Review of Peeping Tom on blu-ray:

Movie: 5/5
Michael Powell teamed up a Hungarian Jew named Emeric Pressburger, a foreigner who understood the English better than they did themselves. Between them, under the banner of “The Archers” they shared joint credits for an important series of films through the 1940s & 1950s. Powell craved a new and exciting project, something darker after directing so many hit romances and drama’s from 1942 to 1957, when Pressburger and Powell broke The Archers up, and went their seperate ways. It was only then that he found it… the story that he would shape and create into one of the greatest horror films of all time, which would ultimately destroy his career.

In 1960, two of the best (in my opinion) horror films were released. Peeping Tom, and three months later, the one considered the mother of all slasher films, Psycho. Peeping tom has been compared to Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho due to their release dates and similar nature of the leading men, but the only similarities is that both protagonists are atypically mild-mannered serial killers who are obsessed with their parents, and that both films have voyeuristic elements to it.

Mark (portrayed BRILLIANTLY by Carl Boehm) works as a focus puller for a British film studio, and in his spare time, is employed by the owner of a small Soho porno shop to photograph young women. His camera’s are an important part of his life, as you can already tell. Mark Lewis’ every waking existance is filled with an obsession for a secret project he’s been working on for a while now. He’s making a documentary of fear, and to accomplish that, he uses a blade concealed in the tri-pod his camera rests on to murder women, while filming their dying expressions at the same time.
Mark reveals to Helen (a downstairs tenant) through home movies that he was treated as a guinea pig for his fathers psychological experiments in fear and the nervous system. Mark’s father would study his son’s reaction to various stimuli, such as lizards he put on his bed and would film the boy in all sorts of situations, even going as far as recording his son’s reactions as he sat with his mother on her deathbed. He kept his son under constant watch and even wired all the rooms so that he could spy on him. Throughout the film you can see and even feel how ashamed he is of the way he is, how much he struggles with these urges.
Once it was brought to light that this footage he showed Helen was actually Michael Powell’s own son playing young Mark Lewis, Michael Powell playing the father and Powell’s wife playing Mark’s dead mother, many terrible rumours and theories began to spread and general respect for the film maker decreased dramatically.
Audiences and Critics alike were far from ready for what Michael Powell released upon his trusting and loyal fans. Nobody had seen anything like it, nobody wanted to see anything like it, and most importantly, nobody wanted to feel the way it made them feel. Michael Powell and Carl Boehm created a character who does unspeakable things to women. The things Mark Lewis was doing to these people horrified people, but what horrified them even more is that they felt sympathy for him aswel. People felt disgusted in themselves for sympathizing with a deeply disturbed, voyeuristic serial killer. This lead to Peeping Tom being removed from cinema’s very shortly after it’s release, and Michael Powell was no longer able to work in the UK, forcing him to make poorly funded films in countries such as Australia.
Peeping Tom hasn’t aged, or lost it’s edge since even I can admit to feeling uncomfortable, feeling sympathy for Mark and being affected by the film. I can’t even begin to imagine what it would of been like for those who saw it in 1960!

Picture Quality: 4.5/5 
I’ve seen Peeping Tom on television, on the region 2 special edition dvd and now on blu-ray. After seeing it on the region 2 special edition dvd release, I was blown away by how good it looked in comparison to how it looked on television. It looked considerably better than a great deal of new releases on dvd, and I couldn’t imagine it looking any better. But… being the weak willed man that I am, I sold off my dvd and bought the 50th anniversary edition of Peeping Tom on blu-ray. How does it look? Unbelievable.

So much new life has been pumped carefully into this release. I’ve always kind of thought it’s appearence was similar to that of pornographic photos of the period, the very images leading man Mark is employed in his spare time to shoot. Colours are rarely natural in the usual sense of the term, and with faces frequently tinted by filtered light, and costumes and fittings seemingly chosen as much for their colour as their practical value. I suspect some mild DNR has been used here, as peoples faces look a little on the unnaturally smooth side, but as I mentioned before, even the colours are rarely natural either in this film, and this is the way Michael Powell intended it to be seen.

So much more clarity is visable now, especially from longer shots. The opening scene in particular with a prostitute standing in a beautifully, and strangely lit empty street, looking in a shop while Mark approaches her with his camera.

Audio Quality: 4.5/5 
The audio is just as impressive as the picture quality. Dialogue is crisp, clean and I had absolutely no trouble following it. Same goes for music.

Extra’s: 4/5 
-Introduction by Martin Scorsese (3 minutes) 

-Audio Commentary with film critic Ian Christie
A very informative audio commentary by film critic Ian Christie, who carefully deconstructs Peeping Tom and points out why it irreversibly damaged Michael Powell’s career. I can’t say that I’m a fan of the way he speaks during this commentary, and I found his narration of what’s going on in the movie a little irritating, but it’s almost always tied off with something interesting that I didn’t already know which is great. It’s a good example of the saying “You can’t have the good without the bad.”

-Eye of the beholder (19 minutes)
Director Martin Scorsese, film critic Ian Christie, Thelma Schoonmaker, Professor Laura Mulvey and Karlheinz Bohm (who plays Mark Lewis) discuss the fascinating history of Peeping Tom and the impact it had on Michael Powells career in the UK.

-The Strange Gaze of Mark lewis (25 minutes)
This wonderful documentary see’s French director Bertrand Tavernier, film historian Charles Drazin, and psychiatrist Dr. Olivier Bouvet discuss Peeping Tom and its placement within Michael Powell’s body of work.

-Interview (11 minutes)
Thelma Schoonmaker, film editor and widow of Michael Powell, acknowledges Martin Scorsese’s efforts to have it re-released after it was dismissed by critics in the UK, why the film shocked audiences and critics when it was released, the extreme reviews the film recieved, the main character etc

-Restoration Comparison (7 minutes)
This is a look at Peeping Tom before and after it was restored. There’s no sound for this feature, but it’s a marvel to watch which only makes you appreciate what you’ve seen that little bit more.

-Trailer (3 minutes)
Original theatrical trailer 

-Still Gallery 
A collection of stills from the shooting