Friday, February 26, 2010

Tired Old Queen at the Movies: 'Victim' (1961)

This week Steve Hayes reviews "Victim," Basil Dearden's groundbreaking film starring Dirk Bogarde. Steve says it ripped the lid off the public and personal persecution of homosexuals in Great Britain. The most daring film ever seen on the subject, "Victim" helped to change the laws dealing with homosexuality, laws that had been in existence for hundreds of years and had led to the imprisonment and eventual death not only of Oscar Wilde, but countless others. This was the first English language film to use the word "homosexual." Gay actor Dirk Bogarde along with Dennis Price and lovely Sylvia Sims risked their careers to appear in this heart-stopping and controversial production. Dealing with a gay barrister who is being blackmailed and decides to risk everything by fighting back, "Victim" paved the way for every film dealing with the subject, from "The Boys in the Band" to "Milk."

1 comment:

Ron Buckmire said...

I love the "Tired Old Queen"! On his recommendation I saw "Black Narcissus" last weekend on DVD (I actually had it already) and it was lovely, campty fun!

[It stars Deborah Kerr as a young Mother Superior of an order of nuns high on the Himalayas when "something goes wrong" with one of the sisters and it turns into a horror film!]