Victim (1961) - DaaVeeDee

Victim (1961) (DVD) (*)

$27.99

Screened, competed or awarded at:
BAFTA Awards
Venice Film Festival

Language Selections:
English ( Mono )
Italian ( Mono )
Italian ( Subtitles )

Product Origin/Format:
Italy ( PAL/Region 0 )

Running Time:
96 min

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen (1.66:1)

Special Features:
Cast/Crew Interview(s)
Interactive Menu
Trailer(s)
Black & White
Remastered

Movie filmed in 1961 and produced in:
United Kingdom ( Great Britain, Ireland )

Directed By:
Basil Dearden

Written By:
Janet Green
John McCormick

Actors:
Dirk Bogarde ..... Melville Farr
Sylvia Syms ..... Laura
Dennis Price ..... Calloway
Anthony Nicholls ..... Lord Fullbrook
Peter Copley ..... Paul Mandrake
Norman Bird ..... Harold Doe
Peter McEnery ..... Barrett
Donald Churchill ..... Eddy
Derren Nesbitt ..... Sandy Youth
John Barrie ..... Det.Inspector Harris
John Cairney ..... Bridie
Alan MacNaughton ..... Scott Hankin (in opening credits)
Nigel Stock ..... Phip
Frank Pettitt ..... Barman
Mavis Villiers ..... Madge

Synopsis:

Jack Barrett is found hanging dead in his jail cell. He was being held for allegedly embezzling money from his company, which he admitted to the police to doing. But he committed suicide rather than admit the truth of why he took the money, which was because he was being blackmailed for being a homosexual, this at a time in England where anti-sodomy laws were in place. The other half of this past indiscretion is married barrister Melville Farr, who thought Barrett was trying to blackmail him. Once Farr finds out that Barrett killed himself, Farr understands that Barrett was instead trying to warn him of the blackmail attempt. Farr decides to risk his own high standing in the community by flushing out the blackmailer. Since he himself is not being blackmailed, Farr, with the help of Barrett's gay friend Eddy Stone, tries to find someone else who is also being blackmailed. Is Farr doing this to pay the blackmail moneys in return for the incriminating evidence against him (negatives of photographs) or does he want to stop the blackmailer from targeting other homosexuals? Regardless, Farr knows his career is over. Through this turmoil, Farr must deal with his wife Laura, who knew of her husband's homosexual tendencies even before they were married.

In its time, Victim was considered as a daring a film as had ever been made in England. Taken at face value, Janet Green and JOHN MCCORMICK's screenplay is nothing new: DIRK BOGARDE plays a lawyer who agrees to defend an old friend (JOHN MCENERY) on a theft charge, only to be enmeshed in a blackmailing scheme. What set this one apart is the fact that the lawyer had once been the male lover of his client. At a time when homosexuality was a criminal offense in England, any film that depicted the gay scene in a non-judgmental light was in for a rough time from the bluenose brigades. What really startled filmgoers of 1962 is that the homosexuals shown in Victim were seemingly normal, everyday blokes, a far cry from the stereotyped 'nance' characters common to films. Denied the MPAA seal when it was released to the United States, Victim surprisingly ran into very little interference when it was released to television in the mid-1960s.

A plea for reform of England's anti-sodomy statutes, this film pits Melville Farr, a married lawyer, against a blackmailer who has photos of Farr and a young gay man (who is being blackmailed and later commits suicide)in Farr's car. After the suicide, Farr tracks down other gay men being extorted for money by the same blackmailer. The well-educated police Detective Inspector Harris 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.

This product was added to our catalog on Sunday 16 August, 2020.