Friday 26 May 2017

192 Peeping Tom ( 1960 )


I've  heard  a  lot  about  this  film  but  couldn't  help  being  a  bit  disappointed  by  it  now I've  finally  seen  it. It's  loved  by  film  buffs  because  it's  a  film  about  film  with  a  finger  pointing  at  the  audience  for, as  much  as  the  perpetrator  of, the  murders  committed. There's  a  film- within- a- film  and  references  to  Hitchcock, all  very  clever  but   as  a  horror  film  it  fails  to  be  very  exciting  through  a  lack  of  gore - the  third  murder's offscreen - and  the  casting  of  unattractive  actresses.

Mark  Lewis  ( Carl  Boehm ) is  an  attractive  but  socially  awkward  young  man  who  is  at  once   a  landlord, a  pornographer's  assistant  and  a  film  cameraman. He  has  been  seriously  abused  by  his  father  using  him  as  a filmed  guinea  pig  for  his  studies  in  fear. Mark  takes  it  one  step  further  by  concealing  a  spike  in  a  leg  of  his  tripod  and  murdering  women  so  that  he  can  film  the  fear  in  their  faces  at  the  point  of  death. Despite  this  he  is  portrayed  as  a  sympathetic  character  in  thrall  to  his  ingrained  obsessions.

Anna  Massey  ( as  Helen   Stephens )

Sex : No

Death : Survives


The  bird-faced  Massey, in  only  her  second  film  here, was  the  Gail  Platt  of  her  generation  and  any  film  which  has  her as  the  love  interest  has  an  immediate  problem. Nonetheless  she  became  a  formidable  character  actress  on  TV  right  up  until  her  death  from  cancer  in  2011 aged  73.

Moira  Shearer  ( as  Vivian )

Sex : No

Death : Receives  a  spike  in  the  throat  from  Mark


Moira  was  best  known  as  a  ballet  dancer  and  was  miscast  here  as a  film  extra  and  Mark's  second  victim  after  making  her  name  in  director Michael  Powell's   earlier  film  The  Red  Shoes. She  is  also  remembered  as  the  wife  of  campaigner  and  broadcaster  Ludovic  Kennedy. She  died  in  2006  aged  80.

Pamela  Green  ( as  Milly )

Sex : Appears  topless  in  some  cuts  of  the  film

Death : Receives  a  spike  in  the  throat  from  Mark


This  was  Pamela's  first  mainstream  film  and  she  basically  played  herself, a  glamour  model. She  took  a  businesslike  approach  to  her  work  and  set  up  her  own  company  Kamera.She  later  became a  photographer's  assistant. She  died  in  2010  aged  81.

Shirley  Anne  Field  ( as  Diane  Ashley )

Sex : No

Death : Survives


Shirley  Anne  plays  a  meta-role  as  the  actress  in  the  film  on  which  Mark  is  assisting,

Brenda  Bruce  (  as  Dora )

Sex : Dora  is  a  prostitute

Death : Receives  a  spike  in  the  throat  from  Mark


Brenda  was  another  very  popular  British  character  actress  who  kept  working  right  up  to  her  death  in  1996  aged  76.

Margaret  Neale  ( as  Mark's  stepmother ) 

Sex : Appears  in  a  bikini

Death :   Not  covered  


This  is  Margaret's  only  film  but  she  had  a  regular  TV  role  in  a  series  called  Object  Z  and  its  sequel. She  disappeared  from  view  in  the  late  sixties.

Susan  Travers  ( as  Lorraine )

Sex :  Appears  with  a  hat  and  drape  but  otherwise  nude

Death :  Survives


Susan  was  originally  Jennifer  Leon  from  Chelsea  and  she  is  the  niece  of  Virginia  McKenna. We'll  find  her  in  other  horror  films  and  she  was  Barry  Foster's  wife  in  Van  der  Valk. She  is  now  78.







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