Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street -- 2007 -- R

I have loved this musical for years. It’s not often that you get a bloody, horror musical about a serial killer, and the very subject as the basis for a musical sounds like a horrible idea, but when you start with a powerfully dramatic play and throw Stephen Sondheim at the task of making it sing, you end up with something strange and wonderful. I had seen the TV version of the stage production, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. When I learned a real movie was being made out of the musical, I was excited. When I heard Tim Burton was directing, I was beside myself. I had to see it.

Granted, all this meant I was already a bit biased, but I was determined to be open to what lie ahead. I wasn’t disappointed.

The story was pretty much intact in its entirety. All the character and the drama was the stage was there, and none of it was stripped. There were a slew of necessary changes to take it from a stage musical to a movie, but unlike so many other movie musicals that came from the stage, the translation was done for the benefit of making a movie while retaining the musical qualities. This is a rare horror film that creates characters and drama within its run time, which is makes for a good experience.

When it comes to the songs moving from stage to screen, there were quite a few cuts. All of the choral scene change numbers were gone, and while I personally missed them, their not being there did not detract from the story, and I suspect if they had been left, even as voiceovers, they might have removed us from the movie experience. Stage and screen are different animals entirely, so the trimming of the songs and swapping of two numbers worked well within the screen construct.

The one song I wished they had placed was the sadistic tune of Johanna, sung by Judge Turpin. It was cut from the stage production because it slowed down the story, and the emotion in that song is put forth by the peeping of the judge through a hold into Johanna’s room, but I still feel that it would have added something significant to his character. Oh well.

The storyline concerns a man named Sweeney Todd, who we learn quickly was a barber formerly named Benjamin Barker that was thrown into prison for having a beautiful wife. The judge who threw him in immediately set himself upon having the wife as his own and rapes her, which leads her to take poison. Sweeney’s daughter, Johanna, only a baby when he was taken away, was taken into custody by the judge to raise as his own, and early on, he decides, after she shows interest in the sailor that rescued Sweeney, that he will marry her "to save her from the evils of the world."

Sweeney checks out his old digs on Fleet Street and finds a pie shop there owned by a woman known only as Mrs. Lovett. She is brooding over having no meat for her pies and as a result, she makes the "worst pies in London." She helps Sweeney get his feet back under him and even had his old razors stored in his former tonsorial parlor upstairs, which he uses to win a shaving contest and the respect of the townspeople as a barber.

Sweeney’s aim, of course, is to take revenge on the judge and town beadle for destroying his life, killing his wife, and stealing his daughter. He is fixated on it throughout, and when his attempt to kill the judge is accidentally thwarted, we begin the most famous part of one of the most famous serial killers in history. He decides no one is worthy of living and Mrs. Lovett decides that her meat pies are the perfect way to dispose of the evidence.

Most movies don’t require that much space for the entire plot, and I only gave a basic overview. It’s that in-depth. When it comes to the singing, the movie is cast using actors such as Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, and Alan Rickman who do fine jobs in singing their roles. I was actually surprised to find Depp in the title role, since I never suspected he could sing, but it turns out, he carried Sweeney very well, showing his extreme versatility as an actor, since Sweeney Todd is a hundred worlds away from Willy Wonka.

Being that it is a movie, it allowed for a ton more subtlety to be brought to the roles in ways that non stage could ever offer. On stage, you have to project everything, so the smallest expressions, which are ten feet high on screen, are invisible on stage. This nuance gave the film an air that definitely added to the experience and made the movie version unique in a way that the stage could never match.

So I thoroughly loved the film. I felt it did justice to the musical in the best way a movie can, and would be willing to watch it over and over. I already listen to the soundtrack constantly, and plan on grabbing the DVD as soon as it hits. A horror movie with a true dramatic is rare indeed, and this one is a gem to me.