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Peeping Tom(SE)/A-,A-
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Criterion/1960/109m/ANA 1.66
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You could say that
Peeping Tom is the film that closed the door on Michael
Powell's film career, so harsh was critical reception. It
is mind boggling to think that a creative and daring filmmaker
such as Powell would make his last film at the age of 55 while
still at the height of his cinematic power simply because of what
the industry perceived as one, wild, misstep. Nevertheless,
it appears that this was the case.
Peeping Tom
is a difficult and modern film, more comfortable in company with contemporary
sophistication, though it is a very stylized and elegant production.
Powell attempts to draw his audience close to the workings
of a serial killer. Like the killer, the audience is placed in a
similar position through Powell's use of camera perspective that
often replicates exactly what the perpetrator is seeing.
As Mark Lewis, the twisted and perverse
mad man, Carl Boehm is eerily sympathetic,
which exacerbates the audience's moral confusion. Choosing to
make Mark Lewis the product of an abused childhood serves to
reinforce the emotional conflict of audience. It is fascinating
to observe the everyday movement's of Lewis, often desperately seeking
to control the impulse which he realizes will finally overtake
the conflicting gentle aspect of his nature.
Powell's choice of making Lewis a
cinematographer working within the structure
of the British studio system was a daring slap at his own
industry. The theme of voyeurism is explored on many levels
by Powell. The filmmakers are voyeurs, as are the audience,
as is the killer.
The viewer's fascination with watching is hypnotic; as he is
drawn into the precisely chaotic web crafted by the
"voyeur" director, the realization
that the director of Peeping Tom has turned an accusing
finger outward from the screen is a stinging slap.
From the very opening setting, painted in tawdry expressionistic
tones of color, of a street that slid off
an Edward Hopper painting, sculpted with foreboding shadows,
Powell recalls the somber noirish mood of early black and white
German cinema. The whistling in the background clearly is an
allusion to Fritz Lang's M. All of the sets succeed
in creating an undefined creepy discomfort. The deliberate
pacing mimics the perpetual clock of the demented serial killer,
unrelenting in its metronome ticking, leading inevitably
to another uncontrollable act of desperate violence.
Boehm has been perfecting cast by
Powell as a craftsman in the art of cinematic
dementia. His clean cut and mild mannered look in no way
outwardly suggests the seething perversion within him, yet
it is this extreme underplaying of the role that makes it most
convincing. Anna Massey, wide-eyed and innocent, compliments
Boehm very well as the neighbor downstairs who falls for the
shy cameraman. Moira Shearer, Powell's incandescent leading lady
of The Red Shoes, makes her last feature film appearance again
under the guidance of mentor Powell, memorably moving through
the steps of a dance of death to the rapid beating of the excellent
jazz score. What at first might seem like an excuse for Shearer
to show off her dancing versatility, the long thirteen plus
minute sequence is extremely effective at building unbearable
tension climaxing in a full-throated lens-filling scream.
All of the production elements of Peeping
Tom are first rate, from the appropriately grating jazz
scoring by Brian Easdale and Wally Stott
to the stark and economical set design by Arthur Lawson.
Cinematographer Otto Heller gives Powell everything he could
ask for in capturing the many layers of Peeping Tom.
A welcome addition
to DVD, Peeping Tom is delivered in a fine special edition
from Criterion as part of its Criterion Collection. Film grain
is tightly replicated with consistently sharp images.
There is no noticeable enhancement. Colors are vital,
almost hyper-real. Capturing Powell's garish palette adds to
the horror of Peeping Tom. Shadow detail is outstanding
giving visual life to the details in the periphery of the picture.
There's good light output throughout. The print
is in very good condition and I am sure that Powell, who
died in 1990, would be extremely proud to see Peeping Tom
in this sharply transferred classy edition. Criterion has
provided an audio commentary by Laura Mulvey, which, while
at times is informative and insightful, too often falls back on
describing the scene we are watching. It is still a cut above the
typical scholar commentary. A British produced television
program about writer Leo Marks adds another layer of pleasure
to the special edition. Peeping Tom is a must-DVD for film
lovers!
