Sapphire

This Basil Deardon movie addresses the pernicious topic of racism in contemporary England, with the film itself shot in 1959. It's dressed up in a murder mystery which in the end is rather crudely resolved but not before making some telling comments on racial attitudes of the time.

Let's not forget this was Harold MacMillan's England, the "you've never had it so good" generation, now, in certain parts of the country being asked to accept in sometimes considerable numbers, black immigrants for the first time. Then, and I would argue, now, especially when considering how big a part the subject of immigration played in the recent United Kingdom Brexit vote, there has always been a strain of racism, sometimes casual, sometimes deep, running the length of this country.

The Sapphire of the title is the young girl whose lifeless body is shockingly dumped on the local common in the arresting beginning to the feature. We learn that the girl was of mixed race but of what is termed the "light" variety, meaning that she can usually pass for a white girl. A fun-loving, even what you might call a good-time girl, it transpires she has a straight-laced white boyfriend who lives with his father, mother and an older sister who has young twin daughters of her own. While the mother appears to be a tolerant soul, it soon becomes obvious that the father and daughter aren't. No reason or explanation is given for their bias, it's just skin prejudice, no more no less.

We also learn that Sapphire was pregnant at the time of her death, which turns out to be a further motive for her eventual demise. While Nigel Patrick and Michael Craig as the two investigating cops dig deeper into the slain girl's background, her doctor brother, a dark-skinned black man, arrives to help with the police enquiries. The investigation also takes in a local club where foreign nationals meet socially, each, it seems, with their own story to tell about suffering racial abuse, before the murderer is finally revealed in a somewhat clumsy, contrived fashion.

Never mind that though, the film is still a brave one in exposing to cinema audiences of the day the vileness of racial discrimination. We see examples of such practices by many white folk in the cast (such as the common practice of white landlords and here, landladies denying accommodation to blacks), although the scenes taking in the black community itself, implying black-on-black prejudice are less successfully rendered. These characterisations too seem exaggerated plus the crude way that Deardon introduces the dead girl's brother, with a big "Ta-da" musical chord, is somewhat heavy-handed. The "N" word is used however in dialogue and there are other examples of the director pushing the envelope as it were, although I'm not sure the right balance is struck throughout in tone or emphasis.

Patrick is very good as the tolerant and persevering lead detective as is Yvonne Mitchell as the bigoted big sister.. Other pluses are a low-key jazz soundtrack by Johnny Dankworth and the use of actual street locations in and around London. As imperfect and occasionally offensive it may well be to modern day viewers, "Sapphire" still stands out as a significant attempt to at least recognise, address and indeed challenge racial attitudes of the day a good year or two before the more celebrated "A Taste Of Honey".

this is one of the most underappreciated films of all times. it is a superbly acted and directed film with a very intelligent and well crafted screenplay. the "twist" is revealed just at the right moment and is not played for any exploitative reason but still resonates throughout the course of the film. i have the video of this film, which is not listed anywhere and just got the poster, that is how much i love this film. if you are looking for a stupid bang bang movie don't bother, if you're looking for a goofy feel good movie, go elsewhere, but if you appreciate well-crafted film making this is your movie.

When a young woman's body is discovered on London's Hampstead Heath, the ensuing investigation quickly focuses on racial bigotry and hatred in 1950s Britain, exposing the prejudice amongst those under investigation AND those investigating.

Like so many other films from the 1940s and 1950s, Sapphire is yet another piece of groundbreaking British cinema now long forgotten. A little clunky and overly reliant on stereotyping by today's standards, but still a fascinating exploration of the fears and struggles inherent in a newly mixed-race society. Dearden has brought together an interesting cast here, cleverly giving matinée idol Craig a fairly unsympathetic role as a racist police officer, and being superbly served by Mitchell - her final scene is at once both compelling and distressing. Too many British cinema actors of the 40's and 50's have now been forgotten, and Mitchell is a prime example of why individual and collective reappraisals and retrospectives are long overdue.

Interesting companion piece to 1961's Flame In The Streets, then, and definitely worth catching if you can.

SAPPHIRE (UK 1959) takes a honest and brutally realistic approach to racism: it exists in everyone, white, black or of mixed race. Sadly, that continues to be the case today even if now intermarriage is more acceptable and no longer prevents people renting accommodation, joining creches or schools, and it is less visibly frowned upon.

Director Basil Dearden had already distinguished himself with social comment films as THE BLUE LAMP (UK 1950), in which Dirk Bogarde plays an unrepentant criminal hunted by police in postwar London, THE SQUARE RING (UK 1953), which does not pull any punches analyzing the brutality of boxing and of the people in it, and VIOLENT PLAYGROUND (UK 1958), an ongoing duel between police and an arsonist.

Pity that six decades later racism remains a problem everywhere, and the movie industry, and life in general, continues to try to address that problem with the mendacity of political correctness.

SAPPHIRE does well to show how limited we, the human race, are in dealing with that issue. Even policemen like Learoyd (Michael Craig) are racist at heart, so there is an institutional side to the problem, too.

Direction is very good, although it allows characterization to go over the top in some cases; color photography is outstanding; screenplay is concise and objective; and acting reflects the high competence for which British filmmaking of the 1940s-1960s period was famous for, although I thought Yvonne Mitchell a little bit too unnecessarily hysterical in the key scene in which Sapphire's dark-skinned brother handles a child's doll.

Nigel Patrick's acting is particularly praiseworthy. Detective Hazard (odd surname, nothing hazardous about his character or actions) is an extremely professional, restrained, and experienced policeman standing as the emotional stabilizer in a film of many social and racial angles. He is seldom critical, he just wants justice done regardless of who must pay.

In light of mankind's above mentioned limitations, I suppose that, however incomplete, the pursuit of justice is the best, most practical solution to the continuing problem of racism in today's society, and it is to this film's credit that it highlights it at a time when the UK was beginning to receive a large number of people of other races from its former colonies.

In some ways, SAPPHIRE is well ahead of its time, and it remains very much up to date today.

I was amazed by the shocking brutality of the racism in this film. In America, we are rarely presented with such casual racism; in films of the 50s, race is practically never dealt with in films, as Todd Haynes "remake" of Douglas Sirk's All That Heaven Allows tries to make up for. And current films about the 50s present such two dimensional characters that it is easy to tell the racist villains from the open-minded heroes. In Sapphire, filmed in Britain in the 1950s, one of the most interesting characters is Michael Craig's detective, supposedly our hero, but constantly making racist remarks. His comments are always countered by the more reasonable older inspector, but this allows his gradual transformation throughout the film. Although some of the film is a bit heavy-handed, ultimately the message is sadly still relevant. 4 out of 5.