Sweeney Todd - Movie Review

The original theatrical production of Sweeney Todd opened on Broadway March 1, 1979 and the star attraction was Angela Lansbury, then the toast of NYC Theater. It was not an instant hit, closing after just 557 performances on June 29, 1980. The story goes that on the original opening night, half the audience got up and left in disgust during the intermission. Disgust? In a Broadway Show? Yes! In this case the multiple slashing of throats of victims bound for the meat grinder below the shop of Mrs. Lovett, maker and baker of Meat Pies down near the wharf of London during the darkest Victorian era. Ms. Lansbury, of course, being the Star, had the book and story revolving around her, employing her formidable talents of singing, dancing, acting, and keeping an audience enthralled ... most of the time. Despite the show's closing, Sweeney Todd swept the Tony Awards that very same year. Why? In my opinion, because genius cannot go unrewarded.

The 2007 film version of DreamWorks Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures
currently playing takes the Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim (Genius) based on the Musical by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler (Genius), and original staging by Harold Prince (Genius) and has turned the focus on actor JOHNNY DEPP in the tile role of Sweeney Todd and relegated the co-starring role to HELENA BONHAM CARTER as Mrs. Lovett, Sweeney's amorous accomplice, who steals the show. Ms. Carter is sheathed in her character to the hilt and every syllable, gesture; toss of her head, grimace and roll of her eyes is a continuing delight. I would venture to say an award nomination is coming her way very soon. Ms. Carter is utterly perfect in her role and even during scenes where she has no dialogue, manages to consume the viewers attention by simply (or not so simply) reacting in perfect harmony to the audacity surrounding her. She is intent without being relentless in her characterization of down-on-her-luck Lovett who manages to manipulate the puppet Barber who plies his trade in the space above her store.

Johnny Depp, on the other hand, has done several films with Director Tim Burton. Among them are: "Edward Scissorhands", "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", "Sleepy Hollow", and now the R-Rated story of revenge and murder. "Sweeney Todd".

To see any one of these collaborations is to see Johnny Depp in the same, fierce, straight-faced, and robot-like scowl. It's as if he and Burton decide on a 'look' for each character Depp plays and then sets them in stone for each scene featuring Depp. Don't get me wrong, Johnny Depp is one of the finer actors of his day and will go down in film archives deservingly so. For an answer to this anomaly we must, therefore, discover what lies behind the quirky, off-centered outlook of Director Tim Burton.

Burton's official biography reports, "It should come as no shock to the fans of director Tim Burton that he spent his formative years glued to the tube, watching old cartoons and horror flicks. Such early influences no doubt helped to form the deliciously ghoulish and artfully warped sensibility of a director who was to become known for his forays into the bizarre outer regions of mainstream celluloid. The emphasis on "mainstream" is notable: Burton's career has been distinguished in part by the director's skillful ability to remain just inside the realm of the mainstream while producing work of a decidedly unconventional vision." By Jove, I think we've got it.

Sweeney Todd, although technically a musical, doesn't leave you humming the theme song as you try and remember where you parked the car. Nor does it imbue its audience with the desire to whistle a happy tune on the way out.
At the screening I attended there was applause at the end from the audience, but it was half-assed and not overwhelmingly enthusiastic applause. Among comments overheard were, "Well. That was different." A truth, I will admit.

What struck me as uncommonly good and bordering on genius is the overall look of the movie. The re-creation of London's Fleet Street during the Victorian era is disgustingly accurate, right down to rats being everywhere and cockroaches infecting every surface. So much so, in fact, that as Mrs. Lovett uses her rolling pin to create the dough for her pies a cockroach is spied on her bakery board. Without missing a beat of dialogue to Sweeney Todd, she bashes it with her rolling pin, killing it flat, and sets the rolling pin back to flattening the dough for her pies again. Other cockroaches scurry about the floors, but are not a threat to the baking process and so are ignored, as they probably were in the actual Victorian era.

What struck me as interesting throughout the movie is something seen by absolutely everyone from beginning to end but so subtle as to be almost subliminal, instilling the feeling of viewing something that is skewed (distorted) by the constant use of windows, not as we know them today, but as they were made during that era. Glassmakers had not yet perfected their product, and the glass windows produced during that time were not transparent, but rather more opaque and wavy, which produced distorted images of what lay beyond the pane. This use of imagery combined with the blue and gray hues, and overall darkness lent to the settings of the characters borders on genius in that the coalescence and juxtaposition of elements keeps the viewer in a kind of surreal mental state throughout the viewing experience. In this regard I can say that Sweeney Todd has a brilliance, if not genius, to it.

It's recommended that you study a bit about the story itself before skipping off to see the movie. As so often happens with writers, they get so enmeshed in the story that they sometimes forget that not every ass in every seat understands what the hockey-puck is going on, and this tale ultimately seems to have no righteous moral at the end. That alone makes one wonder why the story is told in the first place. Quite simply put, it's just a story of revenge must gruesome by a Barber who slits the throats of his clientele and they are never seen again except as minced up meat in the pies served to a growing population of enthusiasts of Mrs. Lovett's Bakery.

In a nutshell, DEPP stars in the title role as a man unjustly sent to prison that vows revenge, not only for his cruel punishment, but also for the devastating consequences of what happened to his wife and daughter. When he returns to reopen his barbershop, Sweeney Todd becomes the Demon Barber of Fleet Street who "shaved the faces of gentlemen who never thereafter were heard of again."

The cast also includes ALAN RICKMAN, who portrays the evil Judge Turpin, who sends Sweeney to prison, TIMOTHY SPALL as the Judge's wicked associate Beadle Bamford and SACHA BARON COHEN as a rival barber, the flamboyant Signor Adolfo Pirelli.

This is definitely NOT FOR CHILDREN! Shades of Jeffrey Dahmer!

Want to read all my content? It's easy and FREE! While on Associated Content, add your name to Subscribers for this author, add your email address and it's done.

Also feel free to comment using the space provided on any or all of my writings.

Thanks for reading.