With the Tim Burton and Johnny Depp version having just been released, I presume the BBC version of "Sweeney Todd" will not get as much of a chance.
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Some have tried ("Dark City" comes to mind) but this one really hits the spot. Horror films often touch the evil in the world and what drives it, but few films - horror or not - really get to the deeper philosophic roots of the meaninglessness of the world in our modern time. It's nihilism through and through, which is like the perfect medicine for someone like myself who was raised on heavy doses of Nietzsche, Kafka and Kierkegaard. The denial of God, morality and such is the driving force of this film compared to other versions. Yet, this film version touches on themes like abortion and the complete absence of God, which I would presume to be quite heavy for the time (though I may be mistaken). As I understand it, the original story came from the 1820s or 1840s. It interests me to see how this one was presented. This is not a musical version but simply a film with a dark tale to tell. I like it raw, and this film gives it to me. All the characters have a very dirty look to them, which I also like - no perfect conditioning in the hair and daily bathing rituals. Other people may picture Todd differently, but I think this look fully captures the darkness and emptiness of the man. He has the look of a man worn down by time and heartache, cold enough to kill but sad enough to drive us to sympathy. I don't know him from much outside of "The Proposition" (which everyone loves, but I found disappointing). As they grow closer, he lets her in on his secret and a macabre friendship is born - one a butcher and the other a maker of meat pies. As it grows and grows, he comes to fancy a young woman whom he cannot have - both because she is married and because he is not physically capable. Sweeney Todd, a resident barber of London, has an urge inside of him to kill. Okay, so the film is a little weak here and there, and the ending is quite unsatisfactory – which didn't Todd just do that sooner? These minor quibbles shouldn't affect the rest of the production, which is generally sound let's hope the BBC start making more decent dramatisations like this, as they can't cost very much to produce! Familiar faces pop up here and there, including Hogwarts caretaker David Bradley (whose tongue-cutting is one of the film's most graphic moments) and stalwart genre star David Warner, here playing a blind bloke. A stalwart cast have been assembled, one of those casts where everybody puts in a decent performance. Lovett, and deserves to go on to greater success based on her fine performance here. He's great in the role, and ably supported by the unknown Essie Davis, who is actually better as Mrs. Ray Winstone is the core of this film's success, his performance probing the depths of Todd's psychology. Still, although cheap, it's definitely a cheerful film, with a better script than usual and some nice period details.
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Sadly, as is the case with many TV movies, budget restraints are evident here, with only a handful of locations and a few street sequences to bring Victorian London to life. The good news is that SWEENEY TODD is a darned sight better than another recent Victorian BBC story – SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE CASE OF THE SILK STOCKING, which not only wasted the talents of Rupert Everett but made a travesty of the whole Conan Doyle canon. Although this is the most gruesome part of the film, overall it's quite strong on the violence front, and not for weak hearts. Times have changed, and imagine my surprise when their new adaptation of the Sweeney Todd legend began with a graphic throat-slitting, complete with blood coursing over a victim's chest! All this and at just two minutes past the watershed shows just how much times have changed. A BBC adaptation of the Victorian "penny dreadful" tale of 18th century "demon barber" Sweeney Todd, of Fleet Street, who cuts the throats of unsuspecting clients in his London shop.I remember the old days, when the BBC was the most politically correct, conventional and non-risk-taking channel on TV.