58 Peeping Tom

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Martha · #1 Post by **Martha** » Sat Feb 12, 2005 9:22 pm

Peeping Tom

[img]http://criterion_production.s3.amazonaws.com/release_images/440/58_box_348x490_w100.jpg[/img]

A frank exploration of voyeurism and violence, Michael Powell’s extraordinary film is the story of a psychopathic cameraman—his childhood traumas, sexual crises, and murderous revenge as an adult. Reviled by critics upon its initial release for its deeply unsettling subject matter, the film has since been hailed as a masterpiece.

Disc Features

- New widescreen digital transfer, created from restored film elements and enhanced for widescreen televisions
- Audio essay by renowned film theorist Laura Mulvey
- Stills gallery of rare behind-the-scenes production photos
- A Very British Psycho, directed by Chris Rodley: the Channel 4 U.K. documentary about the life of screenwriter Leo Marks, as well as the making and critical reception of Peeping Tom
- Original theatrical trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired
- Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition

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Lino · #2 Post by **Lino** » Sun Feb 13, 2005 5:31 am

One of my favorite movies and a total surprise when I finally got to see it.

I especially liked the documentary included on the disc about the author of the screenplay who turned out to be a very special individual and the closest thing to a real spy/secret agent you'll ever be likely to know.

One very interesting thing to note is that the year that this one came out - 1960 - was also the year that another famous serial killer movie was unleashed to the masses: Alfred Hitchcock's very own Psycho. Two killer movies (literally!) and made by two british masters. One got lucky (Ed Gein was still hot news and that eventually helped Psycho), the other did not (prudish british mentality of the time did some considerable damage to the author of the movie and the movie itself).

#3 Post by **Mr Sausage** » Sun Feb 13, 2005 1:29 pm

Everyone likes to link this movie with Psycho--a very British Psycho is often the claim--and yet I've always found as much an affinity with Rear Window as with Psycho, especially because Psycho's voyeuristic themes are fairly muted in comparison.

In any case, this is all topical and doesn't carry much beyond surface value. More marketing than anything.

Steven H · #4 Post by **Steven H** » Sun Feb 13, 2005 3:00 pm

I agree... Definitely more Rear Window. I can almost imagine a few sequences from the Hitchcock film happening in this. I wonder what Stewart would have done if he'd been across the street from Bohm's Carl Lewis? I was also thinking about why Vivian's mother is blind in the film... or why she has a paranormal insight. A good enough reason to watch it again.

I haven't seen Kieslowski's Camera Buff, but was wondering if there was a connection to this film.

iangj · #5 Post by **iangj** » Sun Feb 13, 2005 3:50 pm

harri wrote:I haven't seen Kieslowski's Camera Buff, but was wondering if there was a connection to this film.

No, I'd say.

bcsparker · #6 Post by **bcsparker** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 9:42 pm

Definitely one of my favorites in the Collection. When Anna Massey says "show me" in Mark's room, that is a powerful scene. Anybody else develop a crush on her after seeing this? Tell me I'm not alone...

BWilson · #7 Post by **BWilson** » Wed Feb 23, 2005 1:24 pm

Annie Mall wrote: (Ed Gein was still hot news and that eventually helped Psycho)

Huh? Saying the film's success was due to anything but Hitchcock's having made a brilliantly entertaining film, and it being brilliantly marketed, is blasphemy. Ed Gein was not "hot" news at the time, nor was he some major part of American conciousness. If anything he only became known much later due to the success of Psycho and Texas Chainsaw.

bcsparker · #8 Post by **bcsparker** » Wed Feb 23, 2005 1:53 pm

Hey guys, carry on the Hitchcock conversation someplace else.

BWilson · #9 Post by **BWilson** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 4:15 pm

Considering how frequently the two films (Peeping Tom and Psycho) are compared. I think a bit of discussion about Psycho is appropriate.

oldsheperd · #10 Post by **oldsheperd** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 4:27 pm

Hitchcock however did think Peeping Tom was the movie he wanted Psycho to be.

Napier · #11 Post by **Napier** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 12:53 am

I just spun this little jewel for the sixth time!I love this DVD more with each viewing,I think it is just great!Tooze didn't think the disc was that hot, but I feel fortunate enough that Criterion brought this piece to home viewing! A triumph for Criterion, Powell, and MS, may he some day win BD 8-)

Cinéslob · #12 Post by **Cinéslob** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 7:03 pm

I just thought I'd provide a link to the BBC radio show Michael and Martin - broadcast earlier today - documenting the friendship between Powell and Scorsese, featuring an interview with the latter. No great revelations are to be gleaned from it, but it's an interesting and touching program nonetheless.

I wasn't quite sure where to post this, so please, feel free to move if needs be.

