{"id":9732,"date":"2010-11-11T00:15:46","date_gmt":"2010-11-11T00:15:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/?p=9732"},"modified":"2010-11-22T03:13:03","modified_gmt":"2010-11-22T03:13:03","slug":"blu-ray-peeping-tom-50th-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/2010\/11\/11\/blu-ray-peeping-tom-50th-anniversary\/","title":{"rendered":"Blu-ray: Peeping Tom"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The 1960 film which scandalised British critics and all but ended the career of director Michael Powell has been digitally restored for a 50th anniversary release at cinemas and on Blu-ray<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Over the years Peeping Tom has had its reputation was gradually restored with enthusiastic supporters such as Martin Scorsese and is now regarded as a classic of the era.<\/p>\n

An unsettling exploration of voyeurism and violence, it is the story of a disturbed photographer (Karl Heinz Boehm) who films women before murdering them in order to study their reactions to death.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Although tame by today’s standards, the film still has a creepy power, placing the audience in the position of the killer.<\/p>\n

It is also an interesting study in psychology as the motives of the killer are firmly rooted in his troubled upbringing by a cruel psychologist father (intriguingly played by Powell himself).<\/p>\n

It came out the same year as Psycho and has often been compared with Alfred Hitchcock’s landmark film.<\/p>\n

Both deal with a disturbed protagonist, feature groundbreaking depictions of violence and make the audience complicit voyeurs to the onscreen action.<\/p>\n

The UK press were scandalised by both films, but whereas the US success of Psycho ensured a swift reappraisal and enormous financial success, Powell’s film effectively ended his career.<\/p>\n

Elements of the media had harboured suspicions about the innovative films of Powell and his partner Emeric Pressburger<\/a>, and with Peeping Tom they had a field day, denouncing it as perverted and sick.<\/p>\n

Fifty years on the film has been digitally restored for release on Blu-ray and will also get a theatrical run at selected UK cinemas.<\/p>\n

Recently Martin Scorsese<\/a> and his regular editor Thelma Schoonmaker<\/a> attended a screening at BAFTA in London to discuss the film (Powell was Schoonmaker’s late husband).<\/p>\n

Scorsese talked about how difficult it was to see the film in New York during the 1960s and its relevance to the modern age:<\/p>\n

“No one was sure it existed …it was like a rumour. In our society today, in the era of YouTube and surveillance, it is even more relevant. The morbid urge to gaze needs to be thought about today.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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The extras on the Blu-ray include:<\/p>\n