SWEENEY TODD-DIRECTORS CUT (DVD)

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Product Description

A haunting tale of love, obsession, murder, and retribution

Ray Winstone (Sexy Beast) transforms the Demon Barber of Fleet Street from a caricature of evil into a heartbreakingly tormented soul who discovers his power to kill—and his powerlessness to stop.

In filthy, teeming 18th-century London, expert barber Sweeney Todd lives in the shadow of Newgate Prison, a hellhole where he spent 20 years for a crime he didn't commit. Todd tries to carve out a quiet, simple life of service, but his past haunts him. Battling murderous impulses, he befriends Mrs. Lovett, a lusty young woman whom he sets up in a pie shop next door. As carved-up bodies start turning up in the Fleet River, and Mrs. Lovett's meat pies turn ever more delectable, the police launch an investigation. How long will it take them to suspect the quiet, gentlemanly barber? Also starring Essie Davis, Tom Hardy, David Warner, and David Bradley.

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES INCLUDE Sweeney Todd background essay and cast filmographies.

Contains intense violence

• Actors: Gabriel Spahiu, Anthony O'Donnell, Zoltan Butuc, Radu Andrei Micu, David Bradley (IV)
• Director: Dave Moore
• Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
• Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Director's Cut, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language (Original Language): English
• Release Date: 2007-04-10
• Running Time: 100 minutes
• Theatrical Release Date: 2005

Customer Reviews

Reviewed on 2008-05-19 Totally Different This British version is totally different and not for everybody. No musical score - all drama. It's an extremely well-acted depiction of a descent into madness. Be warned.....it is bloody.

Reviewed on 2008-03-07 What about making a shave tonight? Of course, this film made from BBC Television doesn't have the same opulence in comparision with the musical version, starring Johnny Depp. Instead, it has a good cast and it is greatly performed as well. I liked it.

Reviewed on 2007-12-26 An Interesting But Somewhat Slow Variation On The Famous London Story Although some have tried to argue that he was an actual person, it seems likely that the story of a throat-cutting barber named Sweeney Todd arose first as a bit of urban myth that was developed into an 1846 story titled THE STRING OF PEARLS by writer Thomas Prest. A year later the story was adapted to the stage as SWEENEY TODD, THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET. It proved a popular ticket, and in age that knew little of copyright law, versions of the play were soon springing up all over the place, each one tweaking the story a little bit in the process. Consequently, it is almost impossible to say that any one particular version is "more authentic" than any other. In this particular version, filmed for BBC in 2006, Todd (Ray Winstone)is a barber who spent twenty years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Released, he finds himself shaving a prison guard and on sudden impulse slits the man's throat. One thing leads to another, as you might say, and he soon makes the acquaintance of bake-shop worker Mrs. Lovett (Essie Davis); his fondness for her not only leads him to set her up in her own business, but to supply the occasional cut of meat as well. The twist to this particular version of the story is in the relationship between Todd and Lovett, the latter of whom is more sinned against than sinning. The script is quite clever, essentially winding most of Todd's motives (including his interest in Mrs. Lovett) around his own mistreatment while an inmate of the notorious Newgate prison, and both Winstone and Davis are extremely impressive in their performances. But for all the blood, and there is aplenty, and for all the sex, and there is some, the film looks exactly like what it is: a made-for-television movie. It is also rather slow and quite often a bit too "stiff upper lip" for its own good. The DVD release offers a good transfer but, excepting cast credits, nothing in the way of bonus material. Those interested in the various directions the story has taken will find it intriguing, but most others will likely be only mildly interested. GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Reviewed on 2007-07-17 Well done. The best way I can think of to describe this movie is that it resembles a really good episode of Masterpiece Theater that happens to be rated R for violence, gore, and sexual themes. It does get a little slow at times, but is in general a well done movie with a well-written script.

Reviewed on 2007-05-17 "The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" "Sweeney Todd" The Demon Barber Amos Lassen and Cinema Pride The British know how to make movies and even though "Sweeney Todd" will not appeal to everyone, it is an example of the sublime art of making a wonderful movie. The acting s brilliant, the plot is engaging and everything just works beautifully. Ray Winstone as Sweeney Todd gives an outstanding performance. His character is one of contradictions but his actions show that we are all capable of both acts of kindness as well as evil, depending upon the circumstances. "Sweeney Todd" is macabre drama about a character known as "The Demon Barber of Fleet Street". Whether he ever lived is legend or urban myth--no one really knows. As Todd descended from man to monster, he did so sympathetically. In fact, I would even go so far to say as the audience identified with him. Once the killings began and Todd found a novel way to dispose of his victims, he was not yet completely evil. Granted, he ended the lives of many but he had a kind side as well. Mrs. Lovett, his accomplice in crime, was so mystified by the man that she ever questioned why her many lovers never came back to her. What was missing from the movie was the fairytale quality of the story--it was just too real with very real characters. Some find it disturbing that our feelings turn to Sweeney rather than against him. But the story ropes you as is so characteristic of Victorian literature. The London of the 18th century is a rotten and decaying city that has a terrible secret--Sweeney Todd. Sweeney is supposedly the best barber in London and people come and go and praise him. One day when a childhood memory triggers a reaction, he slits the throat of a client and dumps the body in the river. He continues living life as if nothing has happened but this soon becomes a pattern. A Mrs. Lovett catches his eye and they enter into a relationship and he helps her start a bakery near his barber shop. Todd, also, supplies her with meat but she does not know that it s the flesh of his ex-customers. Whether or not this is true matters not. It's a great story, gruesome as it is. Bloody,yes but it is a beautiful production nevertheless. Todd's customers did get the closest shaves ever. Todd was the master of his craft which he learned in prison while serving 29 years for a murder committed by his father. Perhaps he should have learned a different trade instead. Thoroughly enjoyable, "Sweeney Todd" could possibly join the ranks of other classic British films. The only thing that may hold it back is its gore.

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