Anonymous · #13 Post by **Anonymous** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 9:03 am

Hi. I saw Peeping Tom at the National Film Theatre's Powell retrospective in London in August and I saw a shot I'd never seen in it before. At one point, a blue veil is pulled back from in front of the camera (I think it's before or during the birthday party sequence).

It's not on the UK Region 2 release and I'm pretty sure it's not on the Criterion. It's also not mentioned in any study I've read of the movie. Is this a rogue print? Please help if you have any info.

soma · #14 Post by **soma** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 4:57 pm

I haven't seen any Powell as yet, but I'm considering grabbing this on a blind buy. I guess I'm wondering how good it is and whether I'll like it as much as I'm anticipating. If I love films such as Psycho, Les Diaboliques, Rear Window, Blow Up... is it pretty much a given that I'll appreciate this?

I'm also wondering if anyone has heard news on a potential re-release from Criterion? Should I hold off? Or is this as good as it's going to get for the foreseeable future? Is this release even that bad??

tryavna · #15 Post by **tryavna** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 5:29 pm

As far as your enjoyment of the movie itself is concerned, I think you'd like it -- based on the movies you listed. It has many obvious parallels with PSYCHO. As David points out, the disc could stand an improvement, though it seems even less likely than RED SHOES and BLACK NARCISSUS (based on what's going on in R2-land). But there's always the possibility of renting it.... Or getting it used or during the next Deep Discount sale.

soma · #16 Post by **soma** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 7:43 pm

Cheers david and tryavna for the replies. I might rent this for now - definitely look forward to seeing it.

And yes, hanging for the next DDD sale in November. Massive order awaits!

Tribe · #17 Post by **Tribe** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 10:59 pm

davidhare wrote: the dreadful Laura Mulvey commentary...

Not the best commentary, but not that awful..I mean, how else does one look at Peeping Tom if not from a phalo-centric viewpoint?

Tribe

Greathinker · #18 Post by **Greathinker** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 10:59 pm

I think this film is in need of an update on DVD. Is criterion still the best way to go? Anyone own the studio canal version or know of its image quality?

Gordon · #19 Post by **Gordon** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 1:08 am

I'm not sure if a new edition would be viable - but then Grey Gardens (a terrific film) has been revisted, so maybe anything is fair game. I had to turn off the Mulvey commentary, which I found lumbering and repetitive. As for the video quality (Beaver review) it is a classic example of the 'waxy transfer' - very unnatural colour, very grainy in places and those are qualities that one doesn't associate with Powell, but it was late-50s British Eastmancolor which usually looks like poop, but Anchor's transfer of The Lady Killers (saw it again the last night - laughed my head off) also shot by Otto Heller, is very beautiful. Criterion's transfer was from the "restored 35mm interpositive" which seems odd as a restoration is usually finalized with a negative; maybe it is just clumsy wording. High-def and sensible clean-up and colour-correction would greatly improve the image, no doubt.

colinr0380 · #20 Post by **colinr0380** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 9:47 am

I was looking through some blogs earlier today when I came across this entry on Peeping Tom:

This is the first Powell film I've seen and I'd be up for seeing more, though I hear this is the anomaly in his oeuvre. I can see how this film was overshadowed by Psycho, which came out in the same year, and I think it's fair to see that Peeping Tom really isn't as good as Psycho. What it is, however, is a rather remarkable look at scopophilia and how one man's guilt from being a peeping tom can turn into violence at the expense of his subjects. Every scene is well crafted and the colors are quite striking, maybe even along the lines of Argento. De Palma seems to have also stolen some plot lines from this film (say in Body Double or Raising Cane) and I know Scorsese was a big fan of Powell, and I'm sure since this is Powell's most violent piece that Scorsese was a big fan of this one. Actually, after thinking about it for a while, this film is maybe a bit more reminiscent of Hitchcock's Frenzy than Psycho. I'll recommend it to those who are interested in British psychological thrillers from the 1960s.

So I was inspired to post this in reply, and thought I'd also put it here since I haven't posted anything on this thread yet:

An interesting breakdown of the film! I'd agree with you - Psycho is in some ways the more 'modern' of the two films, while some of the settings of Peeping Tom seem quaint now, like the prostitute or the film studio.

I like this film very much (I can't say it is one of the best films Michael Powell ever made, simply because so many of his films are classics - my absolute favourite is A Matter Of Life And Death, but Peeping Tom is definitely up there and proved his individual potential outside his relationship with Emeric Pressburger, albeit a potential that was soon crippled) and I think your comparison with the later Frenzy is very interesting (Frenzy is also a great film - you might like to know that this film appears to have been banned from British television after complaints. The last time it was shown was in 1995 - luckily I taped it! Lovely! The only other film that I think has incurred a British TV ban following a screening in the last decade is Ken Loach's Ladybird, Ladybird after it was shown by Channel 4 in 1996 - probably his best and most powerful film - hence the ban I guess!)

