Moira Shearer - Vivian
Michael Powell (Director)
Powell and Pressberger were famous British directors from the 1950's. They were behind the camera for films like The Red Shoes and Black Narcissus (Movie #22). For this film Powell set out on his own and he paid the price for independence. The film was considered to be near filth based on it's subject matter and Powell was basically blacklisted for it.
The film centers around a man who is obsessed with his movie camera. He is also a bit of a voyeur. And to make the perfect trio he is driven by a compulsion to capture the ultimate fear on woman's faces on his camera. He does this by filming them as he murders them. We find out through the course of the film that Mark's father was a biologist and he conducted some bizarre and disgusting experiments on Mark as a young boy. Clearly this is a delicate web to weave for a film maker. Peeping Tom contains not a drop of blood, nor does it have any nudity. But it feel like one of the more graphically violent films in recent memory.
Moria Shearer plays Vivian. The lovely woman downstairs with the blind mother. Marks falls in love with Vivian and he has to protect her. Even from himself. His mother is safe from Marks attacks because she can not see what is coming from her, her face shows no fear.
This film is an ode to snuff films in a way and I think that is why this film was banned and ruined Powell's carrer. It is not what is shown, but what is suggested. I can see where audiences of the late 50's would think that only a sick man could make a film as perverse as this one. One film fan felt differently though. Martin Scorsese saw this film when it opened and fell in love with it. Now he is one of the major reasons that the film is getting the re-release and praise it deserves. You can see it's influence in Scorsese's work. Taxi Driver in particular.
I enjoyed the film, but not quite as much as the other Archers films. I give Peeping Tom ★★★1/2. Check out the Trailer Park to see for yourself.
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