Teufelskreis (1961)

Teufelskreis: Directed by Basil Dearden. With Dirk Bogarde, Sylvia Syms, Dennis Price, Anthony Nicholls. A closeted lawyer risks his career to bring a blackmailer to justice.

“Set in 1950u0026#39;s Britain at a time when homosexuality is against the law, a top Barrister ( Dirk Bogarde) puts his career on the line to tackle the outrageous blackmail of Londonu0026#39;s homosexuals.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eImpressive cast and outstanding performance by Dirk Bogarde as the troubled barrister whose anguish and pain one can see in his face throughout the film. Watching this now in the 21st century, it seems unbelievable to think that homosexuality was illegal here forty years ago. This is not to say that homophobia is not a concern now, because it still is, however there have been large strides forward for the acceptance and tolerance of homosexuals in mainstream society.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis film is an excellent historical snippet at a time of contentious laws as well as being a fine piece of art. Basil Dearden directs brilliantly and the script maintains a gripping interest throughout. In addition it was nice to see many parts of London as they were in the fifties before factories were knocked down and the hordes of yuppie apartments where built along the Thames.”