Jack Barrett is a young construction worker who is hunted by the police and in over his head for something mysterious. He races throughout London but few of his contacts are willing to help. He tries to find married lawyer Melville Farr. Somebody is blackmailing homosexuals which is illegal at the time. Barrett has stolen £2,300 from his employer to pay the blackmail. Police Detective Inspector Harris is actually more interested to find the blackmailer and seeks the help of Farr after Barrett hangs himself in jail.The first thirty minutes is quite a compelling paranoid thriller. I'm probably not smart enough or maybe the audience at the time would understand some of the hints being thrown around. I just didn't realize the blackmail was about homosexuals at first until Harris literally spells it out. This is edgy socially-dangerous material for its time.

Fortunately, it's unusual for any law to be responsible for creating more crime than it actually deters, but the legislation that criminalised homosexual acts between men came to be seen as the "blackmailer's charter" and caused an incredible amount of human misery before decriminalisation in 1967 eventually removed the intimidation and fear that so many British gay men had previously endured. Basil Dearden's remarkable movie "Victim", provides a priceless snapshot of how the lives of many gay men living in London were affected by this now discredited piece of legislation and in so doing, points to the need for more tolerance to be used in order to achieve a greater measure of justice for everyone.Although by 1961, public and police attitudes to homosexuality in Britain were becoming more relaxed, taking this kind of stand and addressing the issue so overtly in a mainstream movie was still extremely controversial and risky. "Victim" is widely credited as being the first movie in which the word "homosexual" was used and also includes words such as "invert" and "queer" which are no longer in common use.Melville Farr (Dirk Bogarde) is a highly successful London barrister who repeatedly refuses to take telephone calls from a young man called Boy Barrett (Peter McEnery). Unknown to Farr, Barrett is desperately attempting to leave the country because he's being pursued by the police. Being broke and having failed in his attempts to get help from his friends, he's soon arrested and charged for stealing a large amount of money from his employers. When police checks establish that he has no expensive possessions and lives very modestly, Detective Inspector Harris (John Barrie) quickly recognises that this young man is obviously being blackmailed.Barrett refuses to say what he did with the stolen money or to provide the police with any information about the scrapbook clippings about Farr that was found in his possession at the time of his arrest. Harris then interviews Farr but he's unable to offer any meaningful assistance. The barrister then looks visibly shaken when Harris informs him that Barrett has committed suicide by hanging himself in his cell.Farr is happily married but has also had a couple of unconsummated gay relationships. One was with a fellow student at university and the second was with Barrett. His wife Laura (Sylvia Syms) knew all about his homosexuality before she married him but only learns about Barrett after his death. Feeling terribly guilty and upset about what happened to his friend, Farr bravely decides to track down the blackmailers even though doing so means risking his reputation, his marriage and his career. His investigation soon reveals that the blackmailers' victims include a wide range of men from different social classes and occupational groups.Dirk Bogarde was an enormously popular film star who was ambitious to advance from his "matinee idol" status to be regarded as a serious actor. He certainly achieved this by taking the role of Farr and his performance in this movie led to him being offered the more challenging types of roles that he became known for in the second stage of his career. His courage in risking his entire career in order to pursue his professional ambition was impressive but due to the prevailing attitudes, it still wasn't really possible for him to declare his own sexual orientation at that time.Melville Farr is one of the most honest characters imaginable as he's remarkably straightforward with everyone he encounters. Bogarde is perfect in his role and Sylvia Syms brings great dignity and intelligence to her portrayal of his wife who stays incredibly strong and loyal despite the emotional pain that she suffers."Victim" is clearly a movie with a point to make and achieves what it set out to do very effectively. Commendably, however, nothing is sacrificed in terms of entertainment in order to get the message across as it's also an engrossing thriller which eventually leads to a surprise revelation near the end.

