Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:

Peeping Tom (1960)

Vivian: What would frighten me to death? 
Set the mood for me, Mark. 
Mark: Imagine... someone coming towards you... 
who wants to kill you... regardless of the consequences. 
Vivian: A madman? 
Mark: Yes. But he knows it - and you don't. 

Director Michael Powell, the British genius behind such classics as The Red Shoes, Black Narcissus, and this film here (which I consider his masterpiece, and which also all but ruined his career, even as his contemporary Alfred Hitchcock was turning similar material into a powerhouse across the pond with Psycho), was born on this day 110 years ago. Have you seen many of the Powell-Pressburger films? I'm slowly working my way through them and as much solid entertainment as there has to be found nothing's come close to what I feel they accomplished with Peeping Tom, which was the very first film of theirs I saw. It's an astonishing thing.



5 comments:

sissyinhwd said...

For years I considered BLACK NARCISSUS as my favorite film with THE RED SHOES a close runner-up. Powell-Pressburger are true masters of the cinema; a truly magical, once in a lifetime collaboration. I have lived in NY, SF, and LA and seen more actors and directors than I can remember. Once I saw Michael Powell and Thelma Schoonmaker at the SF Film Festival in the mid 1980's and I remember thinking to myself, "Now I'm impressed!"

Jason Adams said...

I've seen Thelma Schoonmaker a few times too -- she often introduces Powell's films when they screen, like when Scorsese picked a bunch of them for his series at MoMA recently - but man, I wish I could've seen Powell!

sissyinhwd said...

He/They are gods to me.

Anonymous said...

The Red Shoes is one of my favorite films of all time. I love it even more every time I see it.

FoxVerde said...

Hey Jason mnpp,

Do you think for Halloween you could do your own top ten of obscure horror that are genuinely creepy and frightening? It's so hard to find good creepy movies. Would love to hear your top 10 little know scary movies.