The character is British! If it took place in America, there could have been the explanation that he was raised in one of the few midwestern German-American communities that favor the mother tounge. But nobody in this film mentions his German accent, and no explanation is ever offered!
shareI saw this film 10 years ago, but it never occured to me that the lead had a German accent. In fact, his accent seemed similar to other more established Brit actor James Mason. I'm not familiar with regional English accents, but I've also heard other actors on film and tv who sound similar to this guy, as well as James Mason.
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Yes. He did have a German accent and I distinctly heard it when I first saw this film and questioned it myself. The actor himsely is German and changed his orginal German name to a more American one; Carl Bohme. He didn't much bother to get rid of the German accent while filming Peeping Tom, apparently.
shareHe was an established film actor in his native Germany and was in a number of feature films for american studios in the late 1950s and 60s. I remember reading that for Peeping Tom, the part was going to go to actor Lawrence Harvey but then went to Boehm - not sure why, although Boehm still did a brilliant job.
I don't think his German accent sounds anything like that of James Mason (to reply to the other message on this board) - Mason had a very clipped, rasping "BBC english" accent (that is, received pronounciation) which sounds different to German but i guess if you're not english or european then you can be forgiven for getting the 2 confused!!
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I thought he sounded like a cross between James Mason and Udo Kier.
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I kept thinking of Peter Lorre, myself.
share*quote* I was thinking that too. Peter Lorre has a certain unique cadence to his voice that Carl Boehm shares. I'm curious if they came from the same part of Germany. *quote*
Just to set things straight:
Karlheinz Böhm is not a German - he's an Austrian (but his mother was German and he spend his childood in Germany before his family moved to Austria; now he's an Austrian and Ethiopian citizen). He took acting-lessons in Vienna.
Peter Lorre was born in a town which is now in Slovakia but was part of the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy back then. His family moved to Vienna when he was a child and there he learned and started to act.
So both of them have/had an Austrian accent (not like Arnold Schwarzenegger's 'cause he grew up in the countryside where they have a very strong and different accent).
I don't know why the OP has such a problem with the accent. Does (s)he think there are only English, Welsh, Scotish and Irish people living in the UK?
Yes, but he says in the movie that he was born in the house...and unless he left England for an extended period of time as a kid he would have an English accent.
Maybe he did leave but the fact that no one in the movie questions his accent is a bit strange in my opinion
Just saw this for first time and kept hearing "Peter Lorre" when he spoke, then realized based on his 'backstory' that perhaps in his formative years he watched many Peter Lorre films at the local cinema or on the 'telly' - and wanted to emulate him. Haha
shareI knew the minute he opened his mouth that he wasnt British.......and I'm not British myself.
Dont know why they cast a German actor and insisted on him being British in the movie
I can't explain why they did cast him or what possible explaination (if any) the director had in mind for his Austrian accent but strange things have happened e.g. there's a German movie in which Christopher Lee plays a Chinese detective (witn an English accent of course)
shareHave you ever seen 55 Days at Peking (1963)?
Set during the 1900 Boxer Rebellion in China with Chuck Heston saving Ava Gardener and all the other Europeans from the fiendish Chinese.
But it has Dame Flora Robson playing the Chinese Dowager Empress Tzu-Hsi and Sir Robert Helpmann playing the Chinese Prince Tuan
Steve
Yeah I thought that bizarre too. And the actor isn't that good to need a German accent, though perhaps a British one wouldn't do it...dunno mate. But I agree it's not needed and does detract from the movie.
shareYou think so? I thought it was odd that he had the German accent, but I liked it. He just sounded so creepy saying some of his lines....*shiver*
shareerm, he has a German accent because the actor playing him is German...! On a different level though, personally i don't think it detracts from the film, it just serves to highlight the character of Mark even more as something of an outsider, an "observer" if you will to the seedy underbelly of British culture and is therefore something that helps to make the character even more sinister.
I do agree with whoever said that he's more sympathetic than Norman Bates in "Psycho" as even though the Bates character is suffering from a psychiatric disorder, Mark is simply a man on a mission and we find ourselves siding with him on his quest to capture fear in its purest form, and feel sad when he has to die at the end, his quest incomplete and love for Helen (Anna Massey) unrequited.
Yeah, I know. I thought he sounded just like Mr. Peter Lorre, which in turn made the movie even creepier.
shareEXACTLY! I always thought that might've been in Powell's mind when he cast him--remember the original "M" with Lorre as the serial murderer? Boehm sounds a lot like him.
