Sweeney Todd

Alas, the copy of SWEENEY TODD that I looked at had all the juicy bits chopped out. Moore Marriott's Sweeney is just mad with greed, the essential ingredients in Iris Darbyshire's meat pies is never mentioned and yet whoever did the cutting thought it necessary to leave the prologue and epilogue intact, a modern-dress affair in which Mr. Marriott comes home to await dinner and read about the Mr. Todd; the credits insist it is based on a real story.

It's interesting to see Marriott in a lead role. He did take occasional leads in the 1920s, usually in weird stories like THE MONKEY'S PAW, well suited to his playing older characters. While he is best remembered for playing a toothless geezer in Will Hay comedies in the 1930s, he had done so from the beginning. His first feature was in 1916. Then a mere youth of 31, he played a grandfather. He continued acting through his death at age 64 in 1949. He last screen role was named "Grandpa."