TV airing of The Tale of Sweeney Todd- Page 2

[Jon]

Posted: 1/2/08 at 12:04pm

The same network is also airing "The Titanic" this week - not the Leo and Kate version, but a made-for-TV movie with George C. Scott as Captain Smith and Catherine Zeta-Jones as one ofthe passengers.

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/2/08 at 12:23pm

There seems to be a strong desire to make the story more "Dickens-like," and not just in Christopher Bond's version.

The whole "man devouring man," idea.

The struggling economic classes, the treatment of mankind, etc. Those themes were in nearly all of Dickens' major works. And he was the "rock star" of his day, back then... so it isn't surprising.

I find it interesting that a good 20 years before that first Penny Dreadful of Sweeney was published in England, American author Washington Irving picked up on the fantastic "urban legend" of Sweeney Todd floating about the streets of London, and instead of writing that story down himself, decided that American's needed an "urban legend" of their own... So he penned The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. It was directly inspired by (but not based on) the Sweeney stories of the day.

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/2/08 at 12:27pm

For those of you interested in alternate versions, check out the Tod Slaughter 1936 Sweeney film as well.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028331/

This one has Tobias (as a kid) and The Beadle, as well. Very melodramatic, hammy and dated, but still creepy and effective.
Amazon link

[harris007]

Posted: 1/2/08 at 10:12pm

it's just ok, my sister found it at blockbuster a few years ago and got it for a buck,