But Powell was also inclined to use European actors--his favorite was the wonderful Austrian player Anton Walbrook. Most of Powell's films are quite Continental...for a Brit director ;).
I liked Boehm's performance so much his accent didn't bother me.
I was thinking that too. Peter Lorre has a certain unique cadence to his voice that Carl Boehm shares. I'm curious if they came from the same part of Germany.
It doesn't get much creeper than the voice of Peter Lorre plus the mannerisms of Norman Bates!
What you see is nothing. I got a Balinese dancing girl tattooed across my chest.
The New York Times critic sneered that Peeping Tom was "quite badly acted by everyone. Chief among these are Mr. Boehm, who plays the mad killer as an Englishman with a Peter Lorre accent that makes 'birthday' come out 'birsday' ...
Well, that's a bit mean, Boehm wasn't that bad. Although I actually thought Maxine Audley as the blind mother gave the best performance.
It's possible he spent much of his childhood in Germany. All we know is that he was born in that house and "spent most of my life" in it (not all). We know his mother died and that his father remarried. There's no reason to suppose they didn't then move to Germany, while maintaining ownership of the house, only to return years later with Mark's accent affected by the time spent there.A satisfactory explanation, I like it. :) share
I agree - the accent, for me, stuck out like a sore thumb, although Boehm's performance wasn't bad. Still, I am of the opion that the role could have been better cast anyway. In some ways, it's a pity the film wasn't made a few years later, when Powell would have had a wave of excellent young British actors to choose from (Michael York, David Hemmings, Martin Jarvis, etc) all of whom would have fit better. I found Boehm to be a bit too creepy in his day-to-day life, when he would have been better as utterly nondescript with hidden depths.
But, really. The character's father speaks like Michael Powell. It seems like he may never have been out of London in his life. So, naturally, they cast a German with a heavy accent...for me, Boehm is the one weak link in an otherwise excellent film.
No need for apologies when you're made of clay
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That's interesting, i never thought of the parallels between Boehm and Peter Lorre as the child murderer in M. Just to comment on some other points - Michael Powell actually played Mark's father in the film, not only his voice but he also makes some Hitchcockian cameos in the film.
Also, imagine Martin Jarvis in the role of Mark!! "The...lights..fade.. too.. soon!" lol. Now he's known for his voice work and on the radio for BBC, especially radio 4. He is also often on the receiving end of mimicry on the excellent satirical impressionist show (both radio and tv versions) Dead Ringers, as they send up how he does the voice overs for everything! It's a hilarious programme and if you're in the UK or get BBC America i urge you to check it out. :)
"We all go a little mad sometimes..."
Oooh, Michael York would have been great in the role.
As it is, I thought Boehm's performance was beyond fine, if not brilliant, and perfectly serviceable to the picture. The German accent was a curiosity, but I felt, as did the posters before me, that it added to the character's position as an outsider, an observer, and a lonely, lonely man. There are probably actors who could have done more with the role, but Boehm was remarkable and had a few moments of such intense heartbreak (e.g., "Everything I photograph I lose") that I feel he should be praised for grounding the film instead of criticized for his accent.
I think the accent is fine. It is not so obvious for me.
shareI thought the accent was kind of cute...
shareThe actor is Austrian.
shareCarl Boehm's speaking voice sounds a little like Peter Lorre's voice to me. Perhaps Michael Powell the director liked Boehm's German accent for this very reason. Carl Boehm's accent reminds me of Peter Lorre's voice in the classic movie: "M" made in Germany in 1931, and directed by Fritz Lang.
Sincerely, S.B.
Yes, I think the accent was very cute too. Made me think of the great Peter Lorre. If he had a British accent..it wouldn't have been too effective...I love the way he says some of his lines...And you know when he says "I killed her" It sounds like he says "I kilt her"...It is so cute..It was brilliant. Powell must have kept the accent so Mark can get more compassion from the audience, apart from his good looks!
"You must become Caligari"
It doesn't bother me, but I definitely thought it a little odd. Still I put it down to his screwed-up childhood and the fact that he is an emotionally repressed loner. Secondly I agree with "byczekfemale" did seem very Peter Lorre-ish, perhaps to play on the "M" (1931) angle.
shareIf it matters (which I don't believe it does), it's possible he spent much of his childhood in Germany. All we know is that he was born in that house and "spent most of my life" in it (not all). We know his mother died and that his father remarried. There's no reason to suppose they didn't then move to Germany, while maintaining ownership of the house, only to return years later with Mark's accent affected by the time spent there.
"He married her six weeks after the... previous sequence."