Victorian London is a bleak and unpleasant place. It is here Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp) returns to after 15 years wrongly jailed. He had his wife and daughter taken from him and now wants revenge. He goes back to his old home to find the business below is now a meat pie shop run by Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham-Carter). She recognizes him and understands his need for vengeance. He renames himself Sweeney Todd and becomes a barber. He begins to kill those who wronged him, then others, until finally his past consumes him.

CRITIQUE

Few actors and directors today have the sort of collaborative history of Johnny Depp and Tim Burton. A unique, oddball spirit seems to connect them and can tend at times to connect in films that have a dark edge. Most are in the end more of a positive experience than not, but their latest film is truly the bleakest. Dark but lush both in visuals and sound, Sweeney Todd makes a memorable film experience out of a masterpiece of a musical.

The source material is a major deciding factor in the quality of a film like this, and very few musicals, let alone films, can boast the kind of story and music that Sweeney Todd has. The credit for this must go to Sondheim, of course, whose stage creation simply melds song, scares, and emotion in an unparalleled way. Musically and lyrically, the work of the original stage musical is genius. Listen to the overlapping lines of “My Friends.” Further, the story itself, with its classic themes and unpredictable plotting, is undeniably memorable. The sadness that the audience is left with following the final frame is a testament to how much tragedy is actually there beside all the blood.

Adding the talents of Burton and Depp in tandem to this foundation is simply brilliant. The sort of look and tone that has come to define Burton’s films is a natural fit for Todd, but there is more here than that. Framing and angles are used to the strongest effect, while staging offers some gems, too, as in Mrs. Lovett’s fantasy sequence. This is also where a touch of humor lightens the proceedings.

Burton uses the dichotomy of Todd singing about his long lost daughter while killing people to create a visceral montage sequence. His best directorial decision was to allow the actors, who aren’t professional singers, to perform the songs. We’re used to this in our recent musicals but this invests the production with something special. Depp is a good singer, so much so that you wonder why we haven’t seen this before. Bonham-Carter is also vocally solid, while in the small role of Pirelli, Sacha Baron Cohen delivers the comedy with a surprisingly good voice.

Sweeney Todd looks and sounds stunning, which just improves upon a memorable story.

THE VIDEO

Sweeney Todd is presented in anamorphic widescreen. This is a lush production, and this is a transfer free of any color or picture problems.

THE AUDIO

Sweeney Todd is presented in English 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround. It is excellent for listening at home to the legendary Sondheim music. The French and Spanish language tracks are in the same format. There are also subtitles for all three languages.

THE EXTRAS

Burton + Depp + Carter= Todd: Basically, this is a lengthy making-of doc. There are wonderful interviews with the cast, director Burton, Stephen Sondheim, and more. This is great to watch, as a lot is revealed. The production was already spending money before anyone had heard Depp sing a lick, and we get nice recording studio footage. It’s also nice to hear a veteran like Rickman talk about being intimidated when Sondheim asked him to sing at rehearsal.

Sweeney Todd is Alive: This doc discusses the possible real-life sources of the Sweeney Todd legend and traces the story from its origins to the latest film. The interviews from historians are the treat here. There seems to be general consensus that he didn’t really exist but learning where the myth began is interesting.

Musical Mayhem: Sondheim’s music takes the focus of this doc. An extensive interview with the music legend is the meat and best part of this extra, and others, like screenwriter John Logan chime in as well. Sondheim tells about the origin of his musical, then talks quite intelligently about music in film.

Sweeney’s London: The same historians in “Sweeney Todd is Alive” above appear here, taking the viewer through what London and life in it was like during the time of Todd’s story. The conditions will be familiar with any reader of Dickens but there are some interesting facts here nonetheless.

The Making of Sweeney Todd: Another long making-of like the one above, this time with even more of the interviews with the cast, Burton, Sondheim, and others. The sections with the costume designer, production designer, and director of photography are the best. I like the way Colleen Atwood talks about making the holster for Sweeney’s knife and seeing the actual pies made for the film.

Grand Guignol: The theatrical tradition of which Sweeney Todd is a part is discussed here by experts of the genre and a few of today’s proprietors of it. Lots of gruesome photos of theatre performances accompany talk about the genre. The definition of the term “guignol” starts things off and interesting facts abound throughout. I like that the dimension of a macabre humor is essential alongside the horror for this kind of story.

Designs for a Demon Barber: The look of the film, specifically the costumes and production design, are the focus here. Excellent interviews with costume designer Colleen Atwood and production designer Dante Ferretti are the meat here. Atwood reveals that the barber coat Johnny wears was made out of old sheets and Ferretti talks about sketching from London locations.

A Bloody Business: The blood effects are covered in detail here, and they are actually quite interesting. The person in charge of prosthetics takes us through the molding process for the dummies that will represent the dead bodies, but we also see a sample run of the apparatus that the actors wear during the death scenes that supplies the blood.

Moviefone Unscripted: This interview between Depp and Burton with questions submitted by fans. There are good questions here that illicit some interesting answers. There is some nice humor here, too. Depp reveals that a fan once asked him if he believed in goats, and when Burton asks if he does, Depp responds, “I absolutely believe in goats”!!

The Razor’s Refrain: This is just some of the amazing score set to production photographs. This is nice thing to watch if you want an encapsulization of the story and songs, or you could skip it.

Sweeney Todd Press Conference November 2007: This is footage of the press conference the cast, director, and producer took part in to promote the film. The questions are put on screen with images from the film, then we see the answers. This is a fun watch, everyone has a lot of laughs. Cast member Timothy Spall’s discussion of his character is quite funny and we learn that Alan Rickman paid his voice coach 80 pounds hour.

Photo Gallery: The usual navigation takes the viewer through a nice variety of production stills, behind the scenes photos, and production drawings for the film. Take a look through this at least once.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Sweeney Todd scares and engages in all aspects, direction, performance, and production values. The songs and music are simply a masterpiece. There are excellent special features included in this 2-disc set as well, which would prompt many film fans to buy. Even those who aren’t usually fans of this genre might want to at least rent Sweeney Todd; they might be pleasantly surprised.