Peeping Tom (1960)

Country of Origin: UK
Year of Production: 1959
Running Times: 86m (US cut version)/101m
Length:
Format: 35mm
Colour Format: Eastmancolor
Ratio: 1.66:1
Sound: mono

DIRECTION

Directed by: Michael Powell

CREW

PRODUCTION
Copyright: © MCMLX [1960] Michael Powell (Theatre) Ltd
Production Companies: Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors Ltd (opening logo)  Nat Cohen and Stuart Levy presenmt a Michael Powell production
Production Manager: Al Marcus

SCRIPT
An original story and screenplay by Leo Marks

DIRECTION
Assistant Director: Ted Sturgis
Continuity: Rita Davison

PHOTOGRAPHY
Photographed in Eastmancolor by: Otto Heller
Camera Operator: Gerry Turpin
Chief Electrician: Victor E. Smith
Photographic Consultant: George Harrison Marks (uncredited)

EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Editor: Noreen Ackland

MUSIC
Music Composed and Directed by: Brian Easdale
Solo Piano: Gordon Watson

SONGS AND ADDITIONAL MUSIC
Percussion Bumber by: Wally Stott (real name: Angela Morley)
Dance Music by: Freddie Phillips

SOUND
Sound Recordists: C.C. Stevens, Gordon McCallum
Sound Editor: Malcolm Cooke
Westrex Recording System

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Miss Anna Massey's Dresses by: Polly Peck
Miss Moira Shearer's Dress by: John Tullis of Horrockses
Wardrobe: Dickie Richardson
Hats by: The Millinary Guild
Make-up: W.T. Partleton
Hairdressing: Pearl Orton

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Art Director: Arthur Lawson
Assistant Art Director: Ivor Beddoes
Set Dresser: Don Picton
Construction Manager: Ronald Udell

OTHER CREW
Production Assistants: Judith Coxhead, William J. Paton
Publicist: Bill Burnside (uncredited)

LOCATIONS
Locations: 29 Rathbone Place, Bloomsbury, London, England, UK; 5 Melbury Road, Holland Park, London, England, UK; Clitterhouse Housing Estate, Claremont Road, Cricklewood, London, England, UK; Newman Passage, Soho, London, England, UK; Whitefield Secondary Modern School, Claremont Road, Cricklewood, London, England, UK
Studio: Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

CAST

starring
Carl Boehm (real name: Karlheinz Böhm) (Mark Lewis)
Moira Shearer (Vivian)
Anna Massey (Helen Stephens)
Maxine Audley (Mrs Stephens)

with
Brenda Bruce (Dora)
Miles Malleson (elderly gentleman)
Esmond Knight (Arthur Baden)
Martin Miller (Dr Rosan)
Michael Goodliffe (Don Jarvis)
Jack Watson (Chief Inspector Gregg)
Shirley Anne Field (Diane Ashley)

and
Pamela Green (Milly)

UNCREDITED CAST

Bartlett Mullins (Mr Peters)
Nigel Davenport (Detective Sergeant Miller)
Brian Wallace (Tony)
Susan Travers (Lorraine)
Maurice Durant (publicity chief)
Brian Worth (assistant director)
Veronica Hurst (Miss Simpson)
Alan Rolfe (store detective)
John Dunbar (police doctor)
Guy Kingsley Poynter (P. Tate)
Keith Baxter (Detective Baxter)
Peggy Thorpe-Bates (Mrs Partridge)
John Barrard (small man)
Roland Curram (young man)
John Chappell (clapper boy)
Michael Powell (A.N. Lewis)
Columba Powell (Mark as a child)
Frank Singuineau (1st electrician)

PLOT SUMMARY

Mark Lewis, damaged as a child by his father's cruel experiments, works as a focus puller for a movie studio, and earns extra money by taking 'glamour' pictures in a seedy studio above a newsagents. But the outwardly charming Mark has become so unhinged that he takes to murdering models and prostitutes and filming their death agonies. But things start to get very complicated for Mark when he meets and falls for Helen Stephens who moves into one of the rooms in the apartment block he lives in.

AVAILABILITY

Canada
Theatrical Distributors: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

UK
Theatrical Distributors: Anglo?American Film Corporation Ltd
Video Distributors: Warner Home Video

USA
Theatrical Distributors: Astor Pictures Corporation; Rialto Pictures LLC (1999 re?release)
Video Distributors: Admit One Video
Laserdisc Distributors: Image Entertainment Inc; Criterion (CC 1299L)
DVD Distributors: The Criterion Collection (PEE 040)

CENSORSHIP HISTORY

Argentina
Rating: 16

Finland
Rating: banned in 1960; K-14

Spain
Rating: 13

Sweden
Rating: banned from 1961 - 1973; 15

UK
Rating: 18

USA
Rating: unrated

West Germany
Rating: 18

TIMELINE

1960
April
7: UK – theatrical premiere

May
16: UK – theatrical release

1961
February
17: West Germany – theatrical release

November
27: Denmark – theatrical release

1962
May
15: USA – theatrical release

1973
April
21: Sweden – theatrical release

1998
June
19: Switzerland – theatrical re-release

2000
July
21: Finland – theatrical release

2002
February
17: Finland – shown at Night Visions Film Festival

November
8: Argentina – shown at the Clásicos de estreno

1999
November
16: USA - DVD release (The Criterion Collection (PEE 040))

POSTER TAGS

"Do you know what the most FRIGHTENING thing in the world is ...?"

Terror Meets Art in a Deadly Game of Cat and Mouse

WARNING! Don't see Peeping Tom unless you are prepared to see the screaming shock and raw terror in the faces of those marked for death!

Can you see yourself in this picture? Can you imagine yourself facing the terror of a
diabolical killer? Can you guess how you'd look? You'll live that kind of excitement, suspense, horror, when you watch "Peeping Tom".

Don't dare tell the ending to anyone - you'll be blamed for nightmares!

What made this the most diabolical murder weapon ever used?

An adventure into terror

More Horrible Than Horror! More Terrible Than Terror!

Marked for death by Peeping Tom - To Look Meant Danger, To Smile Meant Death!

Han fotograferede sine smukke ofre i dødsøjeblikket!

Den stærkeste kriminal-gyser De nogensinde har set

ALTERNATIVE TITLES

Augen der Angst - West Germany title
Chi wo sû kamera - Japanese title
Fotógrafo del pánico, El - Spanish title
Fotomodeller jages - Danish title
Kadin katili - Turkish title
Kurkistelija - Finnish title
Loerder, De - Flemish Belgian title
Occhio che uccide, L' - Italian title
Peeping Tom - en smygtittare - Swedish title
Pelon kasvot - Finnish title
Röntgenci - Turkish festival title
Smrt u ocima - Croatian Yugoslavian title
Tortura do Medo, A - Brazilian title
Tres rostros para el miedo - Argentinian title
Vítima do Medo, A - Portugese title
Voyeur, Le - French/French Belgian title
Zvedavec - Czech title

LINKS

FOOTAGE INCLUDED IN
100 Years of Horror (1996)
Doing Rude Things (1995)
Hollywood Uncensored (1987)
Long Live the New Flesh: The Films of David Cronenberg (1987)
Murder by Numbers (2001)
Very British Psycho, A (1997)

KEYWORDS

blindness, child abuse, fetishes, film makers, insanity, photographers, photography, pianos, psychoanalysis, sadism, serial killers, snuff films, suicide, voyeurism

Last Updated: 16 May, 2009