Lacking the motivation that made the musical Sweeney Todd more understandable (if equally as reprehensible), Tod Slaughter's Sweeney is a barber of impeccable reputation who seems to slit throats just in order to rob his victims. Of course, he's also a dyslexic Sweeney, flipping the switch to have his barber chair turn upside down, knocking his victims out, and then slicing and dicing so meat pie shop owner Stella Rho can grind em' up. Most of the musical's characters are there, but the villainous Judge Turpin has been changed into a local aristocrat without the lecherous motivations that made that character's dispatchment the most anticipated murder in the musical. The rivalry is between Sweeney and the character of Mark, a sailor in love with Johanna, the governor's daughter. Mark, of course, became the character of Anthony in the musical, a friend of Sweeney's, but here, Slaughter's intentions are to knock him off so he can get Johanna (his daughter in the musical) for himself.The character of the Beedle, so slimy in the musical, has simply been changed into an imperious authoritative character, almost the twin of "Oliver Twist's" Mr. Bumble. The art direction of the connected shops is fascinating, watching Mrs. Lovett leave her pie shop (after giving poor Tobias a huge pie for a penny) and go into the catacombs to get into Sweeney's barber shop. There's no love lost between the two, as evidenced by his cheating her out of half the take of one of his victims, so most of the classic conflict is gone. Even at just over an hour, this "Sweeney" is rather boring, even when comparing to Slaughter's other histrionic melodramas and not taking into account the musical which help make this tale even more of a legend 40 plus years later.

This is only the second Tod Slaughter vehicle I watched after the superior THE FACE AT THE WINDOW (1939), which I had come across during my tenure in Hollywood; I became even more interested in acquiring it after checking out Tim Burton's excellent 2007 filmization of the Stephen Sondheim musical rendition of the popular "barnstormer".While the plot (which, for what it's worth, is given a contemporary framework in this case) is obviously similar, here, the titular figure is unsurprisingly depicted as an out-and-out villain – which the star (Britain's answer to Bela Lugosi rather than Slaughter's own more versatile countryman Boris Karloff) approaches with trademark hamminess, rubbing his hands together and laughing maniacally when about to indulge in his nefarious deeds. Typically, too, he covets a young girl (daughter of a merchant) in love with a poor boy (a sailor on one of his ships) and isn't above blackmailing her father in order to guarantee the mismatched union! Incidentally, when the film opens, barber Todd (and the female owner of a neighboring pie-shop) is already well into the habit of disposing of his customers – his motive being simply greed rather than revenge as in the later film version. By the way, the fact that the victims end up as ingredients in the woman's 'recipe' (via a rotating chair in his shop which sends them tumbling down her cellar!) is merely intimated here – but it's perfectly understandable for a product from 1936. The climax, then, is a bit contrived as both hero and heroine don disguises in order to expose Todd – however, it all leads to a nicely ironic twist when, amidst the flames which have engulfed his establishment, the demon barber gets to make use himself of the very contraption he had devised! In the end, this is watchable – if essentially crude and stodgy – fare which, however, isn't helped by the annoying practice of excessively cleaning up the soundtrack i.e. virtually all noise apart from the dialogue is bafflingly eliminated…except that the former, undercut as it is by relentless hiss and crackle, comes across as muffled most of the time and, thus, rendering the ensuing digital manipulation all the more blatant!

This movie is a blast to watch. It has the perfect blend of horror and comedy and is actually pretty darn hilarious at times. I have now seen 3 adaptations of the Sweeney Todd story; Tim Burton's version, the 1982 version and of course, this one. I still have to say that Burton's version is the best but this one is definitely great and should not be overlooked one little bit.Tod Slaughter is awesome as Sweeney. I can definitely see where the hype for him comes from after seeing this film. The story is slightly different from the musical but I guess it's more true to the original story. It's definitely a simple and cheaply made film but it wins in my book with a great cast and a wonderful story.You'll like this movie if you're a fan of the other Sweeney Todd films. Check it out.

Sweeny Todd, for being as bizarre and crazy as it is, is very, very well made for the time, and for what I can only guess to be a somewhat limited budget. For that alone, George King deserves some sort of high recognition. The film is captivating and flies by as the viewer watches the tale of Sweeny, the homicidal barber. The movie has great comedic elements that show that the creators are not afraid to laugh at their own production a little bit. The aptly named Tod Slaughter does an amazing role as Sweeny Todd and has a creepy laugh that calls back to many an old silver screen sociopath. For a film that I got in a two-movie pack for fifty cents, I think I've certainly gotten a gem. Now, I best not take this gem to the local barber