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Peeping Tom SE in March - Artwork added

26-02-2007 15:06 | 5388 views  |  Dave Foster

Optimum Home Entertainment have announced the UK Region 2 DVD release of Peeping Tom (Special Edition) for 26th March 2007 priced at £17.99. From director Michael Powell comes one of the most controversial films ever made in Britain and a masterpiece of psychological terror.

By day, Mark Lewis (Carl Boehm) works as a modest focus-puller in a film studio. But he also shoots glamour photographs for a seedy Soho newsagent, and by night he seeks victims for his gruesome obsession with filming the face of mortal fear – the legacy of his father’s sadistic experiments on him as a child.

Extras on this Special Edition include:
  • New and exclusive introduction by Martin Scorsese
  • New and exclusive interview with Thelma Schoonmaker
  • New and exclusive commentary by Ian Christie
  • The Eye of The Beholder (30 mins) Scorsese, Schoonmaker and Christie among others talking about the film)
  • The Strange Gaze of Mark Lewis (25 mins) about psychology of protagonist
  • Trailer
  • Booklet containing essay, interview with screenwriter Leo Marks and extract from Michael Powell’s Million Dollar Movie
  • Behind the scenes stills gallery

Comments

#1 Posted: 20-02-2007 14:36
RisingSun
Member
Posts: 448

Report this post		hmmm content-wise this looks much better than the 1999 CRITERION version!

Tempted to buy this R2 DVD!!
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#2 Posted: 20-02-2007 16:33
dapipa
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Posts: 17

Report this post		Hope it'll be in the correct AR 1.66:1... ;)
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#3 Posted: 20-02-2007 21:46
mr.arkadin
I knew what I wanted.
Posts: 21

Report this post		Yeah, if the AR is correct, this might very well be the new definitive edition. I guess I need to order this, since I've never seen the film. Anyway, it is one of Scorsese's favourite movies.
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#4 Posted: 26-02-2007 17:01
Michael Brooke
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Posts: 603

Report this post		A review copy turned up this morning, and...

(drumroll)

...well, it looks pretty promising by eye: it's definitely anamorphic, and there are thin black bars at the sides.

However, on loading a frame grab into Photoshop it seems that the aspect ratio is something in the region of 1.73:1. So it's roughly halfway between 1.66:1 and standard widescreen.
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#5 Posted: 26-02-2007 18:58
DVDdvd
Member
Posts: 33

Report this post		I've been following the gradual news about this release since it first appeared on the Optimum website.

I have it on DVD, but it looks like double-dipping is in order.

Gorgeous artwork.

Michael - Is the image quality improved in terms of artefacts, colours, etc?
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#6 Posted: 27-02-2007 10:29
jahming
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Posts: 10

Report this post		I don't know how one can say this looks better than the Criterion edition - that contained a really excellent documentary about the film's production and critical reception. This doesn't include that, but includes a couple of discussions with Scorsese, Schoonmaker and Christie. Much as I admire Scorsese, he has become a bit of a scratched record recently. In addition, Criterion had commentary by a seminal film academic (Mulvey), which has now been replaced by commentary by an academic hack/charlatan (Christie). On top of that, the new cover is dreadful - so cliched. I can't speak about the comparison of the transfers, though...
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#7 Posted: 27-02-2007 17:47
bianco2nero
Member
Posts: 20

Report this post		In addition, Criterion had commentary by a seminal film academic (Mulvey), which has now been replaced by commentary by an academic hack/charlatan (Christie).==Ehm, that seems a bit harsh with regards to Christie - after all, he got to know Powell extremely well and was instrumental in helping Powell write his mammoth (and mammothly entertaining if not always reliable) two-part autobiography 'A Life in Movies' - he was also, with Kevin Gough-Yates, largely responsible for the renewed interest in Powell (and Pressburger) which blossomed in the 1980s. The Channel 4 documentary on Marks is highly reccomended but isn't just about PEEPING TOM of course so the new extras should make for welcome additions to the critical corpus on Powell - so what's the print like Michael?
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#8 Posted: 27-02-2007 20:40
jahming
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Posts: 10

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I agree - a hack is a bit harsh; my general dislike of Christie perhaps led me to overstate my opinion on that one, perhaps overlooking his general knowledge. I still don't think he ever has much of interest to say about things, though, despite his pretty impressive involvement with a lot of projects.

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#9 Posted: 27-02-2007 20:52
Michael Brooke
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Posts: 603

Report this post		I haven't had a chance to watch it properly, let alone compare it with the Criterion - I'll hopefully get more time later this week. It looked pretty good at a first glance, though.
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#10 Posted: 10-03-2007 14:53
TheGodfather
Member
Posts: 359

Report this post		This looks promising. I`ll wait with ordering untill I find a comparison to see if this is better or not than the Criterion

------
Frankly, my dear, I don`t give a damn!
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