Peeping Tom – Studio Canal

Director: Michael Powell
Screenplay: Leo Marks
Starring: Karlheinz Böhm, Moira Shearer, Anna Massey and Maxine Audley
Country: United Kingdom
Running Time: 102 min
Year: 1960

I’m ashamed to say that I’d never seen a Michael Powell film until my recent viewing of his most controversial work, Peeping Tom. It’s a film that I’d heard about for years, always wanting to check it out and when Studio Canal announced that they were releasing the film on UHD, I jumped at the opportunity to finally check the film out. 

For those unfamiliar, Powell was a renowned filmmaker, primarily for his collaborations with Emeric Pressburger such as The Red Shoes, but in 1960, when he unleashed Peeping Tom onto unsuspecting audiences, he destroyed his career. It was a film mired in controversy due to how explicit the film was for the time, the subject matter and content on display, the fact that it attempted to make you sympathise with its antagonist and a whole other litany of reasons. All I knew going into it was that it was a proto-slasher that predated Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho by a few months and that enough had me intrigued. 

How did I find the film though, you might be asking? I loved it! From the opening scene of the film, we’re introduced to Mark, played by Karlheinz Böhm who’s an aspiring filmmaker that also doubles as a voyeuristic serial killer that’s making headlines around London. Mark lives in a house that his father owned and spends all of his free time watching clips from a snuff film he’s currently working on. To him, it’s not a snuff film but a serious work of art and while this could come off as comical or goofy with the wrong direction, it feels so genuine that you can almost understand what’s going through his head, even if you don’t condone his awful actions.

While working on this film, Mark becomes acquainted with Helen, a woman who lives downstairs with her mother and he finds himself opening up to her, which he’s never been able to do with another person outside of his family members. A relationship of sorts blossoms, and even though we as the viewers already know about Mark’s deadly antics from the very first frame of the film, there’s still a level of charm to him that makes him likeable (when he’s not murdering people for his art, that is) yet tragic. 

Without going into spoilers, Mark had a rough childhood, primarily due to his father’s insistence on filming virtually everything that Mark did, and that’s passed down onto Mark in his daily life, rarely being able to leave his house without a camera in hand so he’s always able to capture whatever occurs in his life on film. It’s a remarkable performance from Böhm and again, this is the type of material that could easily come off as goofy if there wasn’t such a technical prowess to the events, but Powell’s masterful direction, alongside Böhm’s performance sells every single scene. 

It’s a film I absolutely adored from beginning to end, and it’s also something that I completely understand the uproar about at the time of its release. It’s still shocking to this day, with moments that got an audible reaction out of me, such as the phallic nature of Mark’s camera during the murders or the fantastic finale which I won’t spoil. It’s also a technical marvel, with jaw-dropping tracking shots, an impromptu dance sequence that I adored, the use of vibrant primary colours that are striking throughout the film and more. Peeping Tom constantly had me thinking “How did they get away with this in 1960?” and it made the comparisons to Psycho even more intriguing to me. For those of you who’ve read my Psycho Collection review, I’m a huge fan of the series, with the first two films being my favourites but if I’m being completely honest, I might like Peeping Tom more than the original Psycho. 

Both films touch on similar themes, whether it’s being a template for what the slasher sub-genre would turn into, an antagonist that’s charming and feels human, point of view sequences from the killer’s perspective or even the dynamic between a son and an awful parent, it’s shocking to list the similarities between the pair but Powell’s energetic direction throughout this film, as well as virtually every second being enthralling has me eager to revisit this already!

Over time, the reputation that Peeping Tom initially had has gone away. No longer is the film looked at as a vile, repulsive piece of vulgar filmmaking and instead, it’s rightfully respected as one of the pioneers of one of the biggest horror genres out there, being another masterpiece in the work of one of the most well-respected filmmakers of all time, and most importantly, still shocking audiences almost sixty five years later. 

