Here, as part of the Christmas Week Tod Slaughter Blog-A-Thon masterminded by Joe Monster at From Beyond Depraved, is a glimpse of Mr. Slaughter when you’d expect him to be out of character. The problem is, he apparently never was!
Tod Slaughter, for those who don't know, was an actor who specialized in playing villains on the British stage. He became strongly identified with Sweeney Todd, and went on to play him in the first filmed version of that famous gory story. This "newsreel" introduces movie audiences to Slaughter just as that film arrived in cinemas. You can tell the man really loves his work (just a little too much, in fact, as this luckless "journalist" is about to find out!)
This appeared with other “newsreels” by the Pathe company between feature films at the local cinema. It was, of course, really an ad for Slaughter’s 1936 film “Sweeney Todd, Demon Barber Of Fleet Street.”
Sadly, there are no films featuring Mr. Slaughter as an evil Santa. He would have made a great one, but such an idea would have been way ahead of its time.
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This is a great post, Jack! Believe it or not, I'm planning to put this up on FBD later in the week myself. Great minds... I love this interview with Slaughter; thanks for participating and sharing it with all of your readers!
ReplyDeleteAnd you're totally right about the evil Santa. I was thinking the exact same thing the other day. Can't you just see him axing up some tots in a cheesy slasher? If only Slaughter could have graced us with a portrayal of Father Christmas... what a better world this would have been!
Glad you liked it, Joe! When I found this "interview," I wondered if anyone else would beat me to it -- glad there's no conflict!
ReplyDeleteHere's wishing you and everyone participating great success with the Blog-A-Thon -- and Happy Holidays!
This clip is terrific! I love it. Slaughter's in rare form here. I can't feel too sorry for the "journalist" however; anyone who submits to a shave from ole Toddy deserves what they get!
ReplyDeleteFabulous! Love it. And, yup, he would have rocked bad Santa. Toddy is wonderful. As are you, Jack.
ReplyDeleteThen that's something we have in common, Jinx! Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI'm now picturing Toddy as Santa cracking the whip on the elves. :-)