1959 film directed by Basil Dearden
Sapphire is a 1959 British crime drama film directed by Basil Dearden, starring Nigel Patrick, Earl Cameron and Yvonne Mitchell.[3] It focuses on racism in London toward immigrants from the West Indies, and explores the "underlying insecurities and fears of ordinary people" about those of another race.[4] It was considered a progressive film for its time.[5]
Plot
Children playing on Hampstead Heath in London come across the body of a young light-skinned woman who has been stabbed to death. Police Superintendent Robert Hazard and his assistant, Inspector Phil Learoyd, follow the lead of the woman's handkerchief, monogrammed with an "S," and discover that her name was Sapphire Robbins, a music student. Her brother, a doctor working in Birmingham, is notified. Her fiance, an architecture student named David Harris, claims to have been in Cambridge at the time of the murder.
An autopsy reveals that Sapphire had been three months pregnant. The police are surprised when Dr. Robbins arrives and they see that he is black. He and his sister were mixed race, but Sapphire was able to "pass" as white. Robbins is professional in his bearing and proud, sceptical that the police will actually try to solve his sister's murder.
Investigating Sapphire's life and acquaintances, the officers find that she frequented nightclubs with black clienteles, leading them to look for another possible boyfriend. Learoyd is quick to jump to racist assumptions about the victim's behaviour, but Hazard is nonjudgemental and sometimes counters his assistant's biased views. Interviews with other possible witnesses or connections to the case reveal a range of racist attitudes in the white population.
When the officers question members of David's family they learn that Sapphire had revealed her family background to David, and had informed his parents and adult sister Mildred about the pregnancy. David's father had reluctantly agreed to David and Sapphire marrying despite his own racist views, and the family's concern about their social standing, as well as the knowledge that David would probably have to forfeit a scholarship to study in Rome.
Visiting the Tulip Club, a nightclub favoured by affluent young blacks, Hazard and Learoyd learn that Sapphire was resented by some of her contemporaries, but that she often went there with a young man named Johnnie Fiddle. After a chase Johnnie is caught and brought in by the police. A knife and a bloody shirt are discovered in his room, but Johnnie claims that these were from a fight he had with another man at the Tulip Club, Horace Big Cigar. In the meantime, however, David is seen acting suspiciously near the murder scene on Hampstead Heath and it is discovered that he had returned from Cambridge earlier than he claimed on the day of the murder.
Hoping to prod further revelations from those closest to the murder, Hazard brings Dr Robbins to the Harris home, prompting angry reactions from the family. The most violent comes from David's sister Mildred, who responds with disgust when Robbins picks up one of her daughter's toys. Mildred finally confesses to her hatred of Sapphire and to the murder. With the case wrapped up Hazard acknowledges the larger social evils underlying the case, telling Learoyd that they "didn't solve anything... We just picked up the pieces."
Cast
Cast notes
Earl Cameron also appears in Flame in the Streets (1961), another British film dealing with racial issues.[6]
Reception
Box office
According to Kinematograph Weekly the film performed "better than average" at the British box office in 1959.[7] The film reportedly made a profit of over £100,000 by 1961.[8]
Critical reception
Nina Hibbin, writing about the film on its initial UK release in the Daily Worker, commented: "You can't fight the colour bar merely by telling people it exists. You have to attack it, with passion and conviction. Commit yourself up to the hilt. Otherwise you're in danger of fanning the flames."[9]
At the time of the film's US release, The New York Times reviewer A.H. Weiler wrote that while it is "not entirely in a class by itself, the combination of murder mystery and racial issues puts it several interesting cuts above standard movie melodrama".[10]
Variety said: "Sound murder drama which compromises uneasily on question of color discrimination. Though obviously inspired by last year's outbreak of color-bar riots in London and Nottingham, it ducks the issue, refusing to face boldly up to the problem. Thus the pic does not get its message over as effectively as it might. There is constant haggling over the problem and some snide remarks, but it eventually adds up merely to another whodunit."[11]
The reviewer for the British Film Institute's Screenonline website writes: "Dearden is not immune to prevailing prejudices, equating a young woman living alone in London with promiscuity, and seeing an enthusiasm for jazz as evidence of dubious character. The film is littered with casual, unchallenged racism".[9]
Accolades
The film was voted Best British Film of 1959 by the Society of Film and Television Arts,[12] and won a 1960 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Foreign Film Screenplay.[13]
Paperback novelisation
In April 1959, Panther Books published a screenplay novelisation by E.G. Cousins.[14]
