Who watched Sweeny Todd?

[cherrybomb]

Ray winstone can do no wrong (IMHO)

Great!!

[strandliner]

I agree, he was mesmerizing. A brilliant performance, yet again.

[Dreddnaught]

Well, I'm sorry, I WAS expecting another fantastic performance from the ever reliable Mr. Winstone, but I thought it was utter pants.

For something that has been lauded as much as this in teevee mag's for the past two weeks, I was completely disappointed.

[Postdog]

I did, and I thought he, her, and it was absolutely brilliant. I actually recorded it to watch today because it clashed with CSI and Shameless, and on that, maybe you - or someone - can help me.

I recorded it to DVD R, but the disc appears to be a bit dodgy, and some of the story was unplayable. Unfortunately, it seemed to be a crucial part and I'm wondering if someone can fill me in on the part I lost.

I was OK up until the bit he cut his dad's tongue out. My DVD froze just after his dad was in the office of that official bloke, literally on a scene of the pie shop.

I was then able to get it to play from the scene of a funeral, but I have no idea who died, or how they found out about him. Can anyone help?

[cherrybomb]

The funeral is that of the police constable who,s life Sweeney Todd had earlier saved. Later in the film the constable was to learn the grisly truth about the barber which was to be his downfall and reluctantly Sweeney Todd dispatched him the same way as his previous victims. As the constable was a friend however, his body was left in a place where it could be easily found and be given a decent christian burial.

[BriWrite]

Hi Postdog

The funeral was of the policeman that Todd removed the bullet from at the start of the show. He realised that Todd was killing people and supplying mrs Lovett with meat from their bodies for pies. He confronted Todd with the truth and was promptly killed himself and despatched to Mrs Lovett for the pies. Todd was found out eventually when the smell from the bodies remnants he was dumping in the crypt below the church started to smell. He killed Mrs Lovett too as an act of mercy, as she wanted to commit suicide but hadnt the nerve. While he was in prison waiting to be hung, they allowed him to shave himself, and he cut his own throat.

[cherrybomb]

In response to Dreddnaught's citicism about the play being utter pants, a little bit harsh don't you think Would they have prefered some Hollywood overrated actor to have played the part and glamorised the dark, rat infested streets of 18th Century London instead. Ray Winstone put in a perfect performance as the legendary Sweeney Todd, moody, dark and secretive. He would have looked a bit silly doing his brilliant Scum, Fanny & Elvis, Sexy Beast roles in a film that required the main character to be more cunning & sinister and that is exactly what the viewer got. Caps off once again to the brilliant performance of Mr Winstone

[lankeela]

Good performance from Ray Winstone, but I felt the whole thing could have been done in half the time, too much time spent on waiting for someone to say something and nothing happening. Just felt the whole thing was too slow.

By the way, does anyone know if this was a 'true' potrayal of Sweeney Tood's life? Or was it just a dramatisation? I had heard of him of course, but didn't know any details other than he killed people and made them into pies.

[Dreddnaught]

Ok, so my critiscism of it being "pants" was a bit generalised.

But I just found Ray's whole performance odd.

If he wasn't sounding gravelly as possible, he looked like he was going to **** himself, not once looking "cunning" or for that matter "sinister".

I don't mind daring, alternative performances, but as I watched it, I though, what the hell is the point.

[joko]

lankeela - sweeney todd was not real!!

he was the lead character in an opera by stephen sondheim!

my dad thinks he really existed too!

