Tod Browning (12 July 1880 â 6 October 1962) was an American motion picture actor, director and screenwriter.

Browning's career spanned the silent and talkie eras. Best-known as the director of Dracula (1931), the cult classic Freaks (1932), and classic silent film collaborations with Lon Chaney, Sr., Browning directed many movies in a wide range of genres.

his biography : here

i start my topic with the movie The Unknown (1927). i put the fell movie because this is not a commercial movie. to short fo it but something add as a bonus in tod browning dvd like Freaks.

The Unknown (1927)

The Unknown (1927) is a silent horror film directed by Tod Browning and featuring Lon Chaney as carnival knife thrower Alonzo the Armless and Joan Crawford as the scantily clad carnival girl he hopes to marry.

The Unknown is by far the most intense and demented of director Tod Browning's films (which include Dracula and Freaks). Joan Crawford always said that she learned more about acting from working with Chaney in this movie than from everything else in her long career put together, and critics often cite Chaney's performance as one of the greatest ever captured on film. Burt Lancaster always maintained that Chaney's portrayal in The Unknown was the most emotionally compelling film performance he had ever seen an actor give. Chaney also did remarkable and convincing collaborative scenes with real-life armless double Paul Desmuke (sometimes credited as Peter Dismuki), whose legs and feet were used to manipulate objects such as knives and cigarettes in frame with Chaney's upper body and face.

As with Freaks, contemporary reviewers were sometimes less appreciative. "A visit to the dissecting room in a hospital would be quite as pleasant," opined the New York Evening Post, "and at the same time more instructive." Modern viewers can discern the same macabre style of this film (and other Browning-Chaney collaborations) in later productions ranging from the 1930s Universal Studios horror films to the 1960s Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents programs.

For many years the film was available only in an incomplete 9.5 mm copy, until a much higher quality 35 mm print was found preserved at the Cinematheque Francaise in 1968. Several scenes from the early part of the film are still missing, but these do not seriously affect the story continuity.

Cast

Lon Chaney as Alonzo the Armless

Norman Kerry as Malabar the Mighty, circus strongman

Joan Crawford as Nanon Zanzi

Nick De Ruiz as Antonio Zanzi, Nanon's father

John George as Cojo, Alonzo's Assistant

Frank Lanning as Costra

Polly Moran as Landlady (scenes deleted)

Bobbie Mack as Gypsy (scenes deleted)

Louise Emmons as Gypsy Woman (uncredited)

Julian Rivero as Man in Audience (uncredited)

Billy Seay as The Little Wolf (uncredited)

John St. Polis as Surgeon (uncredited)

plot/spoiler

Alonzo the Armless (Lon Chaney) is a circus freak who, while armless, uses his feet in place of arms. This includes tossing knives in the circus show. Alonzo, however, is an impostor and fugitive. He still secretly has both of his arms, but keeps them bound to his torso, with the aid of his friend Cojo, to keep his real identity secret. Alonzo's right hand has a double thumb, which would be easily recognized if his hands were revealed.

While at the circus, he falls for Nanon (Joan Crawford), the daughter of the circus owner. The local circus strongman is also attracted to Nanon, but she cannot stand being touched by a man, and shuns him. She keeps a friendship with Alonzo, whom she believes to be armless and therefore unable to touch her.

When the circus owner discovers Alonzo's secret, Alonzo kills him with his bare hands. Nanon witnesses this through a window. A flash of lightning enables Nanon to see that her father's killer has a double thumb on his right hand, but she does not see his face. Since Alonzo is believed to be armless, he is not a suspect in the murder. Later, Nanon and Alonzo begin living together, but Alonzo quickly realizes she will not love him as long as he still has his arms. Alonzo leaves under the guise of an illness, however, he secretly visits a surgeon and has both of his arms removed. While he is away, Nanon overcomes her phobia about being touched and falls in love with the circus strongman.

