The Tale of Sweeney Todd character of Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, originated in an 1846–47 penny dreadful entitled "The String of Pearls". In 1847, George Dibdin Pitt adapted the story for a stage melodrama. A directed by George King was the first screen version. Christopher Bond's 1973 stage adaptation was musicalized by Stephen Sondheim in 1979. Schlesinger's film is a dramatic departure from the previous narratives. It dispenses with all the characters except Todd and Lovett, adds the plotline involving the missing diamonds, and offers a completely different reason for Todd's murder spree. The Victorian era locales were filmed in Dublin,
Sweeney 2 Sweeney 2 Sweeney 2 is a British action film by Euston Films, released cinematically in the UK in 1978. A crime drama about the Flying Squad, a division of London's Metropolitan Police, it was made as a sequel to the successful 1977 film "Sweeney!", which was a spin-off from the popular British television series "The Sweeney" (1974-78). Some of the action in the film is transferred from the usual London setting to Malta. The series was based upon a fictionalised version of the Flying Squad. The term "The Sweeney" is derived from Cockney rhyming slang, originating in the expression "Sweeney