Victim

The first English-language film to use the word "homosexual," Victim stars Dirk Bogarde as Melville Farr, a married barrister who is a closeted homosexual. When a young man who admired him commits suicide after being blackmailed, Farr risks his career and marriage to expose a blackmail ring preying on gay men.

Farr's marriage to Laura (Sylvia Syms) is a cover in an era when homosexuality was a criminal offense in Britain. The film was a deliberate act of social advocacy—it helped propel public discourse toward the 1967 Sexual Offences Act that decriminalized homosexuality. Bogarde's decision to take the role was itself a courageous act, as he was one of Britain's biggest stars and was himself closeted.