Andrew Pelechaty
While most people know 'Sweeney Todd' from the Stephen Sondheim musical, this UK production depicts the original story of Sweeney from the 18th century melodramas, adapted from 'The String of Pearls' newspaper serial and various other penny-dreadfuls at the time, with one major difference. While the early plays and penny dreadfuls painted Sweeney as a stereotypical, melodramatic villain, who the Victorian audience took delight in booing, Ray Winstone's version is closer to the musical. Winstone plays Sweeney as an honest barber who slits the throat of a Newgate Gaoler who boasts of mistreating kids (earlier Sweeney had given money to some kids hanging out the window), haunted by memories of his own twenty years spent in Newgate. Once he tastes that first kill, he can't stop ("I did it because I could...then, I couldn't not"). Along the way, he meets Mrs. Lovett, and saves her from an abusive relationship, and an infection which threatens to kill her, though he repels her advances. Eventually, he buys a shop for Mrs. Lovett's pie business - next to his barber shop - and comes up with the perfect way to get rid of the bodies stockpiling under his shop and help Mrs. Lovett; use the flesh of his victims for her meat pies. However, the plan comes unstuck when the nearby church is engulfed by the stench of the dead. By the end of the movie, Sweeney is a shell of a man, tortured by guilt over his crimes.While arguments exist over whether Sweeney actually existed, this film give an interesting account of Sweeney the man and why he became the demon barber.
Will R
This is a great film! It has good period costumes, the charters and acting are convincing, the set is simple and the scenes flow from one to the other. I found myself feeling vary involved in the film.I am usually disappointed by films set in the past and feel that this is the perfect example of what I like in a period film with the hard accents and the attention to detail of the clothing and furniture. The Acting was excellent by the actors of all the main characters and it is a great story of life of London's past.I will find it interesting to see the Johnny Dept version of this film. I am expecting Hollywood to make a mess of it.It was also fun because it was grim but not gruesome so my wife could watch the whole film.This is a classic style horror film with a lot to it.
fedor8
I knew nothing about "Sweeney Todd", the former versions, the basic plot, not even what genre of movie it was - when I pressed "play" - and that's the best way often to watch a movie, especially in an age when you see a million scenes in previews hence feeling as if though you'd already seen the damned thing.Anyway. ST is a sort of murder/drama with touches of romance even. It's an unusual story, nothing off-the-wall, of course, but with touches of originality. Parts of it are predictable, others aren't. Winstone is very convincing as the title character and this Essie Davis is very good, too, and very attractive. It was about time we see another beautiful British (well, Australian - same thing) woman on film, after a series of nepotistic uglies filthied the screen with their presence: the likes of Emma Thompson, Helena B. Carter, and several others. (Ironically, this Bonham creature plays the same character as Davis in Tim Burton's 2007 version, which must be crap.) Sweeney Todd is a complex murderer; not a psychopath at all (he feels love, remorse, has empathy), with motives only understandable to him. I found it a little odd that Davis would so quickly (after a night's sleep when she survives her disease) get used to the fact that Todd is a butcher and that she ate the meat of her own lovers through his deeds. But that's the only (slight) problem I can think of in an otherwise interesting movie. It might be a TV movie, but looks more like a theatrical release.I can't imagine why anyone would want to watch Tim Burton's sing-a-long version of this story. It must be garbage.
Chris Gaskin
I saw most of Sweeny Todd when BBC1 screened it one evening just after New Year 2006. I missed the last half-hour or so though, but I got to know how it ended.A load of grizzly murders are the responsibility of Sweeny Todd aka The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. We get to see him slashing people's throats and cutting his victims up. He then gives the parts to the local bakery to have pies made, so a bit of cannibalism thrown in. His victims include his lover. Police find out about this at the end though.The cast includes Ray Winstone, who is excellent as Sweeny Todd and he is joined by David Warner (Titanic, Time Bandits), Tom Hardy and David Bradley.At least my barber is not like this one! Watch this if you dare. Excellent and wonderfully gory in parts.Rating: 4 stars out of 5.
AD
