ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies

SWEENEY TODD is nobody’s idea of a conventional musical. Stephen Sondheim’s sensational saga of the demon barber of Fleet Street was a Broadway success thirty years ago. There are no cheery tunes or happy endings, just a dark tale of revenge, bloody murder and the kind of pie-making that would never gain a seal of approval from the health and safety inspectors.

Tim Burton has now transformed it into a screen triumph with more than a hint of Hammer horror.

Fifteen years after falling foul of the evil Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman), Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp) returns to his old barber’s shop in a grimy corner of Victorian London. He now goes by the name of Sweeney Todd and dreams of the moment that the judge’s lily white throat lies under his razor.

He gains an ally in pie-maker Mrs Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter). Demented with grief and rage, he starts to dispose of anyone who crosses him and Mrs Lovett’s pies become the talk of the town for their secret ingredient. Revenge should taste sweet but the tale of Sweeney Todd is filled with bitter irony and haunting tragedy.

A streamlined version of the Broadway show, Sweeney Todd offers a grim vision of Victorian England in which the only respite from the black soot and dark buildings is the crimson bloody that spurts from Todd’s victims. This is a very graphic film that easily earns an 18-certificate.

Singing like a cross between David Bowie and Anthony Newley, Depp is superb in the title role and Helena Bonham Carter finds a surprising degree of pathos in the character of Mrs Lovett. A really stunning production, if you have the stomach for it.

Nationwide release

Director: Tim Burton
Stars: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Sacha Baron Cohen, Ed Sanders
Screenwriter: John Logan based on the musical by Stephen Sondheim
Certificate: 18
Running time: 116 mins
Country: USA
Year: 2007