ianlouisiana Review of The Mark

The Mark (1961)

In view of the heavy sentences now handed down for possession of.....

[8/10 · 2 March 2018]

Images of child abuse,Mr Whitman's character got off rather lightly. After all he had admitted intending to "interfere with" as they delicately put it in those days, a very young girl. Three years later he is back out on the streets. We now presume paedophilia is a permanent condition,but perhaps naively,the received wisdom art the time was that it could be cured. No Sex offenders Register back then. Whilst undergoing psychiatric treatment(the frankly frightening Mr Steiger) Mr Whitman in a slightly unlikely plot development falls in love with Maria Schell. As his "cure" progresses he is seen buying an ice cream for a young girl and exposed by the media(you would expect no less) and is a prime suspect for her disappearance. Cue the metaphorical flaming torches and pitchforks. I would suggest most people today might lack sympathy with Mr Whitman as it appears from reading the papers that sexual abuse of children is the new black. Back in 1961 it barely registered on the National Conscience and "The Mark" was a terrible shock at least to the British cinema audience who stayed away in their droves except in those rather odd cinemas in the West End where the patrons tended to wear dirty macs even in the most clement weather. But as an attempt to address a very difficult subject that even now,nearly sixty years later is still virtually taboo it is a courageous work and remarkably free of judgemental attitudes. Together with the rather different role of M.Paul Regret this is Stuart Whitman's best film performance and certainly deserved its Oscar nomination..