Stephen Sondheim has had something of an up-and-down relationship with the movies. Sure, “West Side Story” became a classic, featuring his lyrics put to Leonard Bernstein’s music. He won an Oscar for “Dick Tracy”; his mystery “The Last of Sheila” (co-written with Anthony Perkins) and his score for “Stavisky” have become cult faves; and he was treated with all reverence due in “Camp.”
On the other hand, the shows that have made him one of the reigning kings of Broadway haven’t had the easiest time segueing to the big screen. “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” certainly has its moments, although the dingy cinematography and some iffy voices do it few favors. And the less said about the disastrous “A Little Night Music” — featuring a warbling Elizabeth Taylor butchering “Send in the Clowns” — the better.
Musical lovers everywhere can heave a sigh of relief, then, that Hollywood has done right by Sondheim with “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” a crackling, blood-drenched, energized adaptation of the tale of a murderous barber (Johnny Depp) out for vengeance and the meat pie–maker (Helena Bonham-Carter) who disposes of the evidence in a flaky crust.
And while movie musicals have long been plagued by stars cast for their box-office appeal rather than for their pipes — a sorry history that covers the likes of Lee Marvin in “Paint Your Wagon” and Will Ferrell in “The Producers” — the cast of “Sweeney” stands comfortably beside their Broadway and London antecedents in successfully performing Sondheim’s songs to their fullest.
The story begins with Todd (Depp) returning to London after spending years in prison for a crime he did not commit. The black-hearted Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman), smitten with the barber’s wife, had his rival incarcerated on a trumped-up charge. Then, for good measure, he raped the lady (who poisoned herself) and has been raising the daughter of the poor woman and the barber as his own, with the intent of one day marrying her. So, you know, it’s not like he doesn’t have the full weight of Todd’s vengeance coming.
Todd sets up shop upstairs from Mrs. Lovett (Bonham-Carter), who’s having a hard time selling what even she calls “The Worst Pies in London” in her first song. Business picks up, go figure, when Todd goes on a murderous spree, slitting throats in his barber chair and then sending victims down the chute to Mrs. Lovett’s oven.
And while stage productions of “Sweeney” tend to be implicit or at least subtle about the blood, director Tim Burton sprays it all over the screen in a manner that would make Italian horror masters like Dario Argento tip their hat. The spray of viscera is so extreme, in fact, to take the movie out of the realm of gore and into the theatrical, melodramatic arena of Grand Guignol.
But don’t let the juicy jugular action scare you off from this brilliant musical — the singing voices of Depp, Bonham-Carter and Rickman are revelations, and this dark, passionate tale represents Burton’s best film since “Ed Wood.” “Sweeney Todd” ranks among this year’s most intense, haunting, and startling films; the fact that it also features great songs by Stephen Sondheim is just gravy on the meat pie.