Review of Peeping Tom (1960) by Octavian — 07 May 2014

Produced and directed by Michael Powell, who had gone solo from his usual producing and directing partner Emeric Pressburger by the end of the 1950's. He picked up this screenplay by former WW2 cryptographer Leo Marks.

It was a dark and brooding psychological thriller which appalled critics and audiences, and just about destroyed Powell's career, but this is actually a contender for his best film. Mark Lewis (Carl Boehm) works as part of a film crew at a local film studio, and he has aspirations of becoming a filmmaker too.

He lives in his late fathers house, although he's leased downstairs to Mrs. Stephens (Maxine Audley) and her daughter Helen (Anna Massey), while Mark has the upstairs to himself, which is taken up by a screening room and dark room.

But Mark has a dark secret, he goes out at night, killing women and getting their reactions on film through a hidden camera. Plus, he's taken a liking to Helen, and she's taken a liking to him too.

But after Mark kills a stand-in at the studio, the police start to suspect Mark has something sinister to hide. It's a very risky film for it's day, but it has parallels with what Hitchcock had just done at the time with Psycho (1960).

But, it's a very psychologically complex film, and that gives it a sinister edge. Powell's career suffered badly after this, but thanks to Martin Scorsese heavily championing the film, it was given a new lease of life.