Tod Slaughter
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
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
The Face at the Window
Maria Marten, or The Murder in the Red Barn
Crimes at the Dark House
The Ticket of Leave Man
The Crimes of Stephen Hawke
Sexton Blake and the Hooded Terror
It's Never Too Late to Mend
The Greed of William Hart
The Curse of the Wraydons
Murder at the Grange
Darby and Joan