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Karel Bata
369 Posts |
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Liz
196 Posts |
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Karel Bata
369 Posts |
 Posted - 01 Feb 2008 : 4:53:52 PM
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I've got to get this out of my system:
Attend the tale of Sweeney Tood.
His face was pale and his eye was odd.
He shaved the faces of gentlemen
Who never thereafter were heard of again…
If Sweeney Todd had come to us out of the blue, with no stage show to precede it, I'd likely be hailing it as a work of genius. Instead we've got a drastically cut down version (and I quote a tearful Dennis Quilley at the last performance in Drury Lane, London) of "the great masterpiece of 20th century musical theatre". Since then it's been performed in opera houses around the world, and even 3 times at our National Theatre. With such high expectations preceding it, how could the film do anything but fail?
I operated the lighting board at Drury Lane (a Rank Strand MMS it was) and saw the show over a hundred times. It changed my life. Or it felt like it did. I've seen several productions since, some very good, but they're all pale imitations of that grand masterpiece. So how much chance is there I would ever like the film?
Fact is, I do think it's rather good. Well, the first hour has been slashed to bits, but the last half hour is terrific, particularly the final tableau. And the supporting cast are top notch - though maybe Rickman's judge is a little too likeable. But so much (so very much) has been lost.
On stage Sweeney ran for 155 minutes plus interval. The screen version is 116 mins. Why? Why lose 39 minutes of an acknowledged masterpiece? Did they think the audience would lose interest? Oliver was 153 mins, South Pacific 157, Sound of Music 174. And they all did good box office.
I can understand some trimming, and generally second acts need a bit of work, but some of the cuts here are ridiculous. After the sailor is beaten he sings a gorgeous reprise of 'Joanna'. On stage it was preceded by a dramatic musical build. But on film he's barely off the floor before he bursts into song. It looks daft. Why did they do that? To save a measly 10 seconds? And throughout the film this keeps happening. One result of this is the young lovers are not fleshed out and look insipid - they exchange admiring looks and without ever speaking are smitten! And their role of bringing something upbeat and optimistic is all but gone. At the end how many in the cinema are aware that Todd's daughter never knew his nor the beggar woman's true identity, and was thus mercifully spared that appalling knowledge? Themes of innocence rubbing up against brutalised experience resonate throughout the stage production, but in the film they're all but lost. And as to the cannibalism? All gone.
The preset to Harold Prince's stage version of Sweeney sported a huge cloth showing "The British Beehive", George Cruickshank's image of the hierarchy of labour in Victorian England:
This is what the audience saw when they came in, foreshadowing Sweeney's lyric: "there's the man with his foot in his proper place, and the man with his foot in the other one's face." Sweeney understood his world - he is a microcosm of the barbarity of the capitalist enterprise, of "who gets eaten, and who gets to eat." Todd is not insane (as Depp's overly 'method' performance hints at) instead he has shifted gear to become a classic existential 'outsider'.
(Oops - maybe I sound a bit pretentious there!  )
So what does the film do? Take a look at the YouTube video just above. We start with Victorian rooftops - St. Paul's is visible in the background (as always we spoon feed the Americans) - a dramatic gloomy score (minus the chorus' lyrics at the top of this post), and drops of rain, then blood. It's top notch CG, and reminiscent of the dark humour of A Nightmare Before Christmas, which I love dearly, but… oh well.
And Todd’s character is now little deeper than Russell Crowe's Gladiator with his equivalent quest for revenge. Look at the US poster - it could be any teen slasher movie: a Victorian Freddy Kruger perhaps?
"Johnny Depp is Sweeney Todd"
And then there's the singing. I rate Mr. Depp's acting very highly. He's one of the finest. But here he comes across as a gloomy Captain Jack Sparrow bursting into song. Todd’s sardonic wit is all but gone. And HBC simply cannot sing. Why did they do that to us? I can see why she'd kill to get that role - and she looks good in it - but why was her voice not dubbed like Nathalie Wood's in West Side Story? But then, who would dare suggest dubbing the voice of the director's wife? Burton says he doesn't like screen musicals (!) and cites 'Tonight' in West Side Story where the couple just "stand there singing to each other." But that's precisely what he gets Depp and HBC to do in 'Worst Pies in London' and 'A Little Priest', two of the stage production's most energetic songs. True, Sondheim said he'd prefer to have actors whose acting is better than their singing rather than the opposite, but here the two just stand around looking gloomy and singing badly.
- To watch full screen click here
Now watch the superb Sheila Hancock:
- To watch full screen click here
Notice how much more activity there is, and how it is very much a part of the composition. Pure Sondheim.
Yes of course a film is going to be different. Things will be lost, but (one would hope) things would also be gained.
And this is where the film really does fail - there's nothing new in terms of content or in performance. It's all done very professionally (bar the singing) like the slick sterile CG titles that say absolutely nothing. But alas, and somewhat bewilderingly for me, $50 million and a genius director brings nothing new to it. Contrast Carol Reed’s film of Oliver. Or Chicago. Or Burton's own brilliant remake of Planet Of The Apes which was brim full of fresh ideas.
So, should you see the film? Absolutely, yes! There's still lots to make it worth your while, it is hugely entertaining, and the last half hour will keep you on the edge of your seat. But really, really, it could have been so much more…
I'll round this off with one of the songs cut from the film, "Kiss Me", one of the lovers' songs, and one of the show's best numbers which demonstrates how much of their roles - and of the uplifting humour which acted as a balance to the carnage - was cut from the show. Stick with it - there's a fantastic reprise.
- To watch full screen click here
As to future Sondheim adaptations: they're talking about doing Company, but I think it's over-rated. My vote goes to Into The Woods, which would have delighted Bruno Bettelheim:
- To watch full screen click here
Or A Little Night Music - a stunning adaptation of Bergman's 'Smiles From a Summer Night'. Here's a song about the humiliations of a failed marriage (now doesn't that sound dull?): http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=QKqw7VK9CYE
And yes, I do know all about Elizabeth Taylor’s appalling version of Send In The Clowns, but I'd (naively) thought we'd seen the last of that kind of thing...
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Liz
196 Posts |
Posted - 03 Feb 2008 : 10:36:10 PM
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That must have taken some effort to write Karel.
That song is so lovely. Why did they cut that? I think it's probably ego:
A Tim Burton Film
Anyway, I've just seen it, and I never saw the stage play so I've nothing to compare it to, so I think the film is fantastic! The singing could be better, but for me it works. It's brilliant. Shame it's an 18, there's a lot of blood. More than Kill Bill. But the kids will see it on video and I predict that Camden Market will be full of Sweeney stuff in a few months. |
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Lee Scoresby
57 Posts |
Posted - 06 Feb 2008 : 1:32:49 PM
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I enjoyed it, but nothing special. Looks good though! |
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Pookie
2 Posts |
Posted - 03 Mar 2008 : 11:51:49 PM
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i enjoyed this film, but there was a lot of singing.
i know this is to be expected with a musical, maybe because i havent seen one in a while it felt like too much... |
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joel
1 Posts |
Posted - 04 Jun 2008 : 12:39:29 PM
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I come a bit late into this conversation, but I have to thank Karel Bata for the review which actually made me want to see the film!!!
I'm no friend of musicals so haven't bothered with it.
But now have to see it!
You guys have such a ... versatile points of view that need to find out what mine are gonna be :) |
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Karel Bata
369 Posts |
Posted - 06 Jun 2008 : 1:54:36 PM
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Make sure to let us know what you think! 
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Sweeney Todd