When Alonzo (now truly armless) returns to Nanon, she excitedly tells him about her love for the strongman. Alonzo is shocked and horrified, both laughing and crying, confusing the couple. He then learns the strongman and Nanon have a new act where the strongman's arms are pulled by two horses on treadmills with Nanon whipping the horses on from atop a large platform. During one of the performances, Alonzo speeds up the treadmills in an attempt to maim or kill the strongman. When Nanon jumps from the platform to calm down one of the horses, Alonzo tries to save her from injury by pushing her out of the way. The horse, however, knocks Alonzo to the ground, stomps on him and kills him.

In the original film script and some discarded filmed sequences, Alonzo murders both the doctor who removed his arms and his own loyal assistant Cojo, to eliminate them as witnesses before he returns to claim Nanon.

Part 01 (17 minutes)

Part 02 (17 minutes)

Part 03 (14 minutes)

Freaks (1932)

Freaks is a 1932 United States horror film about sideshow performers, directed and produced by Tod Browning and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, with a cast mostly composed of actual carnival performers. The film was based on Tod Robbins' short story "Spurs". Director Browning took the exceptional step of casting real people with deformities as the eponymous sideshow "freaks," rather than using costumes and makeup.

Browning had been a member of a traveling circus in his early years, and much of the film was drawn from his personal experiences. In the film, the physically deformed "freaks" are inherently trusting and honorable people, while the real monsters are two of the "normal" members of the circus who conspire to murder one of the performers to obtain his large inheritance.

plot :

The central story is of a self-serving trapeze artist named Cleopatra (Olga Baclanova) who seduces and eventually marries a sideshow midget, Hans (Harry Earles), after learning of his large inheritance. At their wedding reception, the other "freaks" resolve that they will accept Cleopatra in spite of her being a "normal" outsider, and hold an initiation ceremony, wherein they pass a massive goblet of wine around the table while chanting, "We accept her! One of us! We accept her! One of us! Gooble gobble, gooble gobble! We accept her! We accept her!" The ceremony frightens the drunken Cleopatra, who accidentally reveals that she has been having an affair with Hercules (Henry Victor), the strong man; she mocks the freaks, tosses the wine in their faces and drives them away. Despite being humiliated, Hans remains with Cleopatra.

Shortly thereafter, Hans is taken ill (supposedly from having too much to drink at the wedding feast, but actually from poison that Cleopatra slipped him) and Cleopatra begins slipping poison into Hans' medicine to kill him so that she can inherit his money and run away with Hercules. One of the circus performers named Venus (Leila Hyams) overhears Cleopatra talking to Hercules about the murder plot, and tells the other freaks including Hans. In the film's climax, the freaks attack Cleopatra and Hercules with guns, knives, and various edged weapons, hideously mutilating them. Though Hercules is never seen again, the original ending of the film had the freaks castrating him - the audience sees him later singing in falsetto. The film concludes with a revelation of Cleopatra's fate: her tongue has been cut out, one eye has been gouged and her legs amputated, she has been reduced to performing in a sideshow as the squawking "human chicken". The flesh of her hands has been melted and deformed to look like chicken feet and her lower half has been permanently tarred and feathered.

In an ending MGM threw in later for a "happier ending", Hans is living a millionaire life in a huge house when Venus and Phroso come with Freida, and Freida comforts Hans when he begins to cry.

Spliced throughout the main narrative are a variety of "slice of life" segments detailing the lives of the sideshow performers.

The bearded woman, who loves the human skeleton, gives birth to their daughter.

Violet, a conjoined twin whose sister Daisy is married to one of the circus clowns, herself becomes engaged to the owner of the circus. (Once, Daisy appears to react with romantic arousal when Violet is kissed by her suitor, implying that each sister can experience the other's physical sensations.)

The Human Torso (Prince Randian), in the middle of a conversation, takes his own cigarette and lights it, using only his tongue. (In the original scene, he also rolls the cigarette, but the sequence does not appear in any commercial release.)

