Peeping Tom (1960)
Starring: Carl Boehm,
Moira Shearer, Anna Massey, Maxine Audley, Pamela Green
Plot:
My Review and Thoughts:
If Jack the Ripper had a movie camera.
This is considered by many one of the greatest films of all
time. It's considered legendary. It’s considered a classic and was massively
controversial when it came out. Sadly it ruined the career of one of the
greatest directors of all time Michael Powell after it came out his career
pretty much stopped because of the uproar of the film at the time. He had directed some of the great films of all time and
now after fan base and cult status many believe that Peeping Tom is one of those greatest
achievements. Critics today praise it and bring it up. Those critics that destroyed it clearly had no idea what they where talking about during the time period because it was so different and so true for time that it should have been praised. This day and age it is respected and admired and discussed in
vivid detail throughout people's love of cinematic movie making. For its time it was brilliantly filmed, created
and masterfully achieved through cinema perfection. It was one of those films that left a lasting
impression through its stark reality and its brilliant concept for it's time. So many films
have copied from it since it's creation, but it is the one and only that created so much in the
Cinema world. It brought to life so much darkness, so much horror induced
reality, and so much twisted disturbing content for its time. For its time this
was a true psychological orgy of depravity, fear and murder. These type of
films did not grace mainstream cinema and so when this came out it shocked the
masses and the masses could not grasp the beauty and deep dark reality that it
created.
Your main character is named Mark, a photographer and an
aspiring filmmaker. Mark is a character built on insanity created by man. He is on the brink
of a schizoid personality and a murderous intent that drives his sexuality.
A murderous serial killer who films the last moments of his
dying prey. For it's time, this is masterpiece of cinematic clarity in what true perfection
of film is. It was the landmark and achievement if you will of the hand held camera horror which has been beaten to death this day and age of film making. Powell crafted a film that leaves a lasting mark. For when it came
out it destroyed and created such a controversy that sadly it stained the
brilliant understanding of creating a darker purpose filled movie. Thankfully through a
cult following and through time, it has become one of the films that everyone
speaks about, brings up and discusses the brilliance of its old-school terror. Discussion on its film
making, on its horror and its ultimate old-school perfection in the art of darkness and
the mind is a basic teaching tool for film class. Now it has its melodramatic acting flaws and silly moments that in
today's culture would seem ridiculous, but you have to look at it from the point of
view and time period that it came out. Most people won't speak negative of it
but I am an honest reviewer and I have to say it has not aged well and does not
transcend to the public reality of filming today but that does not mean it's a bad
movie. This is a brilliant film for its time and its underlining psychological
darkness still plays well. It's one of those old day masterpieces that you
watch and place yourself during that time period to fully understand and enjoy the film. It has the
classic style of murder mystery yet from the killer's point of view and so
that makes it so much darker and deeper and very different for it's time period.
I think the film does something extraordinarily brilliant.
Most films avoid or do not showcase this brilliance itself, which is what we
all suffer from, voyeuristic pleasure. For when we the audience watch film we
enter different worlds, we become part of different worlds, we become a part of
other people's fear, of other peoples desires, of other people’s emotions. What
Peeping Tom does, is, it does not hide our voyeuristic pleasures, and it rubs
it in our face. For you see we as a society, have a problem. 'We love to watch
other people. 'We love to watch other people's problems. We love to watch other
things happen to people as long as it's not happening to us. We are a society
built on reality TV, reality actions, and documentaries. We focus on the news. We
read the tabloid gossip. We want everything and more about others. Peeping Tom
was a smack in the face. It was kind of a wakeup call that rings even more
today, then when it came out. I think the character of Mark is in us all, yet
instead of us acting on the actual murders. 'We become a part of the murders
through Marks doing. We are so obsessed with mayhem and death, whole TV channels
are focused on it now days.
Mark's character and the idea of Peeping Tom plays on the
reality of the concept of nature versus nurture. Mark is the darkness of
society and we watch the darkness unfold and we get to become that darkness by
the lens of the camera, which is our eyes and our hands and most of all our
minds. We become the killer. Mark takes us along his journey of the fear and
dread of others.
Carl Boehm plays the role of Mark, the psychopathic killer
and the inner fear that we all have that he brings forth. Carl owned this part
and created this part through an extraordinary means of art-house acting
perfection. He in this role, is one of the greatest characters come to life in
all of cinema history. Carl crafted the darkness of the character of Mark. Gave
the character a believable reality. He gave the character a persona of emotions
and also the concept of victim and the one creating the victims.
Sadly Carl, like the director Powell suffered from the
controversy of this film. His career and his emotional reality became dramatic
and also halted and changed because of the reaction when the film first came
out.
Besides Peeping Tom, he has acted in some brilliant films
and was always an extraordinary performer in just about everything he did. I
will always remember him most in the films that he starred in by director
Rainer Werner Fassbinder. He aced many wonderful characters in films such as
Martha, Effi Briest, Fox and His Friends and Mother Küsters' Trip to Heaven.
Sadly we lost this pioneering acting performer on May 29th
2014. He was a legend of acting and created perfection on camera. He gave Mark
life and sealed his ultimate perfection of twisted psychological darkness in
Peeping Tom. He will always be remembered.
I find what so utterly amazing is how the movie did a 360 in
the idea of people hating it and then it becoming that film that everyone or
the majority hold on a pedestal. When it came out it was loathed and stated
that it belonged to the heaps of garbage and deserved to be destroyed, but now
it's considered one of the great masterpieces of British cinema. It's
highly talked about throughout the movie making world. It's actually one of those films that if you're a
director, you can learn from it because it has everything in it that making a
movie should have. It showcases the perfection of filming and the art of
directing.
It's basically a textbook on crafting a film. Besides the
filming, the direction, the acting and story. What truly needs to be spoken is
the soundtrack. The music score is stunning. It is one of the greatest music
scores of any film. It is a story in itself and the true perfection of
listening to what, fear, dread, murder, would sound like, if it was music.
Brian Easdale created a flawless soundtrack of music bliss.
This is a film that is different and yet something stunning
for its time. I feel the film still holds that basic concept yet has not aged well.That age still does not take away anything from it because it, is one of the great
pieces of movie making history. I feel this is a pioneering film that many
upcoming film makers can take a hold of and learn from. They can use that same
dynamic of mastery that was used to create this old school psychological,
emotional, complex narrative of a sick suffering and confused persona that was
created through man's action. The persona of the character started to display
that corruption of his tainted innocence which was locked away by his ultimate
fear. To seek out that understanding of fear was to relive it, in all its
tainted understanding.