A prominent lawyer goes after a blackmailer who threatens gay men with exposure (homosexual acts still being illegal). But he's gay himself...
Take a look back at the many on-screen incarnations of Batman and Superman over the years.
Related News
‘Carol’ Leads the Top 30 Lgbt Films of All-Time, According to BFI Poll
15 March 2016 9:01 PM, +01:00 | The Film Stage
15 March 2016 9:01 PM, +01:00 | The Film Stage
Russell T Davies to explore 21st-century gay life in two Channel 4 dramas
19 November 2013 9:37 AM, +01:00 | The Guardian - TV News
19 November 2013 9:37 AM, +01:00 | The Guardian - TV News
User Lists
Related lists from IMDb users
Connect with IMDb
Share this Rating
Title: Victim (1961)
Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.
Photos
Learn more
People who liked this also liked...
Sapphire
(1959)
Crime
|
Drama
|
Mystery
Director:
Basil Dearden
Stars:
Nigel Patrick,
Yvonne Mitchell,
Michael Craig
The Servant
(1963)
Drama
Director:
Joseph Losey
Stars:
Dirk Bogarde,
Sarah Miles,
Wendy Craig
The League of Gentlemen
(1960)
Crime
|
Thriller
Director:
Basil Dearden
Stars:
Jack Hawkins,
Nigel Patrick,
Roger Livesey
Libel
(1959)
Drama
Director:
Anthony Asquith
Stars:
Dirk Bogarde,
Olivia de Havilland,
Paul Massie
Cast a Dark Shadow
(1955)
Thriller
Director:
Lewis Gilbert
Stars:
Dirk Bogarde,
Margaret Lockwood,
Kay Walsh
Our Mother's House
(1967)
Drama
|
Thriller
Director:
Jack Clayton
Stars:
Dirk Bogarde,
Margaret Leclere,
Pamela Franklin
The Password Is Courage
(1962)
War
|
Comedy
|
Drama
Director:
Andrew L. Stone
Stars:
Dirk Bogarde,
Maria Perschy,
Alfred Lynch
This Sporting Life
(1963)
Drama
|
Sport
Director:
Lindsay Anderson
Stars:
Richard Harris,
Rachel Roberts,
Alan Badel
Looking for Langston
(1989)
Biography
|
Drama
Director:
Isaac Julien
Stars:
Ben Ellison,
Matthew Baidoo,
Akim Mogaji
All Night Long
(1962)
Drama
Director:
Basil Dearden
Stars:
Patrick McGoohan,
Keith Michell,
Betsy Blair
Glut
(1960)
Action
|
Drama
|
War
Director:
Nunnally Johnson
Stars:
Ava Gardner,
Dirk Bogarde,
Joseph Cotten
Die Konsequenz
(1977)
Drama
Director:
Wolfgang Petersen
Stars:
Jürgen Prochnow,
Ernst Hannawald,
Werner Schwuchow
Edit
Cast
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| 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 MacNaughtan | ... |
Scott Hankin
|
| Nigel Stock | ... |
Phip
|
|
|
|
Frank Pettitt | ... |
Barman
(as Frank Pettit)
|
|
|
Mavis Villiers | ... |
Madge
|
Edit
Plot Summary
|
Add Synopsis
Storyline
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. Written by Mike Mills <mills@colorado.edu>
Taglines:
A Daring Picture About the World's Most Un-talked About Subject.Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parents »
Edit
See full technical specs »
Details
Country:
UKLanguage:
EnglishRelease Date:
30 May 1962 (West Germany) See more »Also Known As:
A Vítima See more »Company Credits
Show detailed
company contact information
on
IMDbPro »
Technical Specs
Runtime:
| (pre-censored) | (video)Sound Mix:
MonoColor:
Black and WhiteAspect Ratio:
1.66 : 1
Edit
(uncredited)
Music by Ludwig van Beethoven
Arranged by Philip Green
See more »
Did You Know?
Trivia
This was the first English language film to use the word "homosexual." See more »Goofs
When Melville is stood outside the Counsel & Clerks office, the shadow of the boom microphone is visible beside the sign, on the wall behind him. See more »Soundtracks
String Quartet, Op.18(uncredited)
Music by Ludwig van Beethoven
Arranged by Philip Green
See more »
"Victim" is probably the first mainstream film on either side of the Atlantic to feature a gay hero. Granted, Dirk Bogarde plays a married closet case who hasn't actually engaged in a homosexual act in many years. Nonetheless, it's fairly amazing that, given what we know about attitudes toward gay people in the 1950's that a film this affirming of gay rights could have been made in 1961. It's a movie that's much more about "gay" as an identity than it is about sexuality; it centers on a blackmail ring that includes our closeted hero, a star of the London theatre, a lonely old barber, a Rolls-Royce salesman, and others. As a group, the gay men are intermittently desperate, proud, accepting, self-loathing, and scared -- which said more to me about 1961 than it said about gay men. The title is interesting to me; it seems that the journey of Bogarde's character seems to be the road out of victimization and toward (if this isn't too corny) self-actualization. It's a mildly entertaining movie, but a fascinating historical artifact.