"trailer" (hate the music on the video <_< )

alternate endings (dvd bonus)

Dracula (1931)

Dracula is a 1931 United States horror film directed by Tod Browning and starring Béla Lugosi as the title character. The film was produced by Universal and is based on the stage play of the same name by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston, which in turn is based on the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker.

plot :

Renfield (Dwight Frye), a British solicitor, travels through the Carpathian Mountains via stagecoach. The people in the stagecoach are fearful that the coach won’t reach the local inn before sundown. Arriving there safely before sundown, Renfield refuses to stay at the inn and asks the driver to take him to the Borgo Pass. The innkeeper and his wife seem to be afraid of Renfield’s destination, Castle Dracula, and warn him about vampires. The innkeeper's wife gives Renfield a crucifix for protection before he leaves for Borgo Pass, whence he is driven to the castle by Dracula's coach, which was awaiting him at Borgo Pass, with Dracula himself disguised as the driver. During the bumpy ride, Renfield leans out and starts to ask the driver to slow down, but is startled to see that the driver has disappeared, and a bat is leading the horses.

Renfield enters the castle welcomed by charming but odd nobleman Count Dracula (Béla Lugosi), who unbeknownst to Renfield, is a vampire. Renfield expresses concern about the strange disappearance of the coach driver and his luggage, but Dracula assures him that he has arranged to have his luggage delivered. They discuss Dracula's intention to lease Carfax Abbey in England, where he intends to travel the next day. Dracula then leaves and Renfield goes to his bedroom. Dracula hypnotizes Renfield into opening a window and then causes him to faint. A bat is seen at the window, which then morphs into Dracula. Dracula's three wives suddenly appear and start to move toward Renfield to attack him, but Dracula waves them away, and he attacks Renfield himself.

Aboard the schooner Vesta, bound for England, Renfield has now became a raving lunatic slave to Dracula, who is hidden in a coffin and gets out for feeding on the ship's crew. When the ship arrives in England, Renfield is discovered the only living person in it; the captain is lashed on the wheel and none of the ship’s crew is discovered. Renfield is sent to Dr. Seward’s sanatorium.

Some nights later at a theatre, Dracula meets Dr. Seward (Herbert Bunston), who is with a group in a box seat area. Dr. Seward introduces his daughter Mina (Helen Chandler), her fiancé John Harker (David Manners), and the family friend Lucy Weston (Frances Dade). Lucy is fascinated by Count Dracula, and that night, after Lucy has a talk with Mina and falls asleep in bed, Dracula enters her room as a bat and feasts on her blood. She dies in an autopsy theatre the next day after a string of transfusions, and two tiny marks on her throat are discovered.

Several days later, it is seen that Renfield is obsessed with eating flies and spiders, devouring their lives also. Professor Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan) analyzes Renfield's blood, discovering Renfield’s obsession. He starts talking about vampires, and that afternoon chats with Renfield, who begs Dr. Seward to send him away, because his nightly cries may disturb Mina’s dreams. When Dracula awakes and calls Renfield with wolf howling, Renfield is disturbed by Van Helsing showing him a branch of wolfbane. It stops wolves, as Van Helsing says, and also is used for vampire protection.

Dracula visits Mina, asleep in her bedroom, and bites her, leaving neck marks similar to those on Lucy. The next morning, Mina tells of a dream in which she was visited by Dracula. Then, Dracula enters for a night's visit at the Sewards. Van Helsing and Harker notice that Dracula does not have a reflection in a mirror. When Van Helsing shows this "most amazing phenomenon" to Dracula, he reacts violently, smashes the mirror and leaves. Van Helsing deduces that Dracula is the vampire.

