Tod Slaughter
Actor · 1885 – 1956 · Newcastle Upon Tyne, England, UK
Tod Slaughter took to the stage in 1905 and made a name for himself as the star villain of numerous Victorian melodramas which he toured around England. Many of these were filmed cheaply in the 30s and 40s by quota-quickie tzar George King. His ham performances are perfectly suited to the material and the best of his films give the impression that if the Victorians could have made features they would have looked like this
Movies21
- Movie7.0Drama
After the Local council he works for decides to replace its horse-drawn services with motor vehicles, one of the drivers spends his savings to buy the horse. Together they search the countryside looking for work, and meeting an assorted group of characters on the way.
Song of the Road
1937 · 2 votes
Movie6.3CrimeDramaIn this lurid melodrama, Tod Slaughter plays a villain who murders the wealthy Sir Percival Glyde in the gold fields of Australia and assumes his identity in order to inherit Glyde's estate in England. On arriving in England, "Sir Percival" schemes to marry an heiress for her money, and, with the connivance of the cunning Dr. Isidor Fosco, embarks on a killing spree of all who suspect him to be an imposter and would get in the way of his plans to stay Lord of the Manor.
Crimes at the Dark House
1940 · 18 votes
Movie5.7DramaCrimeIt is England in the 1830s. London's dockside is teeming with ships and sailors who have made their fortune in foreign lands. Sweeney Todd, a Fleet Street barber, awaits the arrival of men whose first port of call is for a good, close shave. For most it will be the last time they are seen alive. Using a specially designed barber's chair, Sweeney Todd despatches his victims to the cellar below, where he robs them of their new found fortunes and chops their remains into small pieces. Meanwhile, Mrs Lovett is enjoying a roaring trade for her popular penny meat pies.
Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street
1936 · 51 votes
MovieDocumentaryThis rare film of stage actor and later cinema star Tod Slaughter opens with a view of St Paul's over the river and the bright lights of Piccadilly at night. Then the film moves off to the old Elephant Theatre on the New Kent Road, where Slaughter stars in a military melodrama. After the show, the film ends with a look at the Rowton House in Southwark, a hostel for the poor much admired by George Orwell.
Movie5.7DramaHorrorIn 1880, the criminal called The Wolf is responsible for a murderous rampage in France. When the Brisson Bank is robbed in Paris and the employee Michelle is murdered, the wealthy Chevalier Lucio del Gardo is the only chance to save the bank. Chevalier proposes to the owner M. de Brisson to deposit a large amount of gold, but in return he would like to marry his daughter Cecile. However, Cecile is in love with the efficient clerk Lucien Cortier that belongs to the lower classes and refuses the engagement. In order to get rid off the rival, Chevalier uses evidences to incriminate Lucien, manipulating the incompetent Parisian chief of police.
The Face at the Window
1939 · 23 votes
Movie5.8HorrorTod Slaughter goes about the countryside strangling everybody. His evil scheme is to destroy the family who wronged him. He has a secret lab complete with a torture chamber, featured in the films climax. Probably the most maniacal portrayal Tod ever gave.
The Curse of the Wraydons
1946 · 5 votes
Movie5.2MysteryHorrorHart and Moore are grave-robbers who provide cadavers to the medical students of 19th-century Edinburgh. When the supply becomes low and demand still great, the two decide to create their own supply, a plan that proves profitable when they stick to vagrants, prostitutes and drunkards. But when they poison likable Jamie, the townsfolk retaliate. NB: This film was originally written to be about Burke and Hare, but after it was completed, the British censors refused to allow its release on the grounds those names themselves were offensive; thus the entire soundtrack was recut so that new names - Hart and Moore - recorded by the film's actors, were cut into the previously recorded lines, replacing the offending "Burke" or "Hare", sentence by sentence.
The Greed of William Hart
1948 · 6 votes
Movie9.0HorrorA manor caretaker relates the tale of a mad squire, and vanishes.
A Ghost for Sale
1952 · 1 votes
Movie6.1DramaAn evil prison administrator cruelly abuses the inmates at his prison, until one day the tables are turned.
It's Never Too Late to Mend
1937 · 7 votes
Movie5.7HorrorMysteryThe film begins in a BBC studio with the 100th edition of "In Town Tonight". Flotsam and Jetsom open with a "topical number". Then there is an interview with a distinguished actor, which dissolves into a performance of one of his famous melodramas about a wicked moneylender etc.
The Crimes of Stephen Hawke
1936 · 13 votes
Movie6.5ThrillerA former police detective turned private investigator is approached by two elderly sisters, who say that someone is terrorising them, but it turns out that the man they believe is responsible is long since dead.
Murder at the Grange
1952 · 4 votes
Movie6.0CrimeThrillerSexton Blake and Tinker foil criminal plot connected with the Tongs, and master-minded by "famous stamp collector" and millionaire.
Sexton Blake and the Hooded Terror
1938 · 8 votes
Movie10.0DocumentaryComedyA flagrant plug for the trusty safety razor disguised as a comic history of shaving, this witty treat was made by EVH Emmett, whose sardonic tones graced many an educational film in the 1930s and 40s. Jumping from the Bronze Age to Ancient Egypt to the dicey barbers of Victorian England (cue Tod Slaughter hamming it up in "Britain's most fruity drama", Sweeney Todd), the film follows the development and mass production of King Camp Gillette's 1890s invention.
Bothered by a Beard
1945 · 1 votes
Movie9.0HorrorTod Slaughter introduces himself in brief vignettes of some of his most famous parts (Sweeney Todd, Squire William Corder, etc.)
Pots of Plots
1938 · 1 votes
Movie5.6CrimeDramaIn 1820s rural England, a young girl is tricked by tales of marriage from a villainous Squire. When she becomes pregnant and disappears, a gipsy lad is blamed.
Maria Marten, or The Murder in the Red Barn
1935 · 19 votes
- MovieTV MovieHorror
BBC live outside broadcast from the Theatre Royal, Stratford, of Tod Slaughter’s production of his melodrama Spring-Heeled Jack.
Movie10.0ComedyTod Slaughter’s last big screen appearance on camera, delivering a Sweeney Todd monologue.
Puzzle Corner Number Fourteen
1954 · 1 votes
- Movie6.0DramaCrime
A sinister crook is implicated in blackmail, greed for emeralds, a secret formula and murder. Thee episodes from a 1952 British television series called "Inspector Morley, Late of Scotland Yard, Investigates" were joined together and released theatrically.
King of the Underworld
1952 · 3 votes
Movie5.6HorrorA man is accused of a series of murders that were actually committed by a crazed killer called "The Tiger." He must prove his innocence and catch the murderer.
The Ticket of Leave Man
1937 · 14 votes
Movie7.0HorrorShort skit in which a "Pathetone" reporter tries to interview Tod Slaughter at home, but finds the fiendish fellow is more interested in "polishing him off".
Tod Slaughter at Home
1936 · 1 votes
Movie6.3DramaDarby is a blind girl and Joan is her elder sister. The story revolves around Joan's passion for Yorke - an idle scamp - and her marriage to his uncle, the family benefactor.
Darby and Joan
1937 · 3 votes