Sweeney Todd

Sweeny Todd Necklace
$9.95
The necklace is very cheaply made and can not be worn. It is a nice keepsake but not worth the money. It broke the second time I tried to wear it. I will have to repair and replace the chain and clasp, if I would ever want to wear it.

Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition)
$34.99
I had heard a great deal about how frightening this movie was. I guess the concept is a bit scary, but in this day and age, it's not nearly as scary as a madman with nuclear weapons, or people walking into shopping centers or classrooms with automatic weapons. I know that the play was a musical, but it would have been a great deal more frightening if the characters hadn't burst into song periodically. On the plus side, this proves that Tim Burton can sing.

Sweeney Todd (Widescreen) (2-Disc set w/Limited Issue Steelbook Packaging)
$39.00
As Sweeney Todd is my favorite musical, it is thus one of 2 of my favorite movies. If blood and music is your thing, then this film is for you perfectly done by Johnny Depp and Tim Burton. I was tickled pink as soon as I heard the film was announced. Johnny Depp was cast before anyone had heard him sing, but I knew it would work out. There were many uncertainties since it is one of the most difficult musicals on broadway. For me, the film is better than the musical because it is different but the musical itself stays the same. This is what REALLY got me into musicals. The fact that it is so is what makes it genius. With the Steelbook version, you not only get the first DVD with one special feature, but you also get a whole bunch of other goodies on the second one about how they made the film. Including stuff with Stephen Sondheim, it also talks about the legend of Sweeney Todd and how they made the gallons of blood and most of the other things in the film. As for the casting, it is flawless. Johnny Depp's portrayal is creepy and saddening at the same time. You learn of the pain he endured when his past was ripped apart and his singing is done well with a perfect British dialect. Helena Bonham Carter is not the best singer in the movie, but she is good enough to be the second lead role, in fact she is great. The film is detailed from the opening credits to the very tragic end. Sweeney's thirst for revenge increased as time went by and it changed many things about everybody. Alan Rickman, as always is a total delight and is a good duet with Johnny Depp. The lyrics in the songs carry the story and tell you what the characters are thinking so pay attention, because they have some truth in them. Don't expect a happy musical here, but do expect a phenomenal experience. How I love this film so much!! You're in for a fan-bloody-tastic time with the amazing music. Hope this helped.

Sweeney Todd - The Director's Cut
$13.74
Sweeney Todd (Dave Moore, 2006)

Sometime in the past decade or so, Ray Winstone has quietly gone from being a stock heavy (for example, in 1997's brilliant heist flick Face) to being one of Britain's best, and most versatile, actors. Nowhere has he shown this more than in Dave Moore's striking adaptation of Sweeney Todd, with Winstone playing the title character. A number of film versions of this story that I've seen have been simplified, glossing over some of the darker elements of the story (which is an odd thing to say about a story whose central figure is a serial killer), but Moore (Wallis and Edward) revels in the stuff that's outside the realm of the accepted, and it shows.

In case you've been living in a cave the past few hundred years, Sweeney Todd is a delicate, uplifting love story involving the title character (Winstone), a London barber (remember that back in the day, barbers also performed surgery) and the woman down the street, Mrs. Lovett (Girl with a Pearl Earring's Essie Davis), a former prostitute who now runs a pie shop. The two form a symbiotic relationship; Lovett refers folks to Todd. Todd kills them, then returns the bodies to Lovett, who makes them into pies. Free meat! Bigger profits, and it's probably better than you'd get from your local Megacorp. Needless to say, the police are concerned about the large number of disappearances, and Mrs. Lovett's husband, a nasty brute of a man, is starting to get suspicious. Needless to say, the bodies keep piling up. Didn't I say it was uplifting?

The Sweeney Todd bio has been done about a thousand times on stage and screen, with varying degrees of effectiveness. This one is done very well indeed, especially for a TV movie. Moore refuses to pull any punches, keeping within the bounds of television appropriateness by implying, rather than showing, many if the nastier bits. Still, if you record this thinking you're getting the Tim Burton version, be aware that this one, while not explicit, is still not for the smaller kiddies. For everyone else, though, it's an effective, wonderfully-acted treatment of the subject, and it's well worth watching. *** ?