In its time, Victim was considered as a daring a film as had ever been made in England. Taken at face value, Janet Green and John McCormick's screenplay is nothing new: Dirk Bogarde plays a lawyer who agrees to defend an old friend (John McEnery) on a theft charge, only to be enmeshed in a blackmailing scheme. What set this one apart is the fact that the lawyer had once been the male lover of his client. At a time when homosexuality was a criminal offense in England, any film that depicted the
gay scene in a non-judgmental light was in for a rough time from the bluenose brigades. What really startled filmgoers of 1962 is that the homosexuals shown in Victim were seemingly normal, everyday blokes, a far cry from the stereotyped "nance" characters common to films. Denied the MPAA seal when it was released to the United States, Victim surprisingly ran into very little interference when it was released to television in the mid-1960s. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
British auteur Basil Dearden pulled back the veil of his society's outcasts, dismembering crippling social stigmas by highlighting their torment, humanity, and resolve for change.
The wealth of detail about gay life at the time and the often adverse public perception of homosexual behavior ensures Victim's lasting fascination as a social document.
Victim and I See a Dark Stranger represent very different schools of filmmaking and storytelling, but offer fans of quality filmmaking equal pleasure in the consumption.
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