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Victim – 1961 Dearden
- An intelligent and engaging take on both social issues and the crime genre
- This could change as I get my hands on some of his 50’s films (particularly those with Losey) but for now this is the earliest Bogarde film in my archives
- First film to use word “homosexual” according to IMDB
- Palpable tension—desperation and urgency in almost every frame
- The film’s lighting and pulsing score is like a noir
- Bogarde reaction hanging in close-ups several times- great underacting—stone faced with mind racing
- The film consistently skews clichés—the head detective is intelligent and reasoned socially- Bogarde’s boss and wife are loyal and level headed –
- Bogarde’s character is complicated
- Intelligent and intricate
- “I can’t help the way I am. The law says I’m a criminal” says one character which is close to being too on the nose but works here
- Recommend
Drake2020-07-03T10:30:41-04:00
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Basil Dearden films I have seen ranked-:
Films:
1. Saraband for Dead Lovers (1948) – MP
2. Khartoum (1966) – MP
3. The Gentle Gunman (1952) – MP
4. The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970) – MS
5. Dead of Night (1945) – MS*
6. The Square Ring (1953) – MS
7. The Mind Benders (1963) – MS
8. Life For Ruth (1962) – MS
9. Frieda (1947)
10. All Night Long (1962)
11. The Halfway House (1944)
12. The Ship That Died of Shame (1955)
13. Victim (1961)
14. The Secret Partner (1961)
15. Pool of London (1951)
16. The Blue Lamp (1950)
17. Cage of Gold (1950)
18. Train of Events (1949)*
19. Violent Playground (1958)
20. They Came to a City (1944)
21. Woman of Straw (1964)
22. Sapphire (1959)
23. The Assassination Bureau, Limited (1969)
24. The Rainbow Jacket (1954)
25. The Smallest Show on Earth (1957)
26. The League of Gentlemen (1960)
27. The Captive Heart (1946)
28. A Place to Go (1963) – R
Performances:
1. Charlton Heston – Khartoum
2. Dirk Bogarde – Victim
3. Patrick McGoohan – All Night Long
4. Dirk Bogarde – The Mind Benders
5. Roger Moore – The Man Who Haunted Himself
6. Flora Robson – Saraband for Dead Lovers
7. Michael Redgrave – Dead of Night*
8. Michael Redgrave – The Captive Heart
9. Robert Beatty – The Square Ring
10. Joan Dowling – Train of Events*
11. Max Adrian – Pool of London
12. Dirk Bogarde – The Gentle Gunman
13. Janet Munro – Life For Ruth
14. John Mills – The Gentle Gunman
15. Stewart Granger – Saraband for Dead Lovers
16. Stewart Granger – The Secret Partner
17. Ralph Richardson – Woman of Straw
18. Richard Attenborough – The Ship That Died of Shame
19. Laurence Olivier – Khartoum
20. Mary Ure – The Mind Benders
21. Ralph Michael – Dead of Night*
22. Dirk Bogarde – The Blue Lamp
23. Peter Finch – Train of Events*
24. Flora Robson – Frieda
25. Mai Zetterling – Frieda
26. John Clements – They Came to a City
27. Googie Withers – They Came to a City
28. Joan Greenwood – Saraband for Dead Lovers
29. Gina Lollobrigida – Woman of Straw
30. Mervyn Johns – Dead of Night*
31. Yvonne Mitchell – Sapphire
32. Mervyn Johns – The Halfway House
33. Tom Walls – The Halfway House
34. Haya Harareet – The Secret Partner
35. Sean Connery – Woman of Straw
36. Bill Owen – The Rainbow Jacket
37. David Farrar – Cage of Gold
38. Ralph Richardson – Khartoum
39. Peter Sellers – The Smallest Show on Earth
40. Basil Radford – Dead of Night*
41. Naunton Wayne – Dead of Night*
42. Margaret Rutherford – The Smallest Show on Earth
43. John Clements – The Mind Benders
44. Rachel Kempson – The Captive Heart
45. David Farrar – Frieda
46. Michael Bryant – The Mind Benders
47. Jean Simmons – Cage of Gold
48. Barbara Mullen – The Gentle Gunman
49. Richard Johnson – Khartoum
50. Ada Reeve – They Came to a City
Favourite scene from every Basil Dearden I have seen-:
* They Came to a City (1944) – Finding the utopian city door
* The Halfway House (1944) – Watching the nine o’clock news
* Dead of Night (1945) – The aftermath after the doctor murder
* The Captive Heart (1946) – Changing the identity list
* Frieda (1947) – The suicide attempt
* Saraband for Dead Lovers (1948) – The carnival setpiece
* Train of Events (1949) – The Actor meets his old flame in his apartment
* Cage of Gold (1950) – The meeting in the foggy night
* The Blue Lamp (1950) – The bank heist
