Victim"Well it used to be witches. At least they don't burn you." To be gay was a crime in the United States and the U.K., and the movie used the devices of film noir and thriller to make its argument, labeling laws against homosexuality "the blackmailer's charter." Indeed, 90 percent of all British blackmail cases had homosexuals as victims.
The defense of homosexuality was not a popular topic at the box office when the film was made, and director Basil Dearden tried to broaden the film's appeal by making it into a thriller and a police procedural. There is no sex on (or anywhere near) the screen, and while the hero is homosexual by nature, there is doubt that he has ever experienced gay sex. The plot hinges on anonymous blackmailers who collect regular payments from wealthy and famous gays, and on the decision of a prominent barrister to stand up to them.
The movie proceeds on two levels, as a crime thriller and as a character study, and it's this dual nature that makes it an entertainment at the same time it works as a message picture. There's a good deal of indirection in the clever script, which conceals motives, misdirects our suspicions, misleads our expectations, and finds truth and dignity in the scenes between Farr and his wife.
I'd never heard of Victim until I decided to take on this Marathon. As far as I can tell, the only one here who's seen it is MartinTeller. (Always ahead of the curve.) I worried this would be a dated social drama, an Afterschool Special of a movie about the persecution of homosexuals so long ago. Thankfully, the film is much more, and much better handled than I would have guessed.
Taking a few tricks from Film Noir, the film has grit and bite and an underlying tension. A lot of the uneasy feelings between homosexuals, people with open minds and those who look at gays as deviants and abominations are brought to life in the blunt, hard-edged dialogue. It gives the film a present-day relevance, and an emotional underpinning many Noirs lack.
The weakest section of the film are those scenes between Farr and his wife. The acting is exemplary, but here there's a bit of sap and didacticism to it. They never manage to exist as characters beyond the unique circumstance of their relationship. It's my one reservation in this otherwise daring film. (I read some reviews about the film being dated and suppressive of it's handling with the subject matter. First of all, welcome to the upper class of England. Secondly, if this same script were made today, I think it and the cast would still be seen as bold and brave.)
RATING: * * *