In the early sixties, Basil Dearden's Victim was perhaps the most daring film to appear on the British screen. A highly respected, but closeted barrister, Melville Farr, risks his marriage and reputation to take on an elusive blackmail ring terrorizing gay men with the threat of public exposure and police action. Starring Dirk Bogarde in a career-making role, Victim is widely regarded as the film that provoked the British parliament to begin amending its cruel and archaic laws against "homosexual acts".