Just watched the film last night, and then started doing some background research this morning. I was absolutely floored to discover that homosexuals were going to prison in England up to the time a homophobic criminal statute was repealed in 1967.I was especially floored because so many prominent English actors were gay, going back to my knowledge to the 1930s. Noel Coward's name often appears in film biographies as "encouraging" this or that young, handsome actor, back in those good old days. Coward, if anything, flaunted his homosexuality. He was never arrested. Nor was John Giulgud. The U.K. police evidently left famous personalities quite alone, while selectively prosecuting other people, as portrayed in this movie.Mind you, the social safety net of a gay man marrying a woman was commonplace. Many actors, but not all, resorted to this strategy, although to his credit, not Dirk Bogarde.In this particular film, the character of Farr's wife is pivotal. It seems the woman in the life of a gay man receives very little sympathy, so again this film is a milestone in portraying the anguish of the spouse. Many women are, by nature,loving and nurturing and supportive. This is another reason why some of these inappropriate marriages take place. A gay man can draw on some very deep and genuine feminine feelings in this kind of relationship.It is well-known that gay men are extremely close to their mothers. Personally, I don't think these relationships in any way cause homosexuality later in life. On the contrary, a sensitive, intuitive, empathetic boy child may actually elicit the same special emotional response from a mother as he will later elicit from a future wife. The mother does not suffer from excessive love for her son. The wife, however, will pay a steep price.In the film industry, Laurence Olivier's marriage to Vivien Leigh is perhaps the most tragic example of how a woman's love for a brilliant gay man can turn to tragedy. Everyone knows that Vivien Leigh suffered nervous breakdowns. But it is seldom explained that she succumbed to Olivier's charm completely, absolutely adored him...when, by the way, he was married to another woman. The two of them braved scandal when he got a divorce and then married her immediately. But then, Vivien Leigh, the beautiful and idolized star of the entire world, after "Gone With The Wind," endured an 'open' marriage where Olivier would invite young men to dally with him in one of the rooms of their gorgeous manor house, while Leigh was in the other room.Another eminent British star was Michael Redgrave, father of Vanessa and Lynn Redgrave. Like Dirk Bogarde, he had a decades-long relationship with another man, whom he set up, believe it or not, in the house next door to his wife and children. Vanessa Redgrave had a poor relationship with her father, and then married famous director Tony Richardson -- whose homosexuality let to their divorce prior to his death from AIDS.Sylvia Syms gives a strong, many-faceted performance. But it still is only a bare outline of the torment some women live with all their lives.

It is 1961 but the so - called "Swinging Sixties" are still in the unimaginable future.Homosexual acts between males are against the law.A married barrister is so deep in the closet he's in Narnia.A young male friend "Boy" Barrett is desperate for help as he is on the run after embezzling money to pay off a blackmailer.His calls to the barrister go unanswered and he hangs himself in a police cell,in his possession a scrapbook with press cuttings referring to the barrister's career. Melville Farr (Mr Dirk Bogarde) is about to take silk,the first step to a possible judgeship down the line,but his guilt over his feelings towards Barrett and his deception of his wife finally leads him to try and track down the blackmailer whatever the cost to himself. "Victim" cleverly weaves a straightforward detective story with a plea for tolerance towards homosexuals in an age when it was in rather short supply. Mr Bogarde gives a very moving performance as Melville Farr,a man who has for many years subjugated his natural instincts to conform with the perceived "normality" of his class and profession.After a disastrous gay affair he married the very young and naive daughter of a judge and clearly loves her but is still tortured by his feelings towards his own sex. The wife is played by the very beautiful Miss Sylvia Sims,hot on the heels of playing Mr Laurence Harvey's showgirl lover in "Expresso Bongo". This stunning,versatile actress is as sensitive and vulnerable as Bogarde's wife as she was brash and hard - boiled as Harvey's girlfriend. Mr Derren Nesbett is brilliantly slimy as the repressed gay blackmailer's bagman.Looking for all the world like a malevolent Zoot Sims,he plays his part with lip - smacking relish. But much of the joy in "Victim" is in the careful casting of the smaller roles,none of whom falls into the easy trap of stereotyping gay men. Having been brought up in gay - friendly Brighton I was familiar with the demi- monde homosexuals felt they were forced to inhabit and it is well - realised in this picture.I am a little surprised that the pub featured in "Victim" wasn't one of the several London venues which gays had made their own,even in the 1950s.Still,perhaps the producers were using the "pub as a microcosm of society" argument. Despite perhaps a slight over - egging of the "gays are just folks" pudding,this is a fine picture,one which signalled a change of direction for Mr Bogarde's career,gave notice to the public that there were severe inequities in the way the law regarded sexuality,and demonstrated that British Cinema was still a force to be reckoned with. If you wish to learn for yourself the injustices visited on homosexual men prior to the Wolfenden report,read "Against The Law",a 1954 memoir by Peter Wildeblood who - along with Lord Montagu and Michael Pitt - Rivers - was imprisoned for having sexual relations with servicemen. his account of hypocrisy in high places details the price paid by gay men 50 years ago that helped achieve the freedom they enjoy now.