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.