Jack Barrett, a young boy is being chased after by the police. He has stolen a huge amount of money from his employers. He constantly reaches out to. Lawyer named Mr. Farr for help but after Farr intentionally avoids him, Barrett is picked up by the police. They realize that he was being blackmailed for being homosexual but he would not give the cops anymore details than that. He later hangs himself in a police cell. It turns out the blackmailer had a photo of him with Mr. Farr and he wanted to protect Farr. Learning the truth, Farr takes upon himself to get justice. Using Barrett's best friend, he finds out about a barber who is being blackmailed similarly, who refuses to reach to police to avoid humiliation. Next he finds out about an actor who is possibly being blackmailed as well, but he also refuses to protect his identity. News of Barrett's death causes a strain on Farr's married life as it. Turns out he had gay tendencies even before their marriage. Farr has had enough. He resolves to help the police catch them and promises to give evidence in court, despite knowing that the ensuing press coverage will certainly destroy his career. The blackmailers are identified and arrested. Farr and his wife decide to make their marriage work.
Its important to understand the relevance of the film here. It was not until 1967 that the homosexual acts were considered illegal. Many of these people in the film who are being blackmailed had been in prison and they didn't want to repeat that experience. This law is what made gays vulnerable to entrapment and blackmails. The film thankfully treats homosexuality in a non-sensationalised manner and instead focuses more on the problems they face. Back to the film, the film moves at a brisk pace after about first 30 minutes, when you are trying to figure out why Barrett is running away. The audience is told much later the reason behind it and then things start to fall in place. Barrett character of a troubled gay man, who would rather take his life to protect someone he loved was short but impactful. Mr Farr and the wife played their characters also quite good, without being over dramatic in their confrontation scene. With statements like "Don't they understand that we are just like anyone else", the makers try to empathize and show the plight of gay men in that time. Since after watching this film and reading more about homosexuality in England in those days, apparently almost 90% of all blackmail cases involved homosexuals. The point of the movie wasn't that all homosexuals were victims, but they could only be victims so long as the law permitted it.
I can see this being a very important and ground breaking film at the time it came out. It needs a lot of bravery to not only make a film like this but even for actors to take up such challenging characters. (6/10)
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