![]() ![]() The rudimentary components of the tale-the luring of costumers, the false-bottomed chair, the looting, the meat pies-are all here. I’ll be briefly discussing two film antecedents (each of which is steeped in non-filmic traditions in British popular culture) that helped shepherd a sinister and pulpy version of the violent underpinnings of late 19 th and early 20 thcentury London to a predominantly American audience.Īs is now well-known, the character Sweeney Todd first appeared in print in a text called The String of Pearls (which was serialized between 1846-1847), in a story that dates the barber’s misdeeds to 1785. While audiences of Tim Burton’s recent Sweeney Todd (2007) might think of it primarily as a Burtonized film fantasia on Steven Sondheim’s long-lived and much-loved musical, it is important to remember that there are many cultural sources that fed their mutual success. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1936) and Hangover Square (1945) are both part of a somewhat obscured tradition of filmmaking-the heavily melodramatic ‘B’ movie-that, while largely unfashionable amongst many critics, nevertheless continues to resonate with viewers. Originally posted Special Affects, November 1, 2011.
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