* Pool of London (1951) – The bank heist
* The Gentle Gunman (1952) – Freeing the prisoners on the street
* The Square Ring (1953) – The Main Event
* The Rainbow Jacket (1954) – The final horse race
* The Ship That Died of Shame (1955) – The ship ride in the mist
* The Smallest Show on Earth (1957) – The chaotic theatre breakdown
* Violent Playground (1958) – The gang confrontation
* Sapphire (1959) – The nightclub dance scene
* The League of Gentlemen (1960) – The bank heist
* Victim (1961) – The big reveal to the Sylvia Syms character
* The Secret Partner (1961) – The Norman Bird character gets a visitor
* Life For Ruth (1962) – The suicide attempt
* All Night Long (1962) – The scheming is exposed
* A Place to Go (1963) – The factory heist
* The Mind Benders (1963) – The mind bending experiment
* Woman of Straw (1964) – Coming back after the vacation
* Khartoum (1966) – The arrival in Khartoum
* The Assassination Bureau, Limited (1969) – The French brothel setpiece
* The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970) – The climax
My two personal favourite Basil Dearden films are They Came to a City and especially The Halfway House. Mainly because of the surreal fantasy world aspect. Intelligent escapism doesn’t get any better than these. Conflicted but very engaging and diverse ensemble of characters with different backgrounds. Captured in wide frame. They are “society” films but set in a fantasy world. They are hard films to categorize because they are not horror despite the surrealistic setting. The feeling here is of excitement especially in The Halfway House. The way things get resolved in The Halfway House is one dimensional. They Came to a City resolves these issues in a much more complex and deeper way. The key difference between the two films is the fact The Halfway House is set in a naturalistic surreal setting while They Came to a City is set in a surrealistic setting with built sets (which frankly looks like the entrance to heaven).
These two are very dream like films. A pleasant dream. Unpleasant for some in They Came to a City (that’s the beauty of that film). However they feel like the opposite of Dead of Night which is mainly based around a nightmarish fever dream/s. Perhaps the thing I love the most about The Halfway House and They Came to a City is the fact the main setting/location in both feel timeless. And also the fact all these characters get their own screentime and insight into their lives before the film gets going. This was used in The League of Gentlemen as well.
I feel like almost every Basil Dearden film has a connecting element between the opening and the ending. For example the direction the camera moves away from the lamp in the opening is connected with the direction the camera moves towards the lamp in the ending in the Blue Lamp. This is there from the start in They Came to a City, The Halfway House etc. as well. The arguing doctor and his friend in the opening reoccurs at the ending of The Gentle Gunman. Or it can be a recurring element that reoccurs at the ending. For example the main theme song associated with the pivotal character blasts away at the ending in both Woman of Straw and The Man Who Haunted Himself. His films are just technical perfection.
Bernard Lee is actually in at least six Basil Dearden movies. The Blue Lamp, Cage of Gold, The Ship That Died of Shame, and 3rd billing behind the two romantics in The Secret Partner and A Place to Go. He has a key cameo role in The Rainbow Jacket too. Always a fabulous character actor. A big presence. And great to listen to. A lot of policeman and customs officer roles. He is smoking in every scene in The Secret Partner. And the way he deciphers this case is a delight to watch. He is so cool, calm, and collected as an actor. Then flips it all around and plays a petty working class street performer in A Place to Go – haha. He is going for it in this film. Dunkirk is still probably his best work though. It feels like his biggest role and depicts a more personal side of him. Although A Place to Go is quite personal too. He is one of the big reasons I love Dunkirk as much as I do. He doesn’t have as much character growth as John Mills and Richard Attenborough but is the biggest presence in this film. An epic widescreen movie.
