Plot Summary for
Victim (1961) More at IMDbPro »

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>

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. Written by Huggo

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