IMDb > Peeping Tom (1960)
Peeping Tom
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Peeping Tom (1960) More at IMDbPro »

Photos (see all 13 | slideshow) Videos (see all 2)
Peeping Tom (1960) -- Mark, obsessed with the effects of fear and how they are registered on the face of the frightened, murders women and uses a movie camera to film their dying expressions of terror.
Peeping Tom (1960) -- A young man murders women, using a movie camera to film their dying expressions of terror.

Overview

User Rating:
7.8/10   8,257 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 15% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writer:
Leo Marks (original story and screenplay)
Contact:
View company contact information for Peeping Tom on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
15 May 1962 (USA) more
Genre:
Tagline:
Years ahead of its time and still one of the most disturbing and psychologically complex horror films ever made! (DVD) more
Plot:
A young man murders women, using a movie camera to film their dying expressions of terror. full summary | full synopsis
Plot Keywords:
NewsDesk:
(8 articles)
The Red Shoes | Film review
 (From The Guardian - Film News. 10 December 2009, 3:20 PM, PST)

Tiff ‘09: Broken Embraces
 (From SoundOnSight. 24 September 2009, 8:25 PM, PDT)

User Comments:
A slasher flick with a heart of gold more (102 total)

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)
Karlheinz Böhm ... Mark Lewis (as Carl Boehm)
Moira Shearer ... Vivian
Anna Massey ... Helen Stephens
Maxine Audley ... Mrs. Stephens
Brenda Bruce ... Dora
Miles Malleson ... Elderly gentleman customer
Esmond Knight ... Arthur Baden
Martin Miller ... Dr. Rosan

Michael Goodliffe ... Don Jarvis
Jack Watson ... Chief Insp. Gregg
Shirley Anne Field ... Diane Ashley
Pamela Green ... Milly, the model
more
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
Face of Fear (USA) (TV title)
more
Runtime:
101 min | USA:86 min (cut version)
Country:
Language:
Colour:
Colour (Eastmancolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.66 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Westrex Recording System)
Certification:
UK:X (original rating) | Germany:12 (re-rating) (2005) | West Germany:18 (original rating) | Finland:K-14 (2000) | Finland:K-16 (1983) | UK:15 (re-rating) | UK:15 (reclassification) | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Finland:(Banned) (1960) | Spain:13 | Sweden:(Banned) (1961-1973) | Sweden:15 (re-rating) | USA:Not Rated

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
The cameras in Mark Lewis' room include director Michael Powell's first film camera, a hand operated Eyemo, made by Bell and Howell, that he won in a competition. more
Goofs:
Continuity: Disappearing seam on prostitute's stockings in opening scenes more
Quotes:
[first lines]
[Mark approaches the prostitute, covertly filming her]
Dora: It'll be two quid
more
Movie Connections:
Featured in S&Man (2006) more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
32 out of 34 people found the following comment useful.
A slasher flick with a heart of gold, 22 January 2000
10/10
Author: Spleen from Canberra, Australia

I'll admit it: I was completely stumped; for almost all of the running time I had no idea where Michael Powell was going with this one. (Not that there are any twists in the plot - my uncertainty was of a different kind.) I think this made me all the more delighted when I at last found out.

Although it was made without co-archer Emeric Pressburger, we see the old Archers' logo at the start; except that this time it's overlaid with `A Michael Powell Production' - in tiny letters. This gave me a pang of sadness. `Peeping Tom' all but completely destroyed Powell's career; and however much and for whatever reasons critics and audiences may have loathed the film, this simply ought not have happened - especially since, good or bad, it's manifestly the work of a director at the height of his powers. The photography is wonderfully assured, the colours are as bright and stark and controlled and fantastic as ever, the script is clever and trusts to our intelligence, and Powell still knows how to keep our minds glued to the screen even when our eyes tell us that nothing much is happening. Every scene is unsettling. Most are creepy.

I could go on about the technical details - the use of sound and music is amazingly innovative, too - but what really elevates `Peeping Tom', what makes so many of the contemporary criticisms absurd, is its compassion. There's none of that watered-down Freudian guff we encounter in `Psycho'. Powell makes us feel for his serial killer - not so much by showing us that he feels pain but by showing us that he has ordinary, likeable human qualities as well as madness. A number of Powell's war-time said the same thing about Nazis. It's clear that he really meant it.

Not that this is an overt message of `Peeping Tom', and not that there aren't a lot of other things going on as well. I not only recommend, I BEG, that any admirer of Powell's earlier work give this one a try as well. Since Powell is striking out in a new direction there's an excellent chance you won't like it; but it deserves to be tried.

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Peeping Tom (1960)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
While there's no need ... Noakk
Moira Shearer gets upper billing?! MSStMarie
The other screams *spoilers* skindili
mark mark mark mark mark mark badbro13
PEEPING TOM screening in NYC (Sept 2/3) khan0890
Quite a costly DVD 80sgal4ever
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