375-379 The Criminal Acts of Tod Slaughter

[MichaelB]

Final specs:



Disc One:



Disc Two:



Disc Three:



Disc Four:

[reaky]

Just arrived, with this cute enclosure.

[MichaelB]

Enjoy!

(Although I honestly can’t imagine anyone not enjoying these.)

[MichaelB]

A typically massive review from CineOutsider:

My eyes are opened. As I noted at the start of this overlong review, my early memories of Tod Slaughter were coloured by the narrow tastes of youth and the shocking state of the prints that were screened on the small-screen TVs of the day. The British film history owes a debt to those who carried out the restorations of the eight films in this set, and watching them has been an immensely enjoyable revelation. A glorious octet of films by one of the unjustly unsung superstars of early British sound cinema, looking better than any of us could ever have imagined, each with a terrific commentary track and backed up by a wonderful set of extras. No question, this absolutely gets my nomination for Blu-ray box set of the year. Tod Slaughter rules!

[reaky]

It’s Never Too Late to Mend is topped and tailed with homilies about prison reform and features a cleric who brandishes crucifixes like a Home Counties Van Helsing, but it remains a vehicle for Tod to abuse his position as squire, lech after a local girl, twirl his moustache and as ever, get backed into a corner by his nemeses at the end and threaten them with a one-bullet flintlock. The steel wallmounted “jacket” they squeeze a teenage prisoner into is truly nightmarish.

[therewillbeblus]

It’s Never Too Late to Mend is interesting if viewed as a black comedy on prison reform, and particularly how the adults who despite and condescend to children to gain a sense of power have no higher skills, maturity, or morality of their own. The absurd nature of Slaughter's performative brand helps, as he's evilly passionate about upholding his superior position and nonsensical in his logic when communicating in polite society. He barely skates by, and one wonders how he himself evaded the fate of these children while growing up! The melodrama amongst other characters is so heightened that it becomes alien (e.g. the third-act soliloquy from a cell) and humorous as a zoomed-out macro look at how adults are no better than children, even the moral and skilled principals. They can be worse, though, because there's no excuse for infantile behavior anymore!

So far, The Crimes of Stephen Hawke is my favorite, because Slaughter's mania just feels so much more appropriate as a sociopathic omnivore. The opening, which MichaelB explained the shock details of upthread, really sets the tone for what kind of character this is, and so everything through the ending felt earned due to the portrayal's consistency. Sometimes Slaughter seems like he's just laying back until he lashes out, but in that one, there was a constant sense of menace hidden underneath, just barely, even when he's 'fitting in'. I love that subtle shift in attention, gravitating more to his idiosyncratic tics than the activity surrounding him.

I'm hoping the back half of the set gets even stronger - so far, it's okay, but I do feel like I'm getting in a rhythm.