Review of Peeping Tom (1960) by Charles L — 22 Mar 2008

Michael Powell's masterful analysis of objectification and psychological frenzy is truly a deluxe thriller. Perhaps the most unsettling thing about Peeping Tom is that Mark actually isn't a bad guy. He isn't inherently evil -- he is simply a man that has become so consumed by his predilections and cerebral trauma that there's no turning back. Karlheinz Bohm (credited as Carl Boehm) gives a chilling and understated performance in this role. The actor portrays Mark as a stammering, nervous, awkward, and insecure fellow in the vein of Anthony Perkins' Norman Bates. He doesn't trust himself any more than we trust him. Because Mark is a fully-developed human being rather than a knife-wielding caricature, we become sympathetic towards him, to the extent that we are almost complicit in his murderous affairs -- certainly a disturbing experience with which audiences in 1960 likely didn't know how to cope.

Bohm is supported by a game cast, including the winsome Anna Massey as the doe-eyed heroine and Maxine Audley as her mother (in a particularly eerie and poignant turn). The proceedings are buoyed by sumptuous cinematography and lighting design, which impart portentous feelings of dread and mystique.

Sadly, Peeping Tom is also known for destroying the career of director Powell, who simply made the right movie at the wrong time. Imagine the penury that Alfred Hitchcock would have faced if Psycho were filmed in color!