Basil Dearden films I have seen ranked-:
Films:
1. Saraband for Dead Lovers (1948) – MP
2. The Gentle Gunman (1952) – MP
3. The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970) – MS
4. Dead of Night (1945) – MS*
5. The Mind Benders (1963) – MS
6. The Square Ring (1953)
7. All Night Long (1962)
8. Khartoum (1966)
9. Woman of Straw (1964)
10. Frieda (1947)
11. Life For Ruth (1962)
12. The Ship That Died of Shame (1955)
13. Pool of London (1951)
14. The Blue Lamp (1950)
15. The Secret Partner (1961)
16. Sapphire (1959)
17. Cage of Gold (1950)
18. Victim (1961)
19. The Halfway House (1944)
20. The Assassination Bureau, Limited (1969)
21. The Rainbow Jacket (1954)
22. The Smallest Show on Earth (1957)
23. The League of Gentlemen (1960)
24. The Captive Heart (1946)
25. A Place to Go (1963)
26. They Came to a City (1944) – R
Performances:
1. Dirk Bogarde – Victim
2. Roger Moore – The Man Who Haunted Himself
3. Dirk Bogarde – The Mind Benders
4. Charlton Heston – Khartoum
5. Patrick McGoohan – All Night Long
6. David Farrar – Cage of Gold
7. Flora Robson – Saraband for Dead Lovers
8. Joan Greenwood – Saraband for Dead Lovers
9. Ralph Richardson – Woman of Straw
10. Michael Redgrave – The Captive Heart
11. Mary Ure – The Mind Benders
12. Michael Redgrave – Dead of Night*
13. Ralph Michael – Dead of Night*
14. Dirk Bogarde – The Gentle Gunman
15. John Mills – The Gentle Gunman
16. Mervyn Johns – Dead of Night*
17. Stewart Granger – The Secret Partner
18. Laurence Olivier – Khartoum
19. Richard Attenborough – The Ship That Died of Shame
20. Yvonne Mitchell – Sapphire
21. Gina Lollobrigida – Woman of Straw
22. Mai Zetterling – Frieda
23. Flora Robson – Frieda
24. Stewart Granger – Saraband for Dead Lovers
25. Jean Simmons – Cage of Gold
26. Dirk Bogarde – The Blue Lamp
27. Max Adrian – Pool of London
28. Bonar Colleano – Pool of London
29. Bill Owen – The Rainbow Jacket
30. Sean Connery – Woman of Straw
Early in his career, Dearden frequently made community-based movies with ensemble casts. There is a cool trick especially in Dead of Night (Dearden is the one directing the overarching main story) where the distance between the actors get wider as the movie grows darker and there is more unease. His skill in staging actors is apparent in these movies.
https://imgur.com/a/basil-dearden-vBCyTIe
Basil Dearden is a master at bringing his films to a boil.
Basil Dearden ranked:
1. Saraband for Dead Lovers (1948)
2. The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970)
3. The Gentle Gunman (1952)
4. Dead of Night (1945)
5. All Night Long (1962)
6. The Mind Benders (1963)
7. Woman of Straw (1964)
8. Frieda (1947)
9. Life For Ruth (1962)
10. Khartoum (1966)
11. Sapphire (1959)
12. The Halfway House (1944)
13. The Assassination Bureau (1969)
14. The Blue Lamp (1950)
15. Pool of London (1951)
16. The Secret Partner (1961)
17. Victim (1961)
18. The Ship That Died of Shame (1955)
19. The Smallest Show on Earth (1957)
20. The Captive Heart (1946)
21. The League of Gentlemen (1960)
22. A Place to Go (1963)
23. They Came to a City (1944) – R
Dearden is another guy that is a master at bookending his films. Whether it’s Saraband for Dead Lovers, Dead of Night (The main arching story is his), Khartoum (matching General Gordon at the end to the pyramids in the opening with the voice over), The Blue Lamp (the pans from the lamp to the street and vice versa in the ending), The Halfway House (again matching pans across the desert). Or the particular use of music to blast at the ending which is built up throughout the film (The Man Who Haunted Himself, Woman of Straw).
Not to mention the arguing Englishman and the Irishman coming back in the ending of The Gentle Gunman.
Dearden has real consistency in his films in that the main character in his films dies at the the beginning or midway through the film. This happens here in Victim, The Blue Lamp, Sapphire, Life of Ruth and The Mind Benders. Often accompanied by loud instrument scores. 4 out of the 5 deaths aside from the Blue Lamp is related to social/ethical issues and prejudices associated with them. In most of his films there is real patriotism and respect for the police and their investigation procedures (The Blue Lamp is an ode to the English police departments as well). Dearden really made some taboo breaking, thought provoking stuff expertly handled with tension and his use of depth of field and deep focus frames. And also a skillful handler of action(10 minute chase to end The Blue Lamp, 15 minute heist in The League of Gentlemen). There are 4 of his films in Criterion including his best one imo, the Eastmancolor Sapphire which dives deep into the London underworld. Unpredictable stuff.
At least until The Mind Benders, Dearden had a consistent intriguing voice and afterwards he made director for hire stuff like Khartoum.
Have you seen Basil Dearden’s The Mind Benders (1963)?
Martin Scorsese and Edgar Wright talks about it here.
https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/interviews/martin-scorsese-edgar-wright-british-cinema
@Anderson- I have not yet.
Does Sylvia Sims have the biggest gap between archivable films with 1961’s Victim and 2006’s The Queen?
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