Sweeny Todd certainly appears to be Demon Possessed as he goes about a murderous rampage after returning to Fleet Street after being wrongfully imprisoned for about 15 years. He discovers that his wife is dead and that his daughter has been adopted by the man who imprisoned him. And so the journey begins. He ultimately looses everything in search of revenge.
This London Musical opened on Broadway in March of 1979 and was revived in 1989 winning numerous awards with its dark tones. The bloody musical made it way to the silver screen in the summer of 2007.
Johnny Deep lead the cast, which also included Helen Bonhm Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen and Timothy Spall.
The most beautiful part of this nocturnally morbid film is the detail in the costumes. The mid-19th century full gowns, with rich fabrics and lace and men’s accessories such as capes and canes sets “Sweeny Todd” apart from other musical movies. It was fashionable for men to wear top hats and lacy shirt. While the present day parts of the movie are dark, gloomy, and seem to be drained of all color, the flash backs are bright and colorful. Tones of gray, black, bronze, bronze, green and burgundy fill the screen.
Sweeny Todd (Johnny Depp) has one strip of white hair among his too black hair adding to his madding demeanor. His face is also whitened with make up to make him look pale He wears white button down shirts neckties and vests.
Mrs. Lovett (Helen Bonhm Carter), the lonely owner of a decrepid bug infested bakery, opens her home and heart to Todd, who she always secretly loved. Her clothes are ragged although you can see they once were fine from the tule edges and beaded decorations. Her hair is always in a tussled state of disarray. In the film, Mrs. Lovett’s costumes are far superior to those worn in the original Broadway production.
Pirelli (Sacha Baron Cohn) is a magician of sorts, who travels tricking people out of their money. He is the only one who wears bright colors present day. When we first meet him, he wears a bright indigo short jacket and pants set with bronze embellishments with a billowy collar and ruffled cuffs.
Sweeny Todd closed on Broadway but is still playing in London and of course can be seen on DVD.
(photo from idbm.com)
looks good!
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