The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Karloff aSt the Monster, Lee and Lugosi as the Count, Lon Chaney jr as the Wolfman, Cushing as the Baron and Tod as Fleet Street's most notorious barber! Certain horror stars are destined to be associated with certain roles and Mr slaughter would forever be identified with Sweeney Todd. Provincial theatregoers and the outlying suburbs of London could be guaranteed a welter of blood - or beetroot juice - whenever Tod came to town for a 2-week residency. By the 30's, he was established as a star turn, having British B films built around him - his old-school melodramas being mostly rewritten from their stage versions to prominently feature him - see Jeffrey Richards excellent article on Slaughter in the book THE UNKNOWN 30'S.

Despite the distancing device of a prologue and epilogue in a modern barbers, the film holds up extremely well. The sailor's battle with the natives at Trader Patterson's shows the grasp of the film's budget exceeding its reach. But all the staples of Victorian melodrama are present - the villain, the hero and heroine, the older man (usually a disapproving Father of the heroine) and a comic couple. Modern day audiences may feel decidedly queasy about the film's maltreatment of Tobias Wragg. Threatened and intimidated by Todd, cheerfully guzzling down god-knows-what in Mrs Lovatt's pies and forced to wear the heroine's clothes - he must have grown into an adult certifiable for treatment. The ending is contrived with Johanna rushing - unconvincingly disguised as a boy - to Sweeney's barbershop and being left to perish in the flames as the villain covers his tracks. Even more unlikely is the way Sweeney stays to watch his emporium go up in flames instead of fleeing with his riches, then rushing in for an ill-advised fight with Jack Ingestre (who adopts a convincing Yorkshire accent for his farmer disguise). The tipping chair was adopted to prevent us actually seeing any throat slitting but it results in a suitably ironic finale as the unconscious Todd is despatched to the inferno below. There is now an official Tod Slaughter website so log on and lend your support to the greatest villain British acting ever produced.

Tod Slaughter was England's answer to Lugosi and Karloff. Where Bela and Boris often showed great dramatic range, Tod Slaughter comes from the era of Victorian style theatrics. Not since John Wilkes Booth's "Sic Semper....." bit, have we seen such 19th century style scenary chewing. But, this is a horror film about a killer barber, so we're here to be entertained. That's what Tod does, keeps us entertained, with his grand delivery (Whenever he corrects his little boy helper. "I once knew a little boy who spoke a bit... too ....... much!") and gestures (Tod, as Sweeney Todd, is always grinding his hands, and giving with that enormous, evil, braying laugh.) Rhino Video has released the film on video, and it's well worth the rental. I wish Tod did more movies!

In the Nineteenth Century, in London, the barber Sweeney Todd (Tod Slaughter) invites lonely and wealthy costumers in the port to his barbershop on the nearby Fleet Street and murders them to take their money, while his associate Mrs. Lovatt (Stella Rho) and owner of a bakery below is barbershop gets rid off the bodies. Sweeney uses his fortune to help the fleet owner Stephen Oakley (D.J. Williams) with the intention to force his daughter Joanna (Eve Lister) to marry him. However, the beloved Joanna's boyfriend Mark Ingerstreet (Bruce Seton) returns rich from his last voyage and Sweeney decides to kill him and steal his fortune in pearl, making Mrs. Lovatt jealous with the situation.

The original "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" is a dark and macabre tale of greedy. It is funny to see only insinuation of cannibalism and that Mrs. Lovatt is the lover of Sweeney Todd. Pearly questioning how Sweeney Todd gets rid off the bodies of his victims while eating one of Mrs. Lovatt's pies is hilarious. Tod Slaughter performs a great villain, but the conclusion with Sweeney returning to the barbershop on fire to be defeated by Mark is weak. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Diabólico Barbeiro de Londres" ("The Diabolic Barber of London")

The customary ham served up by Todd Slaughter, thickly sliced. Tod is magnificent as the demented Sweeney, "polishing off" his victims with sadistic glee. It may look a bit dated, with the usual creaky sets, but it is enjoyable high-jinks nevertheless.

A nice gem from England done in a very Dickensian style, with Tod Slaughter performing in such a way as to rest all doubts about his great ability to make a cardboard villain into a full-blooded character that we both despise and delight in at the same moment. There can be no false assumption that this is not the work of a group of talented stage performers, which is how the infamous Mr Slaughter made his living in travels about the country, performing in plays of the macabre. He would seem to be a person who'd scare you upon first introduction without really trying. Unfortunate that he never performed in a Hitchcock film, for that would have been a grand collaboration.