Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1936)

Director:

George King

Writers:

George Dibdin-Pitt (play)
Frederick Hayward (writer)

Release Date:

March 1936 (UK)

Genre:

Crime | Horror

Plot:

A Fleet Street barber recounts the story of Sweeney Todd, a notorious barber who in the last century murdered many customers for their money.

Plot Keywords:

Barber | Murder | Customer | Serial Killer | Hair Dye

Cast

Tod Slaughter	...	Sweeney Todd
Stella Rho	...	Mrs. Lovatt
John Singer	...	Tobias Rag (as Johnny Singer)
Eve Lister	...	Johanna Oakley
Bruce Seton	...	Mark Ingerstreet
D.J. Williams	...	Stephen Oakley
Davina Craig	...	Nan
Jerry Verno	...	Stanley Pearley
Graham Soutten	...	The Beadle (as Ben Soutten)
Billy Holland	...	Parsons, the fence
Norman Pierce	...	Mr. Findlay
Aubrey Mallalieu	...	Trader Paterson

Also Known As:

Sweeney Todd
The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (USA)

Runtime:

USA:76 min | Canada:67 min (Ontario)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:14+ (Ontario) | Norway:16 (1937) | Finland:K-18 (self applied) (2008)

Filming Locations:

Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England, UK

Company:

George King Productions

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The "stone" steps in Sweeney Todd's cellar make very hollow, wooden-sounding noises when walked upon.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Shepperton Babylon (2005) (TV)

Not just of a different era, but of the theatre.

A real curio here, with a totally old-fashioned production and the wonderfully Dickensian Tod Slaughter performance merging well with the intrinsically macabre tale. The subject matter, whether shown or suggested, is sinister, and played as gallows humour by Slaughter. The rest of the cast is hardly particularly impressive, but fits well enough into the story, allowing Slaughter centre-stage most of the time, although there is a bizarre foreign interlude that is somewhat out-of-place.

I love the recurring wistful, whistleable tune - absurdly Romantic, yet very low calorie British too - over the opening credits; very melodic and all the more striking as, besides this refrain, there is little or no other incidental music. The photography, could, I suppose, have been more conducive to 'atmosphere', but what is that but an expectation we have about noirish cinema? This is pure theatrical melodrama. The production is indeed spare and minimal, and we're left largely to enjoy the ripping old story and a fine 'turn' from the star. There are very good lines, presumably tailored to Slaughter's stage performances in the role; he delivers them with Dickensian gusto, in a gloriously theatrical performance, which is the main, if not quite the only reason to view this oddball, watchable antique piece.