Peeping Tom (1960)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Michael Powell

Writer:

Leo Marks (original story and screenplay)

Release Date:

15 May 1962 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Years ahead of its time and still one of the most disturbing and psychologically complex horror films ever made! (DVD)

Plot:

A young man murders women, using a movie camera to film their dying expressions of terror.

Plot Keywords:

Terror | Fear | Camera | Experiment | Child

Cast

Karlheinz Böhm	...	Mark Lewis (as Carl Boehm)
Moira Shearer	...	Vivian
Anna Massey	...	Helen Stephens
Maxine Audley	...	Mrs. Stephens
Brenda Bruce	...	Dora
Miles Malleson	...	Elderly gentleman customer
Esmond Knight	...	Arthur Baden
Martin Miller	...	Dr. Rosan
Michael Goodliffe	...	Don Jarvis
Jack Watson	...	Chief Insp. Gregg
Shirley Anne Field	...	Diane Ashley
Pamela Green	...	Milly, the model
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
John Barrard	...	Small man (uncredited)
Keith Baxter	...	Det. Baxter (uncredited)
John Chappell	...	Clapper boy (uncredited)
Roland Curram	...	Young man in sports car (uncredited)
Nigel Davenport	...	Det. Sgt. Miller (uncredited)
John Dunbar	...	Police doctor (uncredited)
Maurice Durant	...	Publicity chief (uncredited)
Paddy Edwardes	...	Girl electrician (uncredited)
Cornelia Frances	...	Girl in sports car leaving studio (uncredited)
Veronica Hurst	...	Miss Simpson, Jarvis' secretary (uncredited)
M. Le Compte	...	Lover in garden (uncredited)
Mme. Le Compte	...	Lover in garden (uncredited)
Bartlett Mullins	...	Mr. Peters, news agent shop owner (uncredited)
Pete Murray	...	Young man embracing girl (uncredited)
Margaret Neale	...	Mark's stepmother (uncredited)
Columba Powell	...	Mark as a child (uncredited)
Michael Powell	...	Mark's father, A.N. Lewis (uncredited)
Guy Kingsley Poynter	...	P. Tate, Studio cameraman (uncredited)
Frankie Reidy	...	Mark's mother on deathbed (uncredited)
Alan Rolfe	...	Store detective (uncredited)
Frank Singuineau	...	Electrician #1 (uncredited)
Peggy Thorpe-Bates	...	Mrs. Partridge (uncredited)
Susan Travers	...	Lorraine, the model (uncredited)
Brian Wallace	...	Tony, downstairs lodger in Lewis' house (uncredited)
Brian Worth	...	Assistant director (uncredited)

Directed by
Michael Powell

Writing credits
Leo Marks		(original story and screenplay)

Produced by
Albert Fennell	....	associate producer (uncredited)
Michael Powell	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Brian Easdale

Cinematography by
Otto Heller		(photographed by)

Film Editing by
Noreen Ackland

Art Direction by
Arthur Lawson

Makeup Department
Pearl Orton	....	hairdressing
W.T. Partleton	....	makeup artist (as W.J. Partleton)

Production Management
Alfred W. Marcus	....	production manager (as Al Marcus)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Ted Sturgis	....	assistant director
Denis Johnson	....	second assistant director (uncredited)
Denis Johnson Jr.	....	second assistant director (uncredited)
Carl Mannin	....	third assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Ivor Beddoes	....	assistant art director
Don Picton	....	set dresser
Ronnie Udell	....	construction manager (as Ronald Udell)
Maurice Pelling	....	draughtsman (uncredited)

Sound Department
Malcolm Cooke	....	sound editor
Gordon K. McCallum	....	sound recordist (as Gordon McCallum)
C.C. Stevens	....	sound recordist
Gordon K. McCallum	....	sound mixer (uncredited)
Gordon K. McCallum	....	sound (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Vic Smith	....	chief electrician (as Victor E. Smith)
Gerry Turpin	....	camera operator
Jim Body	....	focus puller (uncredited)
Derek V. Browne	....	focus puller (uncredited)
Norman Gryspeerdt	....	still photographer (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Polly Peck	....	dresses: Miss Anna Massey
Dickie Richardson	....	wardrobe
John Tullis	....	dress: Miss Moira Shearer (as John Tullis of Horrockses)