I remember watching a documentary on Hitchcock's career a long time ago and it being said that he was really interested in making an explicit, violent serial killer film as his next project - even more explicit than Frenzy. I don't know if he was influenced by Peeping Tom at all, or the great horror films like Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Last House On The Left (or even Straw Dogs) being released around that time, but it would have been interesting to see what he would have done had he lived. Would it have destroyed his career a la Powell or would he have added a master of film's credibility to the darkest of genres?

However much I would like to have seen what Hitchcock would have done, I actually think he might have run into the same problems as Michael Powell. Even Frenzy suffers a little for being almost 'too' seventies in style, and perhaps any other serial killer film he did would suffer the same, getting trapped in its own era - unlike Psycho.

But back to Peeping Tom. I just think the film all works so well. It is very dark and disturbing subject matter but it looks like the filmmakers tried hard to lighten the tone. It has several exchanges that I found very funny, such as the man at the counter buying pornographic pictures - "How much would the lot be?" and the film director getting more and more exasperated with the bad actress (I'd put this on a par with the bad actress and singer in Singin' In The Rain!) with the trunk the body is in getting closer and closer to being revealed, until..."the stupid bitch has gone and fainted in the wrong scene!"

A brilliant film, whose slight flaws seem to be part of its charm, with Carl Boehm's uncertain performance just right for the timid killer, and Anna Massey just huggable as the lovely potential girl in his life. Also Moira Shearer's fantastic dance scene - I find her amazingly beautiful.

Not to mention Pamela Green's fade-out nude scene and Esmond Knight (from Canterbury Tale and Element of Crime) turning up in the film too!

dadaistnun · #21 Post by **dadaistnun** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 10:12 am

davidhare wrote:Gordon I've seen Peeping Tom a few times in imported 16mm prints and they looked terrific. Eastman stock at that time was particularly good with blues and reds (altho the latter not to the richly saturated degree of Technicolor.) There certainly used to be very attractive prints around (and in the correct ratio.)

About ten years ago, the Eastman House ran a series of P&P films, although I can't recall whether or not they were billed as being new prints. The two I was able to make it to (Peeping Tom and The Small Back Room) both looked excellent.

tryavna · #22 Post by **tryavna** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 11:57 am

colinr0380 wrote:But back to Peeping Tom. I just think the film all works so well. It is very dark and disturbing subject matter but it looks like the filmmakers tried hard to lighten the tone. It has several exchanges that I found very funny, such as the man at the counter buying pornographic pictures - "How much would the lot be?"

Overall, a very interesting and thoughtful post, Colin. Just wanted to point out here that the befuddled old man buying the porno "views" is Miles Malleson, a near-ubiquitous British character who (much like, say, Walter Brennan in America) was much-beloved in the UK. Seeing him of all people buying pornography makes that scene all the more jarring -- and funny. Just imagine Lewis Stone (Andy Hardy's dad) doing the same thing in one of his last movies!

A brilliant film, whose slight flaws seem to be part of its charm, with Carl Boehm's uncertain performance just right for the timid killer

For me, Boehm is the most disquieting aspect about the entire film, but I think that's largely because I have a Scandinavian friend whose slight accent, mannerisms, and shyness are almost exactly the same as Boehm's. So when I watch Boehm in that performance, I'm constantly reminded of my friend. Not that my friend is a serial killer or even disturbed -- that I know of....

#23 Post by **Mr Sausage** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 1:46 pm

Anonymous blogger wrote:how one man's guilt from being a peeping tom can turn into violence at the expense of his subjects.

I never got the impression that Mark (Boehm) started murdering people because he was ashamed at being a Peeping Tom. The murder and the voyeurism seem not only present from the start, but inextricable. Each impels the other; it is observing fear that excites Mark, and the method he's found to stimulate fear requires murder. He is not an ordinary peeing tom, as best I can remember; he does not peek through women's windows to watch them undress, he films them in abject fear and then watches his recording. A peeping tom is here someone who takes deep pleasure in the voyeuristic aspects of film. An unsettling subject for a cinema viewer.

I've always thought these comparisons to Psycho are unfair and unhelpful. Beyond a couple of superficial similarities (both involve madmen; both involve an element of voyeurism, to varying degrees; both came out in 1960), the movies are considerably different animals and should be taken on their own merits. Watching them comparatively like this does neither the films nor our understanding of them any justice.

Anonymous · #24 Post by **Anonymous** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 12:41 pm

I actually like Laura Mulvey's audio commentary enormously! I always appreciate it when commentaries are more analytic than historical. Her commentary for BFI's "Viaggio in Italia" is magnificent too.

Ivy Mike · #25 Post by **Ivy Mike** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 3:28 pm

How do the various releases of Peeping Tom stack up against one another? I'm speaking of the Criterion, Optimum, Institut Lumiere, and the Warner UK one which I understand is identical to Fr. Studio Canal (dorian gray's comparison). Is there a clear victor in the visual and aural dept on any of these?