Freddie as Sweeney Todd
-
Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Freddie Jones
mcfaddensflats — 11 years ago(March 14, 2015 02:56 PM)
He's long been one of our finest, most riveting actors. See him if you can as Sweeney Todd in the "Mystery and imagination" series. I first saw it on TV in 1970 and never forgot his performance as the disturbed barber - I finally saw it again just a few days ago.
-
amyghost — 11 years ago(March 15, 2015 05:43 AM)
I'm in the US and recall clearly seeing this on PBS many years ago. Freddie was brilliant in this, the most genuinely frightening and powerful version of the story I've seen. I would love to be able to see this again.
-
mcfaddensflats — 11 years ago(March 18, 2015 07:06 AM)
The "Mystery and imagination" series is available on DVD in a box set - all the surviving 8 episodes (the idiots wiped or lost most of them!) - "Uncle Silas", "Dracula", "Frankenstein", "Sweeney Todd", "The Suicide club"(which I watched last night) etc. Probably just a UK release. I often buy USA region DVDs here in England and have no problem playing them, I don't know if the US is as multi region adaptable as we are here.
-
amyghost — 11 years ago(March 18, 2015 08:22 AM)
Thanks for the information!
I recently purchased a multi-region Sony player, which is working out very welland has allowed me access to a lot of things I might not have been able to view otherwise. I will definitely be looking into this set; the chance to see this version of Sweeney Todd again will be worth the price, and the other titles sound to be of interest as well. -
mcfaddensflats — 11 years ago(March 19, 2015 05:12 AM)
Our modern TV's with built in DVD players seem to play any region of disk. Multi region recorder playe5b4rs are generally available. Cheap play only DVD machines tend to be just one region.
There's a booklet accompanying the "Mystery and imagination" box set with exhaustive details of the background to the series and all the episodes - and it's sad to see what we've lost, probably forever. Freddie Jones was also the murderer in their adaptation of Poe's "The Tell tale heart" (lost); there were starring appearances by Jeremy Brett (lost) and Edward Woodward (lost). Of the surviving episodes one of my favourites was the adaption of Le Fanu's "Uncle Silas". The last episode of the series, which has survived, is "Curse of the mummy", which must have been one of the worst they made.
Network really do a good job with their UK tv releases
I dislike use of tape for these sort of shows, it's not, in my view, a good medium for creepy ghost/horror stories, and this series has that drawback. It wasn't till the BBC's "Ghost story for Christmas" adaptations came along in the 70's that film was generally used for these things in Britain (the ITV "Journey to the unknown" series from 1968 is on film, but that was very much aimed at the US market). Only 3 episodes of "Mystery" were shot in colour, including "Sweeney Todd", the one episode I can remember seeing at the time - it was broadcast early in 1970, I never forgot it.
Freddie also plays Claudius, the Roman emperor, in "The Caesars" (1968) which is also out as a bo5b4x set in the UK. It's an exceptionally good series.
Glad to be of some help