Thanks for that review, DJ. I just finished reading THIS IS ORSON WELLES, a book of Peter Bogdanovich's interviews with Welles, edited by Jonathan Rosenbaum.
VICTIM 8/10British movie (I believe from 1961) about homosexuals being blackmailed; homosexuality was a crime, the movie is about a blackmailing ring taking pictures of homosexuals, forcing them to pay or the ring will rat them out to the cops.There is a lot of preaching here, how wrong such a law is, how it leaves homosexuuals vulnerable to blackmailers, how it's not their fault how they are, how gov't shouldn't be making such laws, etc. I have no idea about the nature stuff but I agree with the message - i.e., I don't believe it is government's business to be legislating morality, criminalizing any behavior between consenting adults no matter how abominable it may be. Anyway, it's a good movie. There is no subtlety here, the word "homosexual" and "queer" is mentioned frequently; I am sure that at that time it could never be mentioned in an American movie.
I wrote a piece on Victim a few months back, if you'd care to peruse it:http://moviepilot.com/posts/2014/10/03/from-victim-to-hero-revisiting-basil-dearden-s-victim-1961-2304327?lt_source=external,manual
Indeed, as you write in the same paragraph, (after Barrett;'s suicide) Farr was heedless of his reputation in an attempt to find the blackmailers, but that was only after Barrett committed suicide; initially it wasn't the blackmailers who sought out Farr – they only started "targeting" him after he made it his business to go after them.
btw, IMO that is a big hole in the story, why the blackmailers would go after the poor Barrett instead of Farr, a wealthy married man with a reputation to protect. Barrett's friend offers some feeble explanation like, they knew Farr was too big to go after, but that is ridiculous; the bigger the man, the more money the blackmailers could get. The fact that the blackmailers didn't come after Farr until he went after them is a big mistake in the story IMO.
I'd have to watch the movie again, but did they know Farr was gay at that point? I don't recall it coming up.
I think in the movie's universe, the criminals were targeting people like Barrett because they were more desperate and easily scared. A construction worker or hairdresser isn't going to put up a fight the way a barrister or well-known actor would. Libel laws being what they are in the UK (eg., the accused has to prove their innocence, rather than vice versa), tackling someone like Farr would be a big risk, even with compromising evidence.