My girlfriend loves the musical versions of Sweeney Todd, and after she got me to watch it I rented this one to see what it was like.
But this is nothing like the musical versions; Is this how the original story or movie of Sweeney Todd went, or is it just a new and different adaption of the story?
There have been several versions of the story (film and tv) – all of them quite different. Because the story was originally a stage musical, I suppose it’s fair to say that the Johnny Depp version is the truest to the original.
I’m sorry to say I really didn’t enjoy the Johnny Depp version, I took my girlfriend to the cinema to see it and was both irritated and bored to death, but she loved it (maybe it’s a girl thing!) and bought the DVD as soon as it came out (which I flatly refused to watch again).
However I love the Ray Winstone version and watch the DVD every couple of months – to me this is how Sweeny Todd should be – gritty and atmospheric. My one complaint is that the character tended more towards a psychopath than a sociopath – the difference is, he murdered more for the satisfaction it gave him, rather than the financial gain it provided. Other versions see Todd sending the poor out of his shop with a cheery smile and a clean shave, but slitting the throats of the obviously wealthy, when he notices enough valuables on their person (rings etc) to make it worth his while. But fair enough, the Ray Winstone version it’s a fresh take on the story and I accepted and enjoyed it.
While it may be difficult to get hold of these days (I’m not sure it was ever commercially released on VHS/DVD) it’s also worth taking a look at the 1997 Ben Kingsley TV movie version, which is yet another interpretation of the story – Todd has killed an English diamond merchant, and an American with whom he was doing business sends over a bounty hunter, believing the merchant has double crossed him when he suddenly disappears. The bounty hunter soon begins to suspect the truth, while simultaneously falling in love with Sweeny Todd’s niece. I’ll be honest it is a little crummy and suffers from some terrible miscasting (including Joanna Lumley as Mrs Lovett!) but it’s not terrible and certainly worth a look – it has a feel of the musical – but without any singing!
The musical version ISN'T the original version. It's based on a 'penny dreadful', and old series of short-ish stories. Then it was turned into a movie starring Tod Slaughter, around 20 years before it was a musical.
"Are you talkin' to me?" - Travis Bickle, Taxi Driver
Sweeney Todd was a penny dreadful story in the 1800's similar to the national enquirer type story that is there to shock but most probably has no truth to it.
The story was basically "Barber kills customers" then this got elaborated on into the association with Mrs Lovetts pie shop etc
Then a book was then written called A string Of Pearls, by George Dibden Pitt.
There were theatre versions and then film versions of the book
Then it was used by every one adding this device or killing etc
In the late 60's CG Bond takes the story and creates motives for the killings adding a revenge plot device and tying stories together to create more dramatic tension. This play was seen by Stephen Sondheim and he wrote music to creat a musical from this version.
The Ray Winstone programme goes back to the earlier plays and books and creates yet another version of the story.
None of them are the original story or the "real" story, each one is different and has strengths and weaknesses.
Yet nobody knows about the REAL Sweeney Todd (Not sure if that was his real name) who was a killer from childhood, a shoplifter, and a barber who killed for greed, not revenge. Eventually he was caught, and admitted to his crimes in a chilling way
shareHe was a fictional character from the beginning. The name Sweeney Todd was first used in the 1846 "penny dreadful" story "A String of Pearls," which has been variously attributed to James Malcolm Rymer, or to Thomas Peckett Prest.
Its predecessors, which just might have had some basis in truth-- though frankly, I doubt it-- come from Paris; one of those stories, "A Terrible Story of the Rue de la Harpe," appeared in the British magazine "Tell-Tale" in 1825.
Around 1775, the five-volume edition of "The Newgate Calendar" was published, which included a detailed retelling of the alleged crimes of Sawney Bean, a legendary Scottish "cannibal clan" leader used, in updated and Americanized form, in the 1977 movie "The Hills Have Eyes." But notice, also, the resemblance between the names Sawney Bean and Sweeney Todd.
Now, I suppose it's just possible the Sawney Bean legends may have been inspired by true stories dating back literally hundreds of years, to a time when quite possibly, there really were cannibals in Scotland. (Or maybe that's just what they wanted the English to think.)
"I don't deduce, I observe."