This thought-provoking classic stars Dirk Bogarde as Melville Farr, a homosexual (but married) barrister who risks his career to hunt down a blackmailer who has photos of Farr and a young gay man (who is also being blackmailed and later commits suicide) in Farr’s car.
After the suicide, Farr tracks down other gay men who are being extorted for money by the same blackmailer.
The well-educated police Detective Inspector Harris (John Barrie) considers the sodomy law nothing more than an aid to blackmailers and helps Farr in calling his blackmailer’s bluff.
The movie, far ahead of its time, ends with Farr and his wife coming to terms with his homosexuality after the public exposure he faces in the blackmailer’s trial.
When Victim was released, it started a nationwide discussion about homosexuality (which was still illegal in Britain at the time) and associated blackmail and is credited with helping to decriminalise homosexuality in the UK.
Melville Farr
Dirk Bogarde Laura Farr
Sylvia Syms Calloway
Dennis Price Phip
Nigel Stock Jack Barrett
Peter McEnery Eddy Stone
Donald Churchill Lord Charles Fullbrook
Anthony Nicholls P.H.
Hilton Edwards Harold Doe
Norman Bird Scott Hankin
Alan MacNaughtan William Patterson
Noel Howlett Henry
Charles Lloyd Pack Detective Inspector Harris
John Barrie Bridie
John Cairney Mickey
David Evans Paul Mandrake
Peter Copley Madge
Mavis Villiers Miss Benham
Margaret Diamond Frank
Alan Howard Sylvie
Dawn Beret
Director
Basil Dearden
Video
Related Posts
Value for Money (1955) Young Chayley Broadbent (John Gregson) from Barfield, Yorkshire, inherits a sizeable legacy from his notoriously miserly millionaire industrialist father, John…
Doctor in Distress (1963) Dr Simon Sparrow (Dirk Bogarde in his final appearance in the Doctor series) finds his love life improves dramatically when lovely model…
Kiss Me, Stupid (1964) Dean Martin, portraying himself, is stranded in Climax, Nevada, and becomes the subject of a plot to have him buy…
Challenge for Robin Hood, A (1967) Young Norman nobleman Robin de Courtenay (Barrie Ingham) is falsely accused by his cousin of murdering another cousin. His accuser…
Out Of Sight (1966) A spy's butler plans to follow in his employer's footsteps by tackling the case of a mad scientist at the…
Projected Man, The (1966) Dr Paul Steiner (Bryant Haliday) and Dr Chris Mitchell (Ronald Allen) are hard at work on a projection device that…
Very Special Favor, A (1965) French Lawyer Michel Boullard (Charles Boyer) is estranged from his cold and prudish psychiatrist daughter Lauren (Leslie Caron) - a…
Servant, The (1963) Self-consciously 'modern' when it was released, this study of class power and sexual desire starred James Fox as upper-class twit,…
The well-educated police Detective Inspector Harris (John Barrie) considers the sodomy law nothing more than an aid to blackmailers and helps Farr in calling his blackmailer’s bluff.