Editorial Department
Alma Godfrey	....	assistant editor (uncredited)
John Rushton	....	assistant editor (uncredited)

Music Department
Brian Easdale	....	music director
Angela Morley	....	composer: percussion numbers (as Wally Stott)
Freddie Phillips	....	composer: dance music
Gordon Watson	....	musician: solo piano

Other crew
Nat Cohen	....	presenter
Judith Coxhead	....	production assistant
Rita Davison	....	continuity
Stuart Levy	....	presenter
Bill Paton	....	production assistant (as William J. Paton)
Bill Burnside	....	publicist (uncredited)
Tommy Linden	....	choreographer: Ms. Shearer (uncredited)
George Harrison Marks	....	photographic consultant (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Michael Powell (Theatre)

Distributors

• Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors (1960) (UK) (theatrical) (as Anglo Amalgamated Film Distributors Ltd.)
• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (1961) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Astor Pictures Corporation (1962) (USA) (theatrical)
• Thorn EMI Video (1983) (Finland) (VHS)
• Rialto Pictures (1999) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Cinema Mondo (2000) (Finland) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Criterion Collection, The (1999) (USA) (DVD)
• Universal Pictures Finland Oy (2006) (Finland) (DVD)
• Admit One Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Canal+
• Criterion Collection, The (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Image Entertainment (????) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Warner Home Video (????) (UK) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Millinery Guild  hats by (as the Millinery Guild)

Also Known As:

Face of Fear
The Fotographer of Panic

Runtime:

101 min | USA:86 min (cut version)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

UK:X (original rating) | Germany:12 (re-rating) (2005) | West Germany:18 (original rating) | Finland:K-14 (2000) | Finland:K-16 (1983) | UK:15 (re-rating) | UK:15 (reclassification) | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Finland:(Banned) (1960) | Spain:13 | Sweden:(Banned) (1961-1973) | Sweden:15 (re-rating) | USA:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

29 Rathbone Place, Fitzrovia, London, England, UK

Company:

Michael Powell (Theatre)

Trivia:

In Mark Lewis' "home movies," Prof. A.N. Lewis is played by director Michael Powell, young Mark Lewis is played by Powell's real-life son, Columba Powell, and Mark's mother, seen lying lifelessly in bed, is played by Columba's real-life mother, Frankie Reidy.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Mark is filming Vivian he makes a "set" on a red platform. A red trunk appears on the platform between shots.

Quotes:

[first lines]
[Mark approaches the prostitute, covertly filming her]
Dora: It'll be two quid

Movie Connections:

Featured in Doing Rude Things (1995) (TV)

Macabre voyeurism

Michael Powell, the distinguished English director, probably contributed to his own demise from the film industry with "Peeping Tom", a movie that proved to be well ahead of its times and a masterpiece by this man who gave so much to enhance the industry in Great Britain. In fact, it's a shame this was almost the last film he directed before going on to a kind of exile in Australia.

"Peeping Tom" is an exercise in voyeurism Mr. Powell, and his screen writer, Leo Marks, created to prove to what extent how one is capable of watching things one shouldn't watch. At the same time, Mr. Powell created a psychological essay about what makes Mark Lewis, the central character of the film, act the way he acted. Mark has been scarred for life thanks to what his own father did to him during a period of his growing years that formed his character into the reclusive man who feels at home doing the despicable crimes he commits.

One of the strengths of the film is the amazing portrayal of Mark Lewis by the German actor, Carl Boehm, who made a superb contribution to the movie. Mr. Boehm is perfect because by just looking at him, one would never guess what's inside his soul, or what motivates him to kill and record his crimes.

Mr. Powell brought together an amazing cast that shines in the film. Moira Shearer, Anna Massey, Maxime Audley, Brenda Bruce, Bartlett Mullins, are among the most prominent players one sees in the film.

The newly restored copy we saw as part of the retrospective shown at the Walter Reade this year has been enhanced in ways one didn't think would be possible and it's a tribute to the great director, who should have been proud of how today's audiences are reacting when they discover his movies that seem will live forever.

It's ironic that Mr. Powell didn't get the recognition he deserved during his lifetime.