Sapphire

1959

1h 32m

IMDb RATING

7.0/10

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Mystery

Crime

Thriller

Two Scotland Yard detectives investigate the murder of a young woman of mixed race who had been passing for white. As they interview a spate of suspects -- including the girl's white boyfriend and his disapproving parents -- the detectives wade through a stubbornly entrenched sludge of racism and bigotry.

Directors

Basil Dearden

Writers

Janet Green(writer by)

Stars

Nigel Patrick

Michael Craig

Yvonne Mitchell

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Top cast

Nigel Patrick

Superintendent Robert Hazard

Michael Craig

Inspector Phil Learoyd

Mildred

David Harris

Ted Harris

Mrs. Harris

Dr. Robbins

Paul Slade

Student

Detective Whitehead (uncredited)

Sapphire Robbins

Patsy

Horace Big Cigar

Police Constable

Lingerie Shop Manageress

Susan Stranks

Student

Freda Bamford

Sgt. Cook

Rupert Davies

Ferris

Directors

Basil Dearden

Writers

Janet Green(writer by)

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User reviews1

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Featured review

7/10

When the eponymous girl is found murdered, it falls to "Supt. Hazard" (Nigel Patrick) and his sidekick "Learoyd" (Michael Craig) to get to the bottom of things. There seems a genuine sense of shock amongst her friends, her landlady and her fiancée "David" (Paul Massie) and his family but when her brother, a doctor, arrives the whole investigation takes on an whole new complexion. What now ensues in a rather unsophisticated police drama, admittedly, but the social and racial aspects of life in London in the late 1950s are writ large - a poignant and frankly rather shameful indictment of attitudes amongst people of various social classes who allow bigotry to remain an accepted part of day-to-day life - even amongst those looking into the crime. Patrick is solid here, as is the victim's would-be father-in-law Bernard Miles ("Ted") and though the denouement has shades of Agatha Christie to it, it's still quite a well paced, compelling and uncomfortable, watch.

Geronimo196713 Nov, 2022