Sweeney Todd dogs alerting neighbors and the gendarmes. The two confess, and are summarily burned alive; the houses where the crimes took place are then razed. Whether this version of the story is based on "The String of Pearls" or its dramatisation, or a much older tale alluded to by Féval is unclear. In any case, it may well be the source for some recent versions that move the tale from London to Paris. In 1875, Frederick Hazleton's c. 1865 dramatic adaptation "Sweeney Todd, the Barber of Fleet Street: or the String of Pearls" (see below) was published as Vol 102 of
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007 film) "Full of pith and Grand Guignol grossness, this macabre musical is perfectly helmed and highly entertaining. Tim Burton masterfully stages the musical in a way that will make you think he has done this many times before." Metacritic gave the film an average score of 83 out of 100, based on 39 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". "Sweeney Todd" appeared on many critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2007. Of the reviewers, "Time" rated it an A-minus and added, "Burton and Depp infuse the brilliant cold steel of Stephen Sondheim's score with a burning passion. Helena Bonham Carter