Also, it’s really funny! There’s great humour throughout, whether it’s Mark stating that he takes pictures for The Observer (get it?) or some of the humorous antics between him and Moira Shearer during my favourite sequence in the film. I wasn’t expecting to laugh as much as I did with the film, but it works while never turning the whole feature into a farce. The film’s scaving satire on the film industry at the time is delightful too, with the film that Mark’s helping out with involving a kleptomaniac sounding oddly hilarious.

It’s one of my favourite discoveries of mine in my time writing for Blueprint so far and I couldn’t recommend it enough to fans, not just of genre pictures, but cinema itself. It’s a culmination of everything excellent about the art form, offers a fantastic glimpse into the 1960s, pushes boundaries that had never been touched before, broke rules established for years and delivers a flawless feature that’s hard to beat.

Film:

Peeping Tom released on UHD and Blu-ray on the 29th of January via Studio Canal. The release is housed in a slipcover and comes with a booklet, although I wasn’t provided with either. I viewed the UHD disc in Dolby Vision HDR and found it absolutely stunning, visually. The new 4K restoration is marvellous, and even though this was my first time watching and I haven’t viewed prior releases, I can already say that this is the definitive version of this film. The HDR implementation is tasteful, the image quality is breathtaking and the original English mono audio sounds fantastic too. No complaints on an A/V level whatsoever, this is a remarkable presentation from Studio Canal. The following extras are included: 

32-page booklet with introduction from Martin Scorsese, brand new essays and original press book.
(New) Visions of Voyeurism: Peeping Tom by Sir Christopher Frayling
(New) Take Me To Your Cinema: The Legacy of Peeping Tom
(New) Restoring Peeping Tom
2023 Trailer
London Easter Egg (UK menus)
The Eye of the Beholder
Intro by Martin Scorsese (2007)
Interview with Thelma Schoonmaker (2007)
Audio Commentary by Professor Ian Christie
Original Theatrical Trailer
Behind the Scenes Stills Gallery

This archival introduction by Martin Scorsese is a great two minute piece that establishes the film you’re in for, while also giving new viewers context for its release, as well as the harm it did to Powell’s career.

This archival interview with Thelma Schoonmaker is another solid one, running for ten minutes as Schoonmaker discusses the themes of the film, the response to the film when it came out, how groundbreaking it was for its time and more. 

The archival audio commentary by Professor Ian Christie is a good listen, although it can be a little dry. It’s very informative and it’s clear that Christie has an admiration for the film, but a lot of what’s said on the commentary track is relayed on other extras on this disc. 

Visions of Voyeurism: Peeping Tom by Sir Christopher Frayling is a newly recorded 28 minute interview with Christopher Frayling who gives an overview to Peeping Tom, the history of its reception as well as an analysis on the film itself. It’s an interesting piece.

Take Me To Your Cinema: The Legacy of Peeping Tom is a newly recorded 37 minute discussion between Rhianna Dhillon and Anna Bogutskaya talking about their introduction to Peeping Tom, the work of Michael Powell and their love for it. It’s a great discussion between the pair.

Restoring Peeping Tom is a new 15 minute featurette with Cineric workers who discuss the new restoration of Peeping Tom included on this release and the challenges involved in the restoration. It’s a fascinating watch that’s worth your time.

The ‘London Easter Egg’ is accessed in the bonus features by clicking right at the bottom of the extras page and contains Sir Christopher Frayling recounting a humorous story.

And finally, The Eye of the Beholder is an archival 17 minute piece with interviews from Ian Christie, Martin Scorsese, Karlheinz Böhm, Thelma Schoonmaker and more, who all touch on the legacy of Peeping Tom, Powell’s early works with Emeric Pressburger and the production of the film. It’s a solid archival piece that I’d recommend watching, although I wish it was a little longer.

The original theatrical trailer and a newly created one for this 2023 restoration are included, as well as a behind-the-scenes still gallery.

This new release of Peeping Tom from Studio Canal is fantastic. Housed with a stunning transfer, solid supplemental features and presenting the film in a definitive release, there’s little that can be improved from this point onwards with the film. As somebody who discovered the film for the first time while reviewing it, I can say without certainty that this is an essential disc for any collector or film fan.

Disc/Packaging:

Where to watch Peeping Tom