christopher-underwood Of course this is bold, brave, daring and ahead of its time, but it is also a thrilling and emotional ride. I had rather expected this to be earnest and prejudiced, presenting the case against the then law against homosexuality, as if to a child. But, this opens at a gallop and barely pauses as we struggle to find out what is causing the young lad to run for his life seeking help from old colleagues. Along the way we catch fantastic glimpses of late 50s/early 60s London, particularly St Martins Lane, Cambridge Circus and Chiswick Mall. There are several scenes shot inside The Salisbury pub which apparently was a gay pub at the time, although not openly presumably. Dirk Bogarde is great in what can't have been an easy role, particularly at that time. He plays well off Sylvia Syms, who also does well and even Dennis Price puts his head on the block with a similarly brave performance. It would be nice to think todays film makers might be able to make a film with something to say that is also a thrill to watch. Fat chance.

Prismark10 Victim had to tread a fine line between being an earnest issue based movie and a gripping thriller where a barrister's life is spiralling out of control because of his homosexual past.Victim is a snapshot of its time. This is evident in the scenes of the building site where London was going through post war regeneration and scenes of a plush car showroom in the middle of town which is rather a rare sight these days.Victim is also marks a society where homosexuality is illegal. The film-makers took a brave stance in making a sympathetic campaigning stance on the liberalisation of the ban on homosexuality and Dirk Bogarde who stars as Melville Farr, the wealthy upwardly mobile barrister was a someone regarded as a matinée idol and a hit with the ladies. Bogarde was one of the several actors taking a risk in making this film. Given that Bogarde himself was later reputed to be gay only heightened the risk to his professional career.Farr is going far in the world. He is married and taking silk and a place in the judiciary is not far behind. However he had a 'liaison' in his student days which had a tragic outcome. Farr also had a friendship with a construction worker who stole funds because he was being blackmailed for being gay and later dies.This event spurs Farr on to pursue the blackmailers even if this puts his personal and professional life in jeopardy.The film comes close on being preachy on a few occasions but that is expected for a bold, campaigning film of the time but it works well as a decent thriller with a few twists towards the end. It depicts the gay community as a disparate group from wealthy to the working class, old to young. You see a few hanging around a pub, regarded as a gay pub yet the publican has a loathing of homosexuals. In contrast the police inspector has a rather liberal attitude noting that the ban on homosexuality was a blackmailer's charter.Homosexuality was decriminalised in 1967 but that was not the end of the story but a beginning of a chapter which would take another five decades before their would be almost full equality. Until then there was Mrs Thatcher's attack with Section 28 and some police chiefs who thought it was more important for undercover police officers to hang around toilets and entrap gay men than go out catching burglars and drug dealers.

Lars Henderson Since this film has so many reviews, I shall simply focus entirely on the impact that this film had on my inner emotions vis a vis the main character - Dirk Brogade who plays the barrister/solicitor.Mr. Brogade is an another fine actor from the British screen. He is so compelling and unforgettable in this role and thankfully he does it justice because Mr. Brogade brings to life or parallels the perils of homosexuality in a time when gay people were persecuted criminally. The Victim is an apt title but you really ponder how many victims in this cruel and well acted drama?I urge all to watch this beautifully written and directed and extremely well acted film but most of all, follow-up the actual plot with real life struggles that gay people assumed at the time of the criminalization of homosexuality.

ianlouisiana 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.