Silvia Syms died on January 27, aged 89. I was intrigued to read in her obituary that she was warned not to appear in the film - which several other actresses had turned down - as it might ruin her career. But 'one of her friends had died by suicide after being outed, and she had seen how the perpetual fear of being blackmailed affected fellow actors, including Sir John Gielgud. 'I wanted to do it because I wanted the law changed.' After many cuts, the film was eventually released with an X certificate. It proved a commercial and critical success, and has been credited as helping to pave the way for the 1967 Sexual Offences Act that partially decriminalised homosexuality."
Barrister Dirk Bogarde learns that a young man who he has been associated with has taken his own life rather than betray their relationship and so sets out to trap the blackmailer, knowing full well it might end his own career (which it probably does; the ending is equivocal). The gay world is well portrayed, the police largely sympathetic. It plays like a good thriller, photographed in inky tones by Otto Heller.
Syms is Bogarde's wife who ultimately will stand by him. The cast looks familiar without being able to name them - Anthony Nicholls, Peter Copley, Norman Bird, Peter McEnery (the unfortunate 'Boy' Barrett), Donald Churchill, Derren Nesbitt (the blackmailer: Where Eagles Dare, The Blue Max, Monte Carlo or Bust), John Barrie, John Cairney, Alan MacNaughton, Nigel Stock, Margaret Diamond. Though Dennis Price needs no introduction. But who plays William, Bogarde's loyal assistant?
Written by Janet Green, who had worked with Dearden on Sapphire; with John McCormick.
The pub is The Salisbury in St Martin's Lane; other London locations look familiar. London looked quite seedy anyway in 1961.
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