RETRO MOVIE REVIEW: PEEPING TOM, 1960

PEEPING TOM, 1960, directed by the cinematic genius Michael Powell (BLACK NARCISSIST, 1947 and THE RED SHOES, 1948) two of the most beautifully photographed Technicolor films from the golden age of cinema.Â Wow!Â What brave versatility from a very influential filmmaker during a very uptight and censored time!Â I would say that PEEPING TOM is Britain“s answer to Alfred Hitchcock“s Psycho, 1960 (yeah, I know Al is British, but he was juiced into the Hollywood system at the time).Â Powell had a great flair for thrills, chills, musicals, romance, and high cinematic art, which I believe PEEPING TOM, despite its title, to be.

I watched the British cut of the film, running time 1 hour 41 minutes, which I believe to be perfectly structured and paced, with wonderful character development.Â The US version was paired down to 1 hour and 26 minutes. I can“t imagine that”¦Â What did the US cut out of the film?Â There“s no nudity or blood and guts.Â This film plays on innuendo, not shock value.Â Â A skilled filmmaker knows how to scare or creep you out without the cheapness of shock. Funny how America had a bigger problem with the subject matter of the film than Britain did.Â Remember, PSYCHO was released shortly before PEEPING TOM, which means they were made about the same time.Â But the early 1960s was a different era.

PEEPING TOM was heavily criticized and bashed by critics and it appeared that movie audiences were not ready to touch on the subject of voyeurism. How“s that for a hypocritical society judging something that was commonly practiced, but not admitted to? But, people really took their privacy seriously back in the day. This is something that does not apply to modern society.Â Today, people all over the world are capturing video of anyone at any time doing anything with their smartphones.Â Modern society has been conditioned to believe that it has the right to capture the image of anyone and put it on display any where.Â My, how things have changed”¦

PEEPING TOM is about Mark Lewis, brilliantly played by Austrian actor Karlheinz BÃ¶hm (THE VENETIAN AFFAIR, 1966 and THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM, 1962).Â Mark is a focus-puller working in the high-end world of the British film system.Â He“s a highly skilled camera operator and photographer.Â On the side, Mark takes risquÃ© photographs of girls to make extra money.Â He spends the rest of his time on making what he calls a “documentary”“ film.Â With his trusty 16mm Bell and Howell camera and tripod, he attempts to capture the perfect face of fear.Â Basically, Mark is a serial killer, who fancies filming the death of women in order to capture the perfect image of fear expressed on their faces at the moment of death.Â He also likes to revisit his handy work after the fact by filming the investigations.

Mark“s father is responsible for his unique filmmaking exploits.Â His father was a prominent scientist working on the effects of fear in regards to humanity.Â He“s amassed a great body of work on the subject and is highly regarded in his field.Â Unfortunately, as a child, Mark was the subject of his father“s experiments.Â Mark“s father would continuously scare the Hell out of him when he was a child and document his reactions by filming him and recording his voice reactions. Gee, thanks dad!

The creep factor of the film is amazing.Â It“s brilliantly photographed as a film and through the lens of Mark“s camera.Â What“s really cool about the film is that you get a behind the scenes look at filmmaking.Â It’s interesting to see Mark engaged in his focus-pulling job while working on a big budget film of the time. The collection of Mark“s gear and the knowledge of his photographic skills while he“s taking dirty pictures of bitchy models is fun.Â Experiencing Mark’s home photographic studio where he lives, processes, and watches his handy work on a silver screen rounds out his character.

I have to give a brief shout out to an amazing ensemble supporting cast.Â This film is a construct of innuendo based on a performer’s reaction to horror. The actors are horrified by what they see, while the audience does not see what is actually happening in front of them or what they are being subject to.Â It takes great direction and performances to pull this off.

Although very tame by today“s standards, PEEPING TOM is a great psychological thriller worth checking out.Â It“s a social commentary that stands the test of time. Check out this creepy film!