threeoranges (![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} threeoranges) wrote, |
Ah well - if you liked it "as was", then at least this film hasn't put people off the awesomeness that is Sondheim.
I'll give you an example of what I thought was a wrong turn. In the film you had that bewildering "See my porn?" scene between Turpin and Anthony, followed by the "you gandered, you gandered!" line and then the Beadle throwing Anthony out with that bewildering line about "your pretty brains all over the pavement."
In the musical, however, Anthony turns to a bird-seller and buys a bird for Johanna.
ANTHONY: He sings bravely. (watches the cage) But why does he batter his head so wildly against the bars?
BIRD SELLER: We blinds 'em, sir! That's what we always does. Blind 'em and, not knowing night from day, they sing and sing without stopping, pretty creatures.
Anthony gives the bird to Johanna, they share a "tender moment", then the Judge spots them and interrupts.
JUDGE (To BEADLE): Dispose of him! (He strides toward the house)
JOHANNA: Oh dear! I knew it!
BEADLE (Fondling the truncheon, to ANTHONY): You heard His Worship.
ANTHONY: But, friend, I have no fight with you.
(The BEADLE takes the cage from him, opens its door, takes out the bird, wrings its neck and then tosses it away)
BEADLE: Get the gist of it, friend? Next time it'll be your neck.
Now, to me, that is FAR more dark than the clumsy "sexual pass" made by the Judge to Anthony. It even dares to comment on the exploitation of the weak and vulnerable for the pleasure of the rich, a theme that still makes us uncomfortable today.
I suppose it's "diff'rent strokes" in the end, but if you have time (I understand you may be busy for a while *winkwink*) have a look on YT for a theatrical version of the musical. Maybe you'll come away preferring Burton, but give it a chance?
I'll give you an example of what I thought was a wrong turn. In the film you had that bewildering "See my porn?" scene between Turpin and Anthony, followed by the "you gandered, you gandered!" line and then the Beadle throwing Anthony out with that bewildering line about "your pretty brains all over the pavement."
In the musical, however, Anthony turns to a bird-seller and buys a bird for Johanna.
ANTHONY: He sings bravely. (watches the cage) But why does he batter his head so wildly against the bars?
BIRD SELLER: We blinds 'em, sir! That's what we always does. Blind 'em and, not knowing night from day, they sing and sing without stopping, pretty creatures.
Anthony gives the bird to Johanna, they share a "tender moment", then the Judge spots them and interrupts.
JUDGE (To BEADLE): Dispose of him! (He strides toward the house)
JOHANNA: Oh dear! I knew it!
BEADLE (Fondling the truncheon, to ANTHONY): You heard His Worship.
ANTHONY: But, friend, I have no fight with you.
(The BEADLE takes the cage from him, opens its door, takes out the bird, wrings its neck and then tosses it away)
BEADLE: Get the gist of it, friend? Next time it'll be your neck.
Now, to me, that is FAR more dark than the clumsy "sexual pass" made by the Judge to Anthony. It even dares to comment on the exploitation of the weak and vulnerable for the pleasure of the rich, a theme that still makes us uncomfortable today.
I suppose it's "diff'rent strokes" in the end, but if you have time (I understand you may be busy for a while *winkwink*) have a look on YT for a theatrical version of the musical. Maybe you'll come away preferring Burton, but give it a chance?