They never said but I've always wondered the same thing...apparently not too much though because I've just now come to the conclusion that perhaps when she was younger, a large brute of a man grabbed her and made a 'lasting impression'. I can't think of another reason why she would be afraid of men's hands.
shareThey never really specified as to why she was afraid of man hands. But after she came around to knowing the guy that she fell for she seemed fine. Over all the plot was to obvious but for being a silent film it was good.
share"Alonzo, all my life men have tried to put their beastly hands on me... to paw over me. I have grown that I shrink with fear when any man even touches me."
shareMy impression was that Nanon was taught by her father to mistrust men. There is an early scene in the film where her father discovers her speaking to Alonzo and he roughly pulls her away. And in the atmosphere of a circus show, she would be subject to leers and advances from many men. There is a later secene when Malabar approaches the same subject with Nanon, asking why she always shrinks from his touch. She gives no reply but her expression implies a great deal. Malabar nods a moment later and says "I know." That reinforces that as a member of the circus troupe he saw a great deal of unpleasantness.
shareThe scene with Malabar is puzzling. He asks here why she pulls away, and she answers mostly by looking down in silence, though her lips mouth a few brief words, not enough for lengthy explanation. Then, a moment later, Malabar, as if responding not to the words, but as if he read her thoughts from her body language, says that he understands, and is willing to wait patiently until she can learn to trust a man again. I think he divines that she has been molested or assaulted by men in the past, and probably he knows that the carnival has some rather debased characters in it.
I think things were left unclear because of the times. In 1927 you could not say anything you wanted to in a movie, or even in a book. Sexual matters were dealt with in roundabout manner, rather than directly. The censors were ready to pounce on discussion that was too frank. I think perhaps audiences back then learned not to demand clear explanations regarding such matters, but to fill in for themselves what was only delicately implied.
When he rescues her from the fall, it is with his hands (and arms). Then, setting her down, he immediately pulls one hand behind his back, and seems to be apologizing for using his hands, and explaining that he did it only to save her. I think this use of a man's hands for kindness, rather than exploitation, combined with the fact that she has feelings for Malabar already, causes her to realize that Malabar's hands will be hands of love rather than lust, and changes her mind.
David Skaal talks in his book about Tod Browning how Browning liked the Freudian idea of hands being a kind of symbol for the penis (see also films like "Hands of Orlac" and "The Beast with Five Fingers" for particularly obvious examples). Nanon is just seriously neurotic, probably her father sexually molested her and the fear of the hands or the arms is a symptom.
Did I not love him, Cooch? MY OWN FLESH I DIDN'T LOVE BETTER!!! But he had to say 'Nooooooooo'
Because she was a frosty bitch!
shareOne has to assume she was molested/raped and generally abused by men from an early age.
share