Review of Peeping Tom (1960) by Repping H — 14 Nov 2003

Hitchcockian. that's a term often thrown around casually as a fancy way of calling something a murder-mystery/suspense film. that's how I feel about the word; it's over-used and generally uninformed, but this film is genuinely Hitchcockian. I hope that when I use the word, after leading up to it as pretentiously as I do, that my usage of it is respected - thought to be made by someone who knows what he's talking about.

And I hope that by being as candid (!) as I am about that, that I can even convince you more that I know what I'm talking about. that I can impress you with selfdeprecation masked as intellectual integrity.

Why I deem this film Hitchcockian: the same emphasis is put on showing drama through visuals rather than through dialogue. take the early scene in which Mark (the Tom) is showing his neighbor his films. there's a tension that's never expressed verbally, but through looks and gestures we are shown what is better expressed visually, anyway. this isn't a book, we don't need words to get information across. this is cinema. and it's done properly.

Michael Powell is also using the same suspense tricks Hitchcock did. the viewer is given information that the characters aren't, often leading to scenes in which the moviewatcher finds him or herself (let's just say, "himself", since I'm projecting all of [i]my[/i] feelings onto "the viewer", anyway) wanting, if only he could, to shout at the screen, if that would only work, to tell the character what he knows that the character doesn't.

This is a fantastic film. and there are bare breasts, if only briefly.

Michael Powell (with or without Emeric Pressburger).

[i]1. Peeping Tom[/i].

2. The Life & Death Of Colonel Blimp.

3. The Red Shoes.

4. I Know Where I'm Going!