Sweeney Todd and Benjamin Barker: A Review

We all know the movie Sweeney Todd: Demon Barber of Fleet Street, but how does this edition compare to the actual man?

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street directed by Tim Burton, December 21^st 2007

            I fell in love with Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street three years ago when I saw it in theatres for the first time. Thus, it was the obvious choice for my movie review. A movie similar to Sweeney Todd is From Hell, directed by Albert and Allen Hughes, also starring Johnny Depp.  This movie is similar to Sweeney Todd in that it is about a serial killer from England in the 19^th century; except, of course, From Hell isn’t a musical and Benjamin Barker came before Jack the Ripper.  Benjamin Barker’s first murder was in 1767 (Gribben) and Jack the Ripper’s was in 1888 (Ryder). 

            The movie Sweeney Todd is set between 1767 (his first murder) and 1801.  I make this assumption based on the tyranny displayed in the movie. Both the actions and the dates run parallel to the reign of King George III, which lasted from 1760 �" 1820 (Edgar 527) and because Barker was first put on trial December 1, 1801 (Gribben).  If his first murder was in 1767 and he was put on trial in 1801, logic mandates the movie must have taken place between the two dates. 

Benjamin Barker was the true name for Sweeney Todd, who was a real person.  He was born in 1748 and was hanged on January 25, 1802 at the age of fifty-four (Gribben). Benjamin Barker’s personal character was accurately portrayed in the movie Sweeney Todd, even if a few of the details were skewed. For example, Barker’s first killing was over jealousy, not territory as it is in the movie. His wife was “a woman of reportedly loose morals” (Gribben) rather than “virtuous”, as she is frequently referred to in the film.  Johnny Depp did bring Benjamin Barker to life and showed how depraved he was: a ruthless murderer with no respect for human life.  But then there was Mrs. Lovett.  She and Todd were lovers (Gribben).  “She was less than beautiful, according to articles written at the time of her arrest, and her smile came not from her heart, but was as false as the veal filling in her pies” (Gribben).  While it is difficult to see Helena Bonham Carter as ugly, she did accurately portray Mrs. Lovett.  The quote from Mark Gribben says: “her smile came not from her heart, but was as false as the veal filling in her pies”.  Throughout the movie viewers see Mrs. Lovett as a poor woman trying to make ends meet, but she is also a selfish woman who twists the truth to Sweeney Todd about his wife so she can have him for herself.  While these two characters were accurately portrayed, there is one who was not.  Adolfo Pirelli, a.k.a Daniel O’Higgins is a Scottish man pretending to be Italian.  There is not a Daniel O’Higgins from 1767-1801.  This character was added to show the English views of Scottish people at that time and also to show the competition between flying barbers. When Todd is in the crowd saying Pirelli’s Miracle Elixir is made from “piss and ink”, this is a conservative view of how the flying barbers fought.  They were very possessive of the spots their mobile shops were, and sometimes the fights ended in blood (Gribben). 

            Portraying the English views of Scottish people is only one of the things in the movie that touches on subjects we have discussed in class.  Paul Burns says: “John Wilkes and Stuart Lord Bute under King George III spread ‘Scotophobia’ after the Jacobite Rebellion”.  The Stuarts were denied the crown of England and eventually fought against England in 1746.  The Jacobites were defeated, and King George III had whoever had been loyal to them killed.  The Scots were also no longer allowed to play their bagpipes.  This had consequences for England during the American Revolution. Needless to say, the Scottish were all too happy to join the side of the American revolutionaries against the English.

            There was a lot going on in England during the time of Sweeney Todd, and some of it had to do with what was going on in their American colonies.  The Boston Massacre of 1770, where British soldiers were put on trial for firing into a crowd of Americans, led to the Olive Branch Petition.  In the Olive Branch Petition was sent to George III on July 8, 1775. “It was an attempt to assert the rights of the colonists while maintaining their loyalty to the British crown” (Primary Sources).  King George III wanted obedience from the colonies and would not negotiate; he refused the petition.  This led to the Declaration of Independence and many wars.  The Declaration of Independence was written against King George III, which only served to anger him.  With all of this going on politically, it’s no wonder a homicidal barber flew under the radar for so long, committing an obscene number of murders before finally being caught.

            There is a scene in Sweeney Todd where a child is put on trial for stealing. He is found guilty and sentenced to death. Meanwhile, outside the courthouse Judge Turpin and Beadle have a discussion as to whether was truly guilty or not.  They decide that they do not know, but it does not matter because he was probably guilty of something.  “Children trained as pickpockets were hanged for as little as the theft of a handkerchief, and any kind of shoplifting was punishable by death” (Gribben).  This was something that actually happened to poor children during England’s Industrial Revolution.  The life for the poor during this industrialization was so bad that William Hogarth made the famous pictures we still see today.  Todd and Lovett worked well together because he killed the victims and she served them in her meat pies.  Lovett was able to convince Todd in the movie to make the first human meat pie, saying it was a shame to waste a corpse, given the price of meat those days. 

            There was something the British used to get through their horrible daily lives �" Gin.  It came from the Netherlands during the Industrial Revolution and it was cheap!  But not only was it cheap, it also helped the British remain hydrated (the water in England was poisonous) and supplemented their daily caloric intakes.  Benjamin Barker was orphaned because his parents went in search of gin and never returned; this is how he ended up being trained as a cutler (Gribben).  Mrs. Lovett described her apprentice Tobias’ (Toby) drinking as “like a sailor”.  Toby tells her that the children he used to stay with were given it to help them fall sleep at night.  “They used to give it to us in the workhouse so as we could sleep.  Not that you’d want to sleep in that place, ma’am.  Not with the things what happen in the dark” (Sweeney Todd, 2007).  And even though they showed Sweeney Todd drinking gin throughout the movie, Gribben says: “Sweeney Todd drank alone in the taverns, and he was never seen to touch gin, opting instead for the more refined brandy”. 

            Sweeney Todd was a barber, and the profession in those days was different than it is now.  “Besides providing grooming services, barber-surgeons regularly performed dental extractions, bloodletting, minor surgeries and sometimes amputations” (Taylor).  A common practice was bloodletting.  The barber would cut a small incision in the patient and let the blood flow out into a bowl.  They did this to balance one of the four humors said to be out of balance.  According to what we learned in class and what Mark Taylor says on the PBS site, the four humors were: blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile.  Because barbers not only groomed their clients but also performed surgery, Benjamin Barker “placed jars with teeth he had pulled and blood he had let, along with wigs made of human hair he had braided” in his real shop (Gribben). 

            In his review of Sweeney Todd, Robert Ebert said he enjoyed Tim Burton’s film.  Ebert argued that the film ended the way it should, and the themes of romance and revenge were well displayed.  He also saaid that the actors sang well, adding more plot and character development to the film.  I agree wholeheartedly with Robert Ebert.  The way the actors sang did indeed add to rather than distract from the film, especially Johnny Depp’s growling version of Sweeney Todd’s songs.  He added a rock star quality, making Todd seem a little more bad-a*s and a little less demented.  The film does indeed end the way it should: Todd dying over the wife he murdered, Mrs. Lovett’s burning fate, and the boy Toby escaping into the night.  The audience is left to guess at what happens to the lovers.  Do they meet up?  Does Anthony come back to the shop to find the carnage?  No one really knows for sure.

            In another review of Sweeney Todd, Yorgo Douramacos claims that the film is too gory and takes away Todd’s humanity, which apparently is shown more in the play.  Having never seen the play I have no comment, but I can argue on the gore.  Douramacos says: “the film is less than enjoyable for being so oppressively dark and as pure entertainment it is a bit too similar to an edition of the eleven o’clock news to cash in as fun”.  Sweeney Todd is written about the serial killer Benjamin Barker in London.  It doesn’t get much gorier than that. If the movie hadn’t been gory it wouldn’t have held true to the “man behind the mask” as it were. Also, not every movie is made for “pure entertainment”. Has anyone ever sat down and watched Schindler’s List for its entertainment value? Sweeney Todd’s lack of fun, frilly, family entertainment hardly counts against it in my opinion.  Duramacos does say: “The performances and set design of Sweeny Todd are triumphs of burlesque”.  I am in total agreement with this statement. Imagery has always been a hallmark of Tim Burton films.

