Production Year: 1936 - Horror - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring: Eve Lister, John Singer, Tod Slaughter more
Tod Slaughter stars as a Fleet Street Barber who accumulates a pretty fortune by cutting sailors' throats just to use their bodies for his home-made meat pies. All goes well until... more
Todd's barber chair. His accomplice Mrs. Lovatt grinds the victims into the meat pies she sells in her pastry shop. Meanwhile the mad barber has a romantic ey...
19th century tale of Sweeney Todd, the cutthroat barber whose tales of murder and most grisly commerce on the streets of London became the stuff of an award winning 1979 musical. Here, a cast including longtime Burton collaborators Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter--plus Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall and Sasha Baron-Cohen-breathe new life into Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheelers musical tale with a special gothic relish for the simmering horror within. Depps accomplished, haunted "No Place Like London" sets the scene for whats to come, the nations capital introduced as a moral abyss ("There's a hole in the world like a great black pit/And the vermin of the world inhabit it"), while Bonham-Carter brings Cockney energy and a squirt of sauce to the "The Worst Pies in London". A neat comic turn, meanwhile, comes courtesy of Baron-Cohen, who plays the role of Italian barber Adolfo Pierelli-inventor of a fraudulent anti-balding lotion-with humorous gusto ("The Contest"). -Louis Pattison
19th century tale of Sweeney Todd, the cutthroat barber whose tales of murder and most grisly commerce on the streets of London became the stuff of an award winning 1979 musical. Here, a cast including longtime Burton collaborators Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter--plus Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall and Sasha Baron-Cohen-breathe new life into Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheelers musical tale with a special gothic relish for the simmering horror within. Depps accomplished, haunted "No Place Like London" sets the scene for whats to come, the nations capital introduced as a moral abyss ("There's a hole in the world like a great black pit/And the vermin of the world inhabit it"), while Bonham-Carter brings Cockney energy and a squirt of sauce to the "The Worst Pies in London". A neat comic turn, meanwhile, comes courtesy of Baron-Cohen, who plays the role of Italian barber Adolfo Pierelli-inventor of a fraudulent anti-balding lotion-with humorous gusto ("The Contest"). -Louis Pattison
film, heat sealed Lamination for total protection for years to come, Why buy a paper poster when a Laminated/Encapsulated poster is going to last for years and years, and wont ripple or tear like normal paper posters do, can still easily roll up, Absoluteley Timeless Image,.... Camden town poster company Quality Posters At Affordable Prices
film, heat sealed Lamination for total protection for years to come, Why buy a paper poster when a Laminated/Encapsulated poster is going to last for years and years, and wont ripple or tear like normal paper posters do, can still easily roll up, Absoluteley Timeless Image,.... Camden town poster company Quality Posters At Affordable Prices
A review by Phelthew on Sweeney Todd - Demon Barber Of Fleet Street (DVD) August 25th, 2008
Author's product rating:
Did you enjoy it?
Liked it
Story
Outstanding
Characters / Performances
Good
Special Effects
Standard
How does it compare to similar films?
Good
Advantages:
Tod Slaughter . Looked very authentic Victorian
Disadvantages:
Bad acting from the engaged pair
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
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.
.
More Reviews
A very close shave.... Review ofSweeney Todd - Demon Barber Of Fleet Street (DVD)by
leanne8686
Advantages: great cast, great story Disadvantages: none for me
"A bleeding masterpiece"
Sweeney Todd (The demon barber of Fleet street) to give the film its full name was released just less than a year ago, the film was showing at cinemas from the 25th January and I remember the queues were huge!
Set in 19th century London, Sweeney Todd tells the story of a wronged man; Benjamin Barker, he is just returning (illegally) from deportation to Australia for a crime he didn't commit, he is helped by a young sailor ... ...incredibly spooky....but somehow still sexy Sweeney Todd and Helena Bonham Carter is equally disturbing as the crazy Mrs Lovett. Alan Rickman plays the evil Judge Turpin and carries this part off well. But I don't think the film really needed the odd performance from Sacha Baron Cohen as all I can think when I see him is Ali G!
With scary films the ending is usually easy to see coming but I think in this case the twist is unexpected and really shocked ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Johnny Depp Disadvantages: Dull film with just as dull music
...SweeneyTodd does not avail as a good musical. I believe that without the music this could have been a half decent film if a couple of other changes were made but sadly this film isn't one that I would ever want to see again. Apart from that one song I mentioned earlier (that I embarrassingly ended up downloading) I can't find any redeeming features about this film and I think it's a shame because Johnny Depp is such a fantastic actor and deserves to be given the best types of films to work with instead of this type of tripe.
If you're crazy enough to have bought this terrible film on DVD then the special features you will have will be:
Commentary By Tim Burton
Musical Mayhem: Sondheim's SweeneyToddSweeneyTodd Is Alive: The Real History Of The DemonBarberSweeney's London
Recreating FleetStreet
Grand Guinol: A Theatrical...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: Nice gothic production design and dark humour. Disadvantages: Big name actors that can't sing and a lack of narrative.
...Innocent barber Benjamin Barker is unjustly transported to Australia by evil Judge Turpin and his henchman Beadle Bamford so Turpin can try to seduce his wife. Barker returns in the guise of SweeneyTodd, setting up a barbershop in FleetStreet, above the premises of the worst pie shop in London, owned by Mrs Lovett. Sweeney vows revenge not only for the unjust punishment meted out to him but also the devastating consequences visited on his wife and young daughter. With the aid of the amorous Mrs Lovett, he cooks up a diabolical business as the DemonBarber of FleetStreet ?[shaving] the heads of gentlemen who never thereafter were heard of again?. In the meantime Mrs Lovett?s business takes off with her unusual meat pies?
Apparently Tim Burton has wanted to make a film of Stephen Sondheim?s musical ?SweeneyTodd? ever since he saw it...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Everything about the film Disadvantages: None for me
... SWEENEYTODD: THE DEMONBARBER OF FLEETSTREET
2007
FILM ONLY REVIEW
INTRODUCTION
Tim Burton makes fantasy movies.
Stephen Sondheim writes stage musicals.
Tim Burton deals mainly in the land of the gothic and the grotesque, turning comic books and children's tales into scary, nightmarish shadow plays.
Stephen Sondheim wrote a dark stage musical about SweeneyTodd.
Add to this mix one of the most versatile and daring young actors around and some wonderful characters and you end up with one incredible musical film.
"SweeneyTodd: The DemonBarber of FleetStreet," Mr. Burton's film adaptation of Mr. Sondheim's musical, is dark and terrifying
It is in fact as much a horror film as it is a musical.
This is the film version of Stephen Sondheim's musical that debuted...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Studio(s): ODEON ENTERTAINMENT; TOTAL HOME ENTERTAINMENT (THE)
Release date: 23/10/2006
No of Discs: 1
Catalogue No: ODNF 080
Barcode: 5060082511561
DVD Description
Tod Slaughter stars as a Fleet Street Barber who accumulates a pretty fortune by cutting sailors' throats just to use their bodies for his home-made meat pies. All goes well until he falls in love with a young woman and makes his elderly female accomplice jealous.
Languages
Main Language: English
Technical information
Special Features: Scene selection
Aspect Ratio: 1.33 Full Screen
Sound: Dolby Digital
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