In 1960, British maestro Michael Powell directed Peeping Tom, a seminal psychological horror-thriller, written by Leo Marks, and starring Carl Boehm.
The film centers on a serial killer who murders women while using a portable camera to record their horrible and horrifying dying expressions.
An exercise in self-reflexivity (before the concept was even invented), Powell used the story as a meditation on the very creation and viewing of cinema. He dissects the nature of voyeurism in all its manifestations, consequences, and dangers.
Nominally, the film is about the relationships between Mark and his father, which impacts his relationships with his victims. Vut the film’s psychology is more complex, going beyond Freudian treatment of patriarchy (father and son).
Peeping Tom incorporates the “self-reflexive camera” as a plot device, as well as the themes of child abuse, sadomasochism, scopophilia and fetishism.
Moreover, several critics argue that the film is as much about the voyeurism of the audience as they watch the protagonist’s actions.
Initially, the film’s controversial character and its extremely harsh reception by critics had a severely negative impact on Powell’s career as a director in the UK.
However, it attracted a cult following, and in later years, it has been re-evaluated and is now widely considered a more significant movie.
Historically, Peeping Tom was released several months before Psycho, but whereas the later enhanced Hitchcock’s career and commercial appeal, the former destroyed the career of one of England’s and the world’s greatest filmmakers, previously known for such masterworks as Black Narcissus and The Red Shoes.
Both Peeping Tom and Psycho are regarded as progenitors of the future genre of the slasher movie.
The BFI named it the 78th greatest British film of all time. In a 2017 poll of 150 actors, directors, writers, producers and critics, Time Out ranked it as the 27th best British film ever.
The score, composed by Brian Easdale, contains a part for solo piano, performed by Australian virtuoso Gordon Watson.
Cast
Carl Boehm (Karlheinz Böhm) as Mark Lewis
Columba Powell as young Mark Lewis (uncredited)
Moira Shearer as Vivian
Anna Massey as Helen Stephens
Maxine Audley as Mrs. Stephens
Brenda Bruce as Dora
Miles Malleson as elderly gentleman customer
Esmond Knight as Arthur Baden
Martin Miller as Dr. Rosan
Michael Goodliffe as Don Jarvis
Jack Watson as Chief Insp. Gregg
Shirley Anne Field as Pauline Shields
Pamela Green as Milly, the model
