Sweeney Todd (DVD)

Victorian-era barber Sweeney Todd (Johnny Depp) has just returned home to England, after spending many years in a faraway prison paying for a crime he did not commit. The first friend he makes is the widowed Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), baker of the "worst pies in London" and struggling businesswoman. Together, the two form a fortuitous alliance as he slakes his thirst for bloody revenge by wielding his shaving razors upstairs and she puts the meat to good use between the crusts of her pastries downstairs. And they do it all in perfect pitch. Sweeney Todd is not the first big screen adaptation of this well-regarded sung stage sensation, but it's easily the most ambitious.

When I initially saw Sweeney Todd on the big screen late last year, I found a lot to like — the performances, the narrative, the grand guignol gore, the look and feel — but was unable to surmount the Sondheim hurdle. Let the poison pen letters and evil emails fly, but I just don't like superstar Stephen Sondheim's songs (yes, I despise West Side Story, too. Sue me).

Really, I am not a hater of musical movies. Some of my best friends are musicals — I adore Ken Russell's Tommy, Milos Foreman's Hair, Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge, and anything at all to do with Bob Fosse. But when it came to the Tim Burton interpretation of the story of London's Demon Barber of Fleet Street, I was hoping that more liberties would be taken. I wanted the granddaddy of Goth to rock it out and ramp it up, but the staid strains of the Great White Way play stayed stubbornly steeped in its traditional cadence.

Read horror.com's theatrical release review here.

http://www.horror.com/php/article-1837-1.html

Once disappointed by a film, no matter how mild the let-down might be, I have often found that the second (expectation-free) viewing is often better. Such is the case with Sweeney Todd on DVD. I still don't love the movie overall, but now I find it easier to just swallow the songs and concentrate on the meatier content: the story — rife with love, hate, revenge, loss, gain …and cannibalism — is well worth it.

The acting (and yes, the trilling) is magnificent and in watching the disc extras, one gains even more respect for the players' performances. Few had ever sung on camera, let alone in such a complicated and disciplined manner. Sure, we're all used to hearing actors say, "Oh, it was so hard…" and blah, blah, blah. But in the case of Sweeney Todd, the interviews with Bonham Carter and Depp are indeed eye-opening, revealing, and quite amusing to boot.

The first disc contains the gory R-rated film itself, plus the informative aforementioned Making-Of special. The second disc is jam packed with an array of well-chosen, smartly-presented featurettes which, while celebrating the movie and incorporating clips from it, are far more than just puff pieces.

Additional Release Material

"Sweeney is Alive: The Real History of the Demon Barber" - Running just 20 minutes, yet packed with as much info based on copious research worthy of a History Channel special, this delightful doc mines authors (Peter Haining), academics (Dr. Rosalind Crone), and actors (Depp himself) to discuss the conflicting opinions on the existence of Sweeney Todd as an actual entity. Drawing from a palate of imagery ranging from woodcuts, to paintings, to film clips, the legend of Todd is bolstered by stories about murderers and cannibals ala Grimm's Fairy Tales, drawings, plays, newspaper stories, and movies.

"Musical Mayhem: Sondheim's Sweeney Todd" - Yeah, I watched it. No, my opinion wasn't swayed.

"Sweeney's London" - Goes on for only 15 minutes, and is packed with curious info about the squalid times in London life, circa mid-1800s. It talks about how fascinated by demons people were, and how ghoulish pursuits were all the rage (from attending public executions like they were parties, to devouring the lurid stories in the latest-published penny-dreadfuls — and can you believe it? The filmmakers actually dug up a real, live "Penny Dreadful Expert". I want that job, but apparently Helen Smith already has it). The character of Sweeney Todd first showed up in a penny dreadful story in 1946, and although its authors tried to pass him off as a true being, there's never been any evidence to support it. There are also a few scintillating and sickening tidbits about the barber's profession: in addition to trimming hair and shaving faces, he'd often perform amputations, bleeding, and tooth extractions.

"Grand Guignol: A Theatrical Tradition" - This is, in my opinion, the best and most unusual featurette on the disc. Granted, it's not so much about the movie or Sweeney Todd himself, but it's a fine historical overview of the Théâtre du Grand Guignol, which has its roots in France and was as much an institution in the City of Lights as the Moulin Rouge or the La Petite Chaise. While those two establishments remain standing, the theater closed its doors in the 1960s and has remained dark ever since. However, newer productions in the old tradition continue to flourish. Likening the stage plays of the day to our Hostels and Saws, experts dish on why the audience's appetite for gore, elaborate set-pieces, and horror-humor, remain whet.

"Sweeney Todd Press Conference, November 2007" - Is a boring, static, seemingly unedited (though I know it is) taping of an actual press conference with the panel of Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, and producer Richard D. Zanuck answering questions from the press. (However, the questions are spelt out in text and the reporters are not shown.)

Also:

"The Making of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" (Not the same as on Disc One)

"Designs for a Demon Barber" - costume and set design.

"A Bloody Business" - featurette about the film's special effects.

"Moviefone Unscripted" - Tim Burton and Johnny Depp go over questions presented by fans.

"The Razor's Refrain" - slideshow / montage of film stills.

Theatrical trailer.

• There are a few special versions of the Sweeney Todd DVD. This is a review of the retail 2-disc set, not a limited edition.

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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson