Random Musings of a Curious Mind


"It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, "The Beryl Coronet"

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Cinema's Best Revenge Scene

Revenge has been a common theme in movies for generations. Who could forget the prom scene at the end of Carrie? After being tormented and abused by her mother, Carrie experiences ridicule at the hands of her classmates. To me, the ultimate movie revenge scene happens after her classmates dump a bucket of pig's blood on Carrie. With her new-found telekinetic abilities, she finally snaps and takes her revenge. Locking the doors to the gymnasium, she sets fires and destroys the building, killing her tormentors.

Now, Tim Burton and Johnny Depp have come together to retell my favorite revenge story - Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. An amazing musical, I first saw a live stage production over 20 years ago in Michigan. Several years later, Showtime broadcast a Broadway production, starring Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Lovett, and I fell in love all over again.

It's not a pretty story. Imagine a simple barber, living with his wife and daughter, over his shop on London's Fleet Street. Enter the villain. A powerful judge wants the barber's beautiful wife for himself. But, in order to get to her, he has to get rid of the barber. So, with the help of the local constable, he charges and convicts Sweeney Todd with a crime that he didn't commit, and sends him to a penal colony in faraway Australia.

Almost 20 years later, after escaping and making his way back to England, Sweeney learns that his wife was attacked by the judge and took her own life, rather than give in to his advances. If that weren't enough, the judge then became his daughter's guardian and is now trying to force her to marry him. What follows is the grim story of a man pushed over the edge.

I had to visit the official Sweeney Todd movie site to see how true to my memory this movie would be. Being a Burton / Depp fan, I imagine that I'm going to be very pleased with their production, and can't wait until it opens. After all, revenge never goes out of style, does it?

Oh, you might also want to visit Sweeney Todd on MySpace and see what great items they have for their friends. I was thrilled.




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God Bless!

Jules

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