TWO-BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES New 2K digital restoration of Freaks, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack New 2K digital reconstruction and restoration of The Unknown by the George Eastman Museum, with a new score by composer Philip Carli New 2K digital restoration of The Mystic, with a new score by composer Dean Hurley Audio commentaries on Freaks and The Unknown and an introduction to The Mystic by film scholar David J. Skal New interview with author Megan Abbott about director Tod Browning and pre-Code horror Archival documentary on Freaks Episode from 2019 of critic Kristen Lopez’s podcast Ticklish Business about disability representation in Freaks Reading by Skal of “Spurs,” the short story by Tod Robbins on which Freaks is based Prologue to Freaks, which was added to the film in 1947 Program on the alternate endings to Freaks Video gallery of portraits from Freaks English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing PLUS: An essay by film critic Farran Smith Nehme