Sweeney Todd

I loved the story of Sweeney Todd after seeing Johnny Depp do the musical number. I loved it so much I am looking for other versions. This one is outstanding.

Unlike Depp's version, this one with Ray Winstone (The Proposition, The Departed, Sexy Beast, Beowulf) is a truer picture of the dark and grimy London of the 18th Century. It is so bad, that you have to cover your nose with a handkerchief when you approach the beggars in the jail to give them a penny.

Sweeney did not set out to kill anyone. He was visited in his barber shop by a jailer that brought back old memories. He killed him without thinking and each time got easier. He becomes attracted to a pie maker Mrs. Lovett (Essie Davis - Charlotte's Web, Maggie from The Matrix sequels). In the course of that relationship, we are introduced to abortion, spousal abuse, and atheism. She is married at the time, but as barbers were also surgeons (without anesthesia, I might add) he dispatches her husband in the process of removing a stone.

They become friends as he is unable to perform, and he sets her up in her own pie shop. She has a steady stream of lovers which he dispatched and presents to her as meat from his brother. She is clueless as to what is going on. This is a far different version than I have seen before and you are really hooked to see what is going to happen. There are some side stories involving a policeman, and Sweeney's father that really added to the mystery.

Winstone and Davis were superb, as was David Warner as the local Magistrate.

The only complaint I had was not really every seeing Mrs Lovett's pies. As Sweeney peeked in on her trysts, we just got to see the guy on top. They could have given us a little peek.

This was slightly better than the Ben Kingsly version, but there are more to see, including another musical.

Although some have tried to argue that he was an actual person, it seems likely that the story of a throat-cutting barber named Sweeney Todd arose first as a bit of urban myth that was developed into an 1846 story titled THE STRING OF PEARLS by writer Thomas Prest. A year later the story was adapted to the stage as SWEENEY TODD, THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET. It proved a popular ticket, and in age that knew little of copyright law, versions of the play were soon springing up all over the place, each one tweaking the story a little bit in the process. Consequently, it is almost impossible to say that any one particular version is "more authentic" than any other.

In this particular version, filmed for BBC in 2006, Todd (Ray Winstone)is a barber who spent twenty years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Released, he finds himself shaving a prison guard and on sudden impulse slits the man's throat. One thing leads to another, as you might say, and he soon makes the acquaintance of bake-shop worker Mrs. Lovett (Essie Davis); his fondness for her not only leads him to set her up in her own business, but to supply the occasional cut of meat as well. The twist to this particular version of the story is in the relationship between Todd and Lovett, the latter of whom is more sinned against than sinning.

The script is quite clever, essentially winding most of Todd's motives (including his interest in Mrs. Lovett) around his own mistreatment while an inmate of the notorious Newgate prison, and both Winstone and Davis are extremely impressive in their performances. But for all the blood, and there is aplenty, and for all the sex, and there is some, the film looks exactly like what it is: a made-for-television movie. It is also rather slow and quite often a bit too "stiff upper lip" for its own good.

The DVD release offers a good transfer but, excepting cast credits, nothing in the way of bonus material. Those interested in the various directions the story has taken will find it intriguing, but most others will likely be only mildly interested.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

This was a reasonable production of an excellent musical, but I recommend the George Hearn / Angela Lansbury version every time.

In a previous comment, alan_cricketman4 from Belfast UK, states: "I can understand producers using artistic licence and having to cut details and chronologically alter events etc., but to change the facts of such a well known and well documented case is just downright silly. I suggest that very little research has been applied here (by producers and reviewers alike) and a good website to browse, and learn further details on the case, is "Court TV CRIME LIBRARY"."

I fact, Sweeney Todd was universally accepted to be an 'urban myth' up to about 1993, due to the lack of other evidence. In 1993, a new book, was published. Of this book, Wikipedia says:

"In his 1993 book Sweeney Todd: The Real Story of the Demon Barber of Fleet, the horror and crime story writer Peter Haining argues that Sweeney Todd was a historical figure who committed his crimes around 1800. However, other researchers who have researched his citations find nothing in these sources to back up what Haining claims they said".

I realise that Wikipedia is not always entirely accurate, but I think it is fair to say that what Mr Haining has done is researched a theory about the origin of Sweeney Todd, which is worthy of consideration, but far from accepted historical truth.

