Peeping Tom

"Peeping Tom"

Michael Powell, 1960

"Peeping Tom" is a film about, well, a voyeur, who is named Mark (Karlheinz Bohm). Mark is a handsome introvert, and an outsider who cannot comfortably interact with anyone. So, when he isn't working in the movie studio as a focus puller, he simply walks around and observes, shooting footage of everything he witnesses with a small 16 mm camera. But Mark is no ordinary voyeur. He has an unfortunate habit of murdering women, with the pointed end of his camera's tripod leg, no less, and attains a perverse pleasure from viewing their terrified faces before they die.

When Mark befriends a fellow tenant named Helen, however, he begins to open up and, at her behest, show her some of his films. Whether or not the well-meaning, if slightly naive, Helen is ready to accept his dark secrets is an entirely different matter. This film bares some comparison to Hitchcock's thriller, "Psycho," which was released only two months later. Shot with Eastman color stock, "Peeping Tom" features unusually rich visuals, and Michael Powell's use of lighting, with its deep shadows and beautiful array of colors, is impeccable. "Psycho," which was shot on black-and-white stock, has visuals that are equally striking, but its monochromatic visuals create a bleak atmosphere that hints at the way the film's psychopath, Norman Bates, views his world; everything is either dead-or-alive, black-or-white, with no room for discrepancy.

Both films center around very creepy individuals, but "Psycho" is more successful as a work of suspense; Bates, because of Anthony Perkins's performance and Hitchcock's bleak atmosphere, is a terrifying and volatile presence. Mark simply isn't as compelling or frightening a figure, in comparison. And then there are the weak aspects of "Peeping Tom," some questionable acting by the extras, a few awkwardly staged dialogue exchanges, and a tedious narrative concerning the police's investigation of the murders. I still find "Peeping Tom" to be a good companion piece to "Psycho," but then again, I, like Helen, have always been a sucker for pretty photography.

Rating: 7.5

First Viewed: 7/30/08, on DVD
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