            Even though I cannot say if the film is like the play, I can say what is not consistent with history.  For starters, let’s discuss the scene that shows the market.  In the film it is a clean market�"the streets are clean of debris such as papers, foodstuff, typical market things, and (perhaps most notably) are clean of water and “mystery liquids”.  This is not consistent with William Hogarth’s “City Life” portrait in which the streets are overflowing with filth.  Another thing not consistent with history: Benjamin Barker had a daughter in the film. She was imprisoned by Barker’s sworn enemy, Judge Turpin.  These characters were added so Benjamin Barker had yet another motive for killing and going mad. They made his character seem less the embodiment of “pure evil”�"he was almost sympathetic, making him easier for the audience to relate to. Or, perhaps the plotline is added to reiterate the terrors of the times. They make out the foul and corrupt judge to be worse than the murderous Todd.  In the movie, Sweeney Todd says: “it's man devouring man, my dear.  And who are we to deny it in here” (Sweeney Todd, 2007).  It also wasn’t Barker’s wife Lucy who took the poison; it was Mrs. Lovett while in prison.  After Mrs. Lovett was arrested, she confessed everything she and Todd had done. Having tattled on the love of her life, she drank the poison and died in captivity (Gribben).  Thomas Preckett Prest (who wrote the first Sweeney Todd tale and was known for using real life events for his stories (Taylor).) thought it would be more romantic if Barker’s wife Lucy took the poison instead.  It also set him up nicely for the plot twist at the end.

            Even though there are fictional events, there is some factual history.  The buildings throughout the film were grimy and run down.  There was smog in London, which was true to the times because they used a lot of coal for energy.  Coal is not a clean source of energy.  There is also a scene where the camera scans the city as Todd walks from the ports to Fleet Street.  During this scene the audience gets a view consistent with Hogarth’s picture: there are vermin in the street, people passed out beside the buildings, and w****s in their windows.  The film also shows the distinction between the upper and lower classes of the time.  Judge Turpin, who is part of the upper class, is wearing silk clothes throughout the movie and lives in a clean townhome on the nice side of London where everyone is dressed well.  Mrs. Lovett, who is part of the lower class, is shown wearing rags, has bugs in her shop, and blows dust off her plates before serving the pies in the beginning of the film.  After deciding to serve the bodies in the meat pies, Sweeney Todd says, “Those above will serve those down below” (Sweeney Todd, 2007).

            Sweeney Todd, although not entirely historically accurate, does give viewers a taste of what London was like between the years 1767 and 1801.  Even though not all the characters in the movie were actual historical figures, Sweeney Todd (a.k.a Benjamin Barker) and Mrs. Lovett were.  I would recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys campy gore, Jack the Ripper…or anything by Tim Burton.

           

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bibliography:

 

Burns, Paul.  “David Collins and Robert Ross”.  Being a History Head and Other Things.  28

December 2009.  <

collins-and-robert-ross.html>

 Douramacos, Yorgo.  Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber on Fleet Street.  Movie-Vault.com. 

2007.  <

street/>

Ebert, Roger. Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.  Editorial.  Chicago Sun-Times.

21 December 2007.  Web. <>

Edgar, Robert R., et al. “Absolutism and Limited Central Power in Europe, 1650-1774”. 

Civilizations Past and Present Volume II from 1300.  Ed. Janet Lanphier.  New York:

Pearson Education, 2008.  527.  Print.

Gribben, Mark.  Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.  Crime Library on

TruTv.com. 2010.  Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. A Time Warner Company. 

<>    

Primary Sources in American History.   The Olive Branch Petition.            <>

Ryder, Stephen P.  Casebook: Jack the Ripper.  Thomas Schachner.  1996-2009.

<www.casebook.org/timeline.html>

 

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.  Dir. Tim Burton.  With Johnny Depp,

Helena Bonham Carter, and Sacha Baron Cohen.  DreamWorks Home Entertainment, 2007.

Taylor, Mark.  Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street in Concert. 2001.  PBS. 31

October 2001.  <>