Meanwhile, Mina leaves her room and runs to Dracula in the garden, where he wraps his cape around her and attacks her; the next morning, she is found and awakened from unconsciousness. Newspapers report that a "mysterious, beautiful woman in white" has been luring children from the park with chocolate, and then biting them. Mina recognizes the beautiful lady as Lucy, who has risen as a vampire. Harker wants to take Mina to London for safety, but he is finally convinced to leave Mina with them. Van Helsing orders Nurse Briggs (Joan Standing) to take care of Mina when she is sleeping, and not to remove the wreath of wolfbane from around her neck.

Renfield again escapes from his cell and listens to the three men discussing vampires. Before Martin (Charles K. Gerrard), his attendant, arrives to take Renfield back to his cell, Renfield narrarates to Van Helsing, Harker and Seward how Dracula convinced Renfield to allow him to enter the sanatorium by promising him thousands of rats with blood and life in them.

Dracula enters the Seward parlour and talks with Van Helsing. Dracula states that because he has fused his blood with Mina's, she now belongs to him. Van Helsing swears revenge by sterilizing Carfax Abbey and finding the coffin where he sleeps; he will then thrust a stake through his heart. Dracula tries to hypnotize Van Helsing, almost succeeding, but Van Helsing shows a crucifix to the vampire and turns away.

Dracula, Renfield & Mina near the end of the simultaneously filmed Spanish film.Harker visits Mina on a terrace, and Mina speaks of how much she loves "nights and fogs". Harker notices Mina’s changes and says he likes them, not realizing that she is slowly transforming into a vampire. A bat (Dracula) flies above them and squeaks to Mina, to which she responds: "Yes? ... Yes? ... I will". Mina then tries to attack Harker. Fortunately, Van Helsing and Dr. Seward arrive just in time to save him. Mina confesses what Dracula has done to her, and tries to tell Harker that their love is finished.

Later that night, Dracula hypnotizes Nurse Briggs into removing the wolfbane wreath from Mina's neck and the French windows so he can enter her room. Van Helsing and Harker see Renfield, having just escaped from his cell, heading for Carfax Abbey. They see Dracula with Mina in the abbey, and when Harker shouts to Mina, Dracula sees them thinking Renfield had trailed them. He strangles Renfield and tosses him down a staircase, and is hunted by Van Helsing and Harker. Dracula is forced to sleep in his coffin, as sunrise has come, and is trapped. Van Helsing prepares a wooden stake while Harker searches for Mina. He finds her in a strange stasis, and when Dracula moans in pain when Van Helsing impales him, she returns to normal. Harker leaves with Mina while Van Helsing stays. Church bells are heard, implying that they will be married.

The Road to Mandalay (1926)

cast :

Lon Chaney - Singapore Joe

Lois Moran - Joe's Daughter

Owen Moore - The Admiral

Henry B. Walthall - Father James

Sojin - English Charlie Wing (as Kamiyama Sojin)

Rose Langdon - Pansy

John George - Servant

plot :

captain is on board ship bound for Mandalay with his wife, who lies ill in her cabin. A storm is raging and the crew is on the brink of mutiny. The woman dies giving birth to a daughter, and the Captain leaves the child with a priest who raises her. Twenty years pass, and the captain is now known as "Singapore Joe," a vile creature with a blind eye who runs a Singapore brothel along with his Chinese associate, English Charlie Wing. A third partner in their shady dealings is "The Admiral," a young man who was once a reputable Englishman. Whenever he is in Mandalay, Joe always visits his daughter. She does not know who her father is, but is repulsed by the one-eyed Joe who frequents her shop. The Admiral wanders into her shop and, after making a crude remark to the girl, he apologizes and they eventually become romantically involved. Joe tells the priest that he is going to take his girl away to start a new life, but the priest warns him that his many sins make a clean break impossible. Joe learns that the girl is to be married, and on the day of the wedding, sneaks into the church, and is shocked to learn that her husband-to-be is The Admiral. Joe prevents the priest from carrying out the ceremony, then his men shanghai The Admiral. The girl suspects Joe and goes to his brothel is search of her fianc