Tuesday, 5 August 2014

Blackmail and injustice

Victim (1961)

Directed by Basil Dearden this film stars Dirk Bogarde, Dennis Price, Sylvia Syms and Peter McEnery. A married barrister with a confused sexuality is caught up in the blackmail of homosexuals.

At the time of release this film was massively controversial but does a good job of showing the plight of homosexual men at a time when homosexual acts were still criminalised. Despite being a social issues film and having a clear agenda the film is never preachy, instead treating the subject matter with subtlety and tact. There are good performances from the cast but there is at least one night time scene that does not show up very well on the black and white film stock.


4/5

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