Le Vampire de Fleet Street

Sweeney Todd (1928)

*** (out of 4)

Early British production of the Sweeney Todd tale has Moore Marriott playing that role. In the film he plays a sadistic barber who kills mean for their money while using their bodies for meat pies.

When it comes to the story of Sweeney Todd, the most popular version of the older films is without question that Tod Slaughter one from 1936. That version of the story has made the rounds for countless years and it's reputation has grown as the cult following of Slaughter has. This silent version was made eight years earlier and there's no question that it's the better of the two films. In fact, this is a pretty darn good movie in its own right that fans of the horror genre should check out.

There's quite a bit to enjoy here but what I enjoyed most were the performances and the characters. I thought Marriott was quite good in the lead role, although one shouldn't be expecting anything over-the-top. The one performances that really stands out here is Harry Lorraine who plays Todd's brother and he does go so over-the-top that you can't help but think that Slaughter based his maniac-style performance on this. Just watch Lorraine here and it's easy to see that it influenced Slaughter in the 1936 version.

This was obviously shot on a very low-budget so there's not too much style and I'd argue that the film does look a bit older than its 1928 date. With that said, the thing clocks in at just 48-minutes and it certainly kept me entertained. It is interesting that the Todd story is told via a dream and we're let on to that right at the start of the picture.

Alas, the copy of SWEENEY TODD that I looked at had all the juicy bits chopped out. Moore Marriott's Sweeney is just mad with greed, the essential ingredients in Iris Darbyshire's meat pies is never mentioned and yet whoever did the cutting thought it necessary to leave the prologue and epilogue intact, a modern-dress affair in which Mr. Marriott comes home to await dinner and read about the Mr. Todd; the credits insist it is based on a real story.

It's interesting to see Marriott in a lead role. He did take occasional leads in the 1920s, usually in weird stories like THE MONKEY'S PAW, well suited to his playing older characters. While he is best remembered for playing a toothless geezer in Will Hay comedies in the 1930s, he had done so from the beginning. His first feature was in 1916. Then a mere youth of 31, he played a grandfather. He continued acting through his death at age 64 in 1949. He last screen role was named "Grandpa."