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| STAR RATINGS EXPLAINED |
| Unmissable |
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| Excellent |
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| Good |
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| Poor |
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| Tragic |
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| FILM DETAILS | Certificate
12 | | Cast
Dirk Bogarde
Sylvia Syms
Dennis Price
Derren Nesbitt. | | Directors
Basil Dearden. | | Screenwriters
Janet Green
John McCormick. | | Running Time
95 minutes |
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Victim
Plot
When targeted by a sleaze a barrister takes on racketeers who use the criminal status of homosexuals as a license to extort but is forced to out himself to his wife in the process Review
Daring in 1961, this now has its quaint side, but remains a strong, unusual blackmail thriller with a central performance from Dirk Bogarde that flirts with autobiography while presenting an almost caricature image of a stiff-upper-lipped British queer.
When targeted by a sleaze, played in a perv’s leather jacket by grinning Derren Nesbitt, barrister Bogarde takes on racketeers who use the criminal status of homosexuals as a license to extort, but also has to admit to his cut-glass wife (Sylvia Syms) that he really does have desires for ‘the boy’ (Peter McEnery).
The milieu of antique shops and cosy pick-up bars might be laughably genteel but it’s still convincing, and director Basil Dearden has a knack for wrapping the gay docu-drama up with deceptively conventional police investigation and professional suspense.
Verdict
Still convincing as a thriller, if a little quaint now, in it's approach to the themes surrounding homosexually .
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