18th century London is a rottenly decayed and scummy city that has a horrific secret. The stoutly quiet Sweeny Todd is a well renown barber of London. Supposedly the best, as customers come and go with nothing but high praise for his fluent skills. One day, he basically loses it after some childhood memory triggers a reaction to slit a customer's throat. He cuts up the body and chucks into the river. Then he goes on as if nothing as happened, but these sudden outbursts soon become a pattern. Mrs Lovett has caught his eye and they form a relationship, where he helps her start up a bakery shop near his shop. So now, Todd is providing her with the meat, unknown to her that they are his leftovers.

Fact or fiction is the question of this horror figure? This legendary serial killer figure is the central attraction in this boldly inventive and refreshing British TV feature of the grisly exploits and humane reactions of Sweeny Todd. What could have been just another formulaic story, treads the very well because the thoughtfully encouraged script is brought to life by sensationally characterised performances and a richly atmospheric Victorian setting that reeks with an grimly morbid discharge. The ugliness and the earthly dour colours of it only enhances the cold nature and violently graphic carnage that awaits. It could have gone over board with its unpleasantness, but in the long run the killings do actually play second fiddle to the bustling characters and their complex inner goings. Largely Todd's past. These moments of violence are no more than short and precise bursts that maintain brute force in their confronting depictions.

Giving more weight to the black and white premise are the actors themselves. Their textured performances would go on to help those harrowing examinations become truly stimulating and the ingeniously plotted story strikes up a provocative script (by Joshua St. Johnson), which they shape off and morph expertly. Streaming throughout is an claustrophobic build up in the film's hardboiled direction by David Moore and the tension he does orchestrate is plain nerve wrecking. Ray Winstone's scarred performance is emotionally powering and increasingly deep, despite his understated take of the character. He plays it humbly calm, but when the cracks appear Winstone does it with great integrity and menace. Essie Davis' upfront and igniting performance is nothing but excellent as the whore Mrs Lovett who desires any sort of companionship she can get. There seems to be a strong (and at times surreal) sexual charge between the two that's interestingly displayed. The compelling supporting cast do their jobs. David Warner is professionally solid in a strictly mild turn and Tom Hardy is sincerely perfect in his role as an up-and-coming police officer. The film is stylishly photographed and can become intrusively lingering when it wants to capture that scummy tenor with visual punch. The trance-like musical score is beautifully harmonious and demonstrates some otherworldly cues that only adds more to the brooding nature.

"Sweeny Todd" the director's cut is an exceptionally high quality TV presentation, which is meaningfully acted, unpredictably written and daringly directed. Highly recommended.

Dave Moore's TV version of the infamous tale of the bloodthirsty barber Sweeney Todd unsurprisingly bears little relation to Tim Burton's musical version released the following year. This one is much more matter-of-fact in its portrayal of Todd's descent into madness, and gives his motive for killing as revenge for being jailed in Newgate prison as a child for a crime committed by his father. Initially, there is a skewed sense of justice to Todd's reason for killing off his clients but, as his blood lust (and feelings for the neighbouring Mrs Lovett) grows stronger his reasons become less calculated.

Ray Winstone plays Todd. He is a fine actor, but loses some of his screen presence by choosing to underplay the role, his voice rarely betraying any kind of emotion. Despite this it's a choice that suits the character, even if it doesn't the actor. Cutting up his victims in the cellar of his barber shop, stripped to the waist, his bare head gleaming white and his mouth slack, Winstone makes a truly grotesque monster, one made all the more frightening because he is otherwise an extremely quiet and ordinary man.

There's a lot of violence in the film, a lot of slit throats and mutilation of corpses, but, again, it's not given any kind of sensationalistic value. Essie Davis plays Mrs Lovett, another decent character whose descent into monstrosity is sparked by the things that have happened to her rather than any inherent evil. She turns into a grotesque parody of herself as the film progresses, her beauty destroyed by pox scars, sporting fine wigs made by Todd that sit incongruously atop her ruined features. It's all very grim and dark and there is no place for humour, even of the gallows variety. Perhaps a touch of humour, especially on the part of Todd, is what is needed to both round out his character and make his monstrous actions that much more horrific