[joko]

lankeela- my apologies! Turns out that although the musical was a dramatisation, it was based on truth- he was real -http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/weird/todd/in dex_1.html />"The intro to Stephen Sondheim�s musical Sweeney Todd, playwright Christopher Bond begins by telling readers �Sweeney Todd is pure fiction.� For 2 centuries theater-goers & penny dreadful fans have been thrilled with the exploits of Sweeney Todd, the murderous barber who dispatched his customers with a flick of the razor & then had his lover serve up the remains in a tasty meat pie, but few gave much thought to whether or not it was a true story. Long before there was Freddy Krueger, or even Jack the Ripper, there was the legend of the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, & most readers assumed it was just that � legend. Bond�s statement that Sweeney Todd is pure fiction is correct in one respect: the Sondheim musical, is a fictional account of the life of Sweeney Todd. Sondheim, who penned the music & lyrics, & playwright Hugh Wheeler adapted an earlier work by Bond, who tailored yet another earlier work by George Dibdin-Pitt. The melodrama by Pitt had its foundation in a contemporary account of Todd�s arrest, trial & execution. Bond asserts while Fleet Street was the home of many unstable & unsavory characters over the years, �no one has ever succeeded in finding a shred of evidence as to the existence of a Demon Barber thereabouts."
someone has now found evidence!
Bizarrely, about 7 years ago i did the set for a stage production of ST & did lots of research & not one of the sources said he was real - all said he was a fictional character!
I think trying to pass off a true story as your own work of literary fiction is a bit out of order though!

[joko]

sorry about all the red!

lankeela- my apologies! Turns out that although the musical was a dramatisation, it was based on truth- he was real -http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/weird/todd/in dex_1.html />

"The intro to Stephen Sondheim�s musical Sweeney Todd, playwright Christopher Bond begins by telling readers �Sweeney Todd is pure fiction.� For 2 centuries theater-goers & penny dreadful fans have been thrilled with the exploits of Sweeney Todd, the murderous barber who dispatched his customers with a flick of the razor & then had his lover serve up the remains in a tasty meat pie, but few gave much thought to whether or not it was a true story. Long before there was Freddy Krueger, or even Jack the Ripper, there was the legend of the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, & most readers assumed it was just that � legend. Bond�s statement that Sweeney Todd is pure fiction is correct in one respect: the Sondheim musical, is a fictional account of the life of Sweeney Todd. Sondheim, who penned the music & lyrics, & playwright Hugh Wheeler adapted an earlier work by Bond, who tailored yet another earlier work by George Dibdin-Pitt. The melodrama by Pitt had its foundation in a contemporary account of Todd�s arrest, trial & execution. Bond asserts while Fleet Street was the home of many unstable & unsavory characters over the years, �no one has ever succeeded in finding a shred of evidence as to the existence of a Demon Barber thereabouts."
someone has now found evidence!
Bizarrely, about 7 years ago i did the set for a stage production of ST & did lots of research & not one of the sources said he was real - all said he was a fictional character!
I think trying to pass off a true story as your own work of literary fiction is a bit out of order though!

[xrayspecs]

I was in a film with Ray Winstone in the late seventies. Despite his gruff exterior he is an articulate and likable chap!

[xrayspecs]

That should have read - "Likeable"

[Eastender]

Very very good. Ray Winstone one of Britains Finest actors. I like everything he has done, although I must say not a lover of the series Vincent. But hes allowed one hiccup.

[cherrybomb]

xrayspecs was the film Scum? I have all Ray Winstones films on dvd so therefore I have you on film too! You don't have to tell me the character if you would rather not just the film. Did you wear glasses in the film? Did your scenes get filmed in the potting shed?

[bulbousdome]

Joke-oh

Seeing your such a lover of stage plays, I must ask you have you Seen the funny musical based on a true story "Lifeguard" starring Michael Barrymore. The songs are fantastic;

Float On

In Too Deep (Somebody throw me a Buoy)

Michael Row the Boat Ashore (Deny All Knowledge)

Runaway (I Was Framed)

How Deep is Your Love (or Swimming Pool)

Twisting By The Pool (Or Whisking)

Don't Leave Me This Way

Ring of Fire

What Classics!

Oh by the way are you in Eastenders?

[joko]

bumfacedome - wrong post, durr!

But thats much better! Quite humourous and treating MB like the joke he is, not like someone only fit for the electric chair!

I can see a smash hit broadway show here, get writing those hits kid!