Peeping Tom (1960)

Director:

Michael Powell

Writers:

Leo Marks (original story)
Leo Marks (screenplay)

Release Date:

15 May 1962 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | 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:

Fear | Terror | Experiment | Camera | Death

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
Michael Goodliffe	...	Don Jarvis
Martin Miller	...	Dr. Rosen
Jack Watson	...	Chief Insp. Gregg
Shirley Anne Field	...	Pauline Shields (as Shirley Ann Field)
Pamela Green	...	Milly
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
John Barrard	...	Small Man (uncredited)
Keith Baxter	...	Det. Baxter (uncredited)
John Chappell	...	Clapper Boy (uncredited)
Robert Crewdson	...	Shop Assistant on Film Set (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 Edwards	...	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)
Leo Marks		(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 Jr.	....	second assistant director (uncredited)
Denis Johnson	....	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.)
• 20th Century Fox (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)
• 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)
• Mainostelevisio (MTV3) (1987) (2006) (Finland) (TV)
• Nelonen (2009) (2010) (Finland) (TV)
• Warner Home Video (????) (UK) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Millinery Guild  hats by (as the Millinery Guild)

Also Known As:

"Face of Fear" - USA (TV title)

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) (self applied) | UK:15 (re-rating) (2007) | UK:18 (re-rating) (1994) | South Korea:15 | 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:

The character of Don Jarvis the studio boss is a parody of notorious Rank mogul John Davis.

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: Mark has a strong German accent, despite it being shown that he has lived in England all his life and had English parents.

Quotes:

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

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Siskel & Ebert: Bad Girls/The Inkwell/Naked in New York/Brainscan/Surviving the Game" (1994)

Notorious murder thriller which was years ahead of its time, and resulted in the downfall of its great director.

To understand the stir that Peeping Tom caused when it was released in 1960, you need to think about what audiences at that time were accustomed to when they went to the cinema. Innocent love stories, historical epics, action-packed westerns and colourful musicals were the staple cinematic diet of the time, certainly not dark, disturbing and intensely violent murder thrillers like this. What probably unsettled contemporary film-goers even more was the fact that a film of this kind could come from a much-loved and revered director like Michael Powell. In modern times, the equivalent would be if Steven Spielberg were to make a graphic and reviled film about paedophilia or bestiality, consequently never being allowed to stand behind a movie camera again. When Peeping Tom hit the big screen, it was rejected by the public and crucified by the critics, and left Powell's hitherto glorious career in ruin.

A film cameraman, Mark Lewis (Karl Boehm), displays psychotic tendencies as he murders women with a spiked tripod attached to the bottom of his camera, capturing on celluloid their final screams of agony. It is revealed that when he was a child, Mark was used as a guinea pig by his father (Michael Powell) in a series of psychoanalytical experiments about the symptoms of fear. Among other things, Mark's delightful dad would wake him throughout the night and shine lights in his eyes, drop lizards into his bed, and on one occasion even forced him to pose for photographs next to the dead body of his mother. As a result, Mark has an unhealthy obsession with fear and, in particular, the expression that people have on their face during moments of fear.

Peeping Tom is one of the few films that still has the power to shock all these years on. Psycho, released roughly at the same time, is still a great film but its shock value has been diminished by years of repeat viewings and increasing permissiveness in the cinema. But Peeping Tom is an altogether more disturbing piece of work. Boehm is excellent as the killer whose entire outlook has been skewed by his father's experiments. Also impressive is Anna Massey as the killer's fragile and unsuspecting fiancée. Powell directs the film brilliantly, using bold and dazzling colours to disguise the horrific atrocities that punctuate his film. It is understandable that the film was met with revulsion and rejection at that time, but in retrospect it is a film of real importance and power. In a 21st century world bombarded and desensitised by harrowing images on the news and in the movies, the theme of losing one's grasp on what is and isn't morally acceptable is more pertinent than ever. This is not easy viewing, but it IS essential viewing.