Sweeney Todd - Demon Barber Of Fleet Street (DVD)

Everyone now knows of Sweeney Todd now as Tim Burton has brought it right in to the mainstream with his musical starring Johnny Depp. However, since the character's creation in a Victorian serial there have been loads of films made about Sweeney Todd. The first spoken version being George King's 1936 film starring Tod Slaughter (what an apt name) as Sweeney Todd .

The film starts off with a man walking into a barber shop in London ...
...Sweeney Todd on the wall and this leads the barber to tell him the story.

It's Victorian London at the docks and a ship is about to set sail. A sailor, Mark, is saying good bye to Johanna. The two are in love but can't get married because her father won't allow her to marry such a poor man.

Standing in an alley watching all the goings on is Sweeney Todd, he gets all his best customers from sailors coming home but he's ... more

Everyone now knows of Sweeney Todd now as Tim Burton has brought it right in to the mainstream with his musical starring Johnny Depp. However, since the character's creation in a Victorian serial there have been loads of films made about Sweeney Todd. The first spoken version being George King's 1936 film starring Tod Slaughter (what an apt name) as Sweeney Todd .

The film starts off with a man walking into a barber shop in London in the 20s or 30s. He notices a picture of Sweeney Todd on the wall and this leads the barber to tell him the story.

It's Victorian London at the docks and a ship is about to set sail. A sailor, Mark, is saying good bye to Johanna. The two are in love but can't get married because her father won't allow her to marry such a poor man.

Standing in an alley watching all the goings on is Sweeney Todd, he gets all his best customers from sailors coming home but he's not there to attract customers today he's there to go into partnership with Mr. Oakley - Johanna's father - and get into the shipping business. After arranging a meeting he returns to his shop where a beadle is waiting with an orphan to be the new assistant boy to Sweeney Todd. The seven assistant boy he's had in seven weeks and the beadle is suspicious as to why everyone of the others has ran away, or so Sweeney Todd tells him. Seeing as each orphan comes with a guinea from the parish he may have other reasons for going through so many.

Of course this isn't his only crime. When rich merchants come home from over seas Sweeney lures them into his shop and after throwing them into the cellar and knocking them out using a mechanical chair he cuts their throats and Miss Lovett from next doors pie shop uses them to make some rather interesting tasting pies. "Polishing them off" is how Todd refers to it and admires how mens necks look and how good they are for a razor. However, Miss Lovett is getting suspicious of Sweeny, he doesn't seem to be so keen on sharing the money and she is jealous of his love interest in Johanna Oakley. An interest he acts on as Mr. Oakley has gone into debt to Sweeney and Sweeney wants his daughter's hand in marriage or he'll call the police. Mark on the other hand has earned his fortune whilst in Africa and is on his way home.

I really liked this film. First of all because it looked great. You don't get many massive panoramic shots but the scenes you do get all look very realistic and Victorian. The costumes were all very nice and throughout the film there was this simple violin melody that played. Even the scenes on the ship and in Africa looked fairly good.

The acting can be a bit typically 30s acting which I think can be a bit over the top and unrealistic this is especially the case with Mark and Johanna together. All this quick movements that are meant to be passionate or something, it just looks like they've been stung and bounced up. Tod Slaughter was excellent as Sweeney Todd, he's well known for playing roles as serial killers and he can be quite a sinister character. As Sweeney Todd he is a outwardly cheery character with a dark side that can emerge at any moment. On the barber floor he is pleasant and chatty but in the basement he is greedy and dangerous. The woman who played Johanna was alright when she wasn't doing the romantic bit with Mark, her coldness to Sweeney Todd was especially good. The assistant boy Tobias was very good also.

In amongst the macabre plot there is a lot of comic respite, a lot of which comes from Mark's friend who sits eating a pie whilst everyone wonders what has been happening to the bodies. There is also a bit of adventure with the Africa scene and the skirmish with a tribe.

The directing was just pretty standard for the time, I can't really say too much about it. There was not much wrong with it and I enjoyed teh way the film looked and that's about it. The only "special effects" where the arrows hitting the hut. They clearly stopped the camera put an arrow in the wall and started again. This didn't look too bad but it was noticeable. One goof I noticed was that they referred to His Majesty a bit shouldn't it have been Her Majesty, maybe I'm wrong though

The film is in black and white of course and it can be a bit gravely but is generally a bearable quality throughout.

Overall a great film in my opinion. I really enjoyed it. Thanks to Scrooge and Oliver Twist always being on at Christmas Victorian period films always remind me of Christmas plus this film also has rather Dickins-esque characters. I haven't seen the new film so I can't compare but this does have the advantage of not having a whole lot of singing in it. I would recommend it to anyone who doesn't mind. watching a black and white film as this seems to be a massive problem for some people. I also know that this film sticks a little more religiously to the original story that Burton does. Anyway if you liked Tim Burton's version you should give this a watch as well. It's only just over 60 minutes.

I bought my DVD for £1 and it can with the Crimes of Stephen Hawke on it as well, another George King and Tod Slaughter film.

Certification

This film is a PG. He has a scary enough plot to it with the cannibalistic side and there is scenes of violence. It's all rather mild though.

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