Inclubabu Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Haven Kaycee It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

lucyrfisher This film really is as good as everybody says. Nigel Patrick makes an excellent principled investigator. His younger sidekick is the one who casually lets fall a succession of racist myths. A girl is found stabbed on Hampstead Heath - it turns out she is a music student with a serious, striving boyfriend. But the cops are surprised by the red taffeta petticoat she wears under her sober "tweed" skirt. (It's a brown, with sunray pleats.) When her brother turns up, they discover that she is "coloured", and has been passing for white. Much of the investigation focuses on the boyfriend's family, who are aspirant, respectable working class. His dad is a sign painter played by the great Bernard Miles. One of the film's many virtues is that we SEE him painting a sign, and see his workshop at the back of the house in a former stable block. The family stand together and assert that they accepted Sapphire, background, pregnancy and all.Londoners love films set in our city decades ago. Oh, look, I remember those Victorian shops, those buses! There are many excellent bit players, including a couple of landladies – one who says "I run a WHITE house" while smiling crookedly. Another wears a Cairngorm brooch and says she would have thrown Sapphire out if she'd "known". The past wasn't all that cosy. Sapphire's brother says he'll stay at a certain hotel which will "take us".The film is in colour, all the better to show off the garish underwear. There is a wonderful visit to Babette's lingerie shop in Shaftesbury Avenue. The detectives hold up a bright pink nylon negligee with some disgust. Stereotypes fly - a girl may look white, but if she has black ancestry she can't resist the rhythm of the bongos. There are many black characters - more than in most TV dramas or films of today, and they all impress. One is a dandy with a bishop for a father. There are some dubious types hanging out in an empty house. A dimwitted suspect goes on the run through the mean streets and the film reaches another level. He's beaten up by some "teddy boys" and takes refuge in a newspaper shop run by a kindly (white) old couple.It's about this point the watcher realises that this is no standard detective story. The acting is superlative, especially from the boyfriend's family - his worried mother, and fraught sister, whose husband is permanently "at sea".Exteriors are drab because that's how they were. But interiors are carefully painted to look as dreary as possible - perhaps to show up snappy suits and orange lipstick. But were walls and furniture really painted in shades of brown or grey? There's a lovely scene early on where Sapphire's student friends discuss her in Foscari's coffee bar. I wish we'd seen more of them.

snicewanger Quire controversial on it's release in 1959 because it dealt with subjects that few people were willing to admit existed let alone talk about at that time. Sapphire boasted a strong cast led by Nigel Patrick and Michael Craig, and directed by the prolific Basil Dearden. Harry Waxman's cinematography is very atmospheric and captures a drab,gritty London of quietly desperate people imprisoned by their prejudices and inability to adapt to changing times Dearden created an almost documentary style murder mystery with characters that seemed more pitiful than likable and the conclusion leaves you feeling somewhat sad and depressed.Fine performances by Bernard Miles, Earl Cameron, and Yvonne Mitchell add to the proceedings. Look for future stars Barbara Steele and Fenella Fielding in small roles.Time hasn't less the effect that Sapphire has on the viewer. Its as relevant today as it was in 1959.

kidboots British cinema in the 50s saw an explosion of realistic "kitchen sink" dramas that tried to explore the problems the post war generation faced. "Cosh Boy" (1952) dealt with kids running wild, "Violent Playground" (1957) with juvenile delinquency and the problems associated with high rise housing estates. Even though Janet Green's list of screenplay credits are short, each of them can take their place among the best British films of the 50s and 60s (except "Midnight Lace"). They usually featured strong story lines, often about minorities ("Life for Ruth", also with Michael Craig dealt with Jehovah's Witnesses, "Victim" was about homosexuality)."Sapphire" must have caused a sensation when it was first released. It deals with racism in all forms, white against black, black against black (one of Sapphire's former boyfriends says "My father would never allow me to marry Sapphire - she is only half black!!!").The film begins with the startling discovery of the body of a young arts student. When her brother comes down to identify the body, Sup. Hazard (Nigel Patrick) realises that Sapphire is black!!! From then on Hazard encounters racism at every turning. His partner (Michael Craig) says "these spades should be sent home to their own country". The landlady, is very protective of Sapphire but when she learns of the girl's heritage she is horrified. Sapphire's friend then gives the landlady a piece of her mind but when the landlady retorts with "When you introduced Sapphire to your parents - did you tell them she was coloured" there is silence. "Well I am not the only one who is racist" - that is extremely true in this film.Sapphire is pregnant (something else that would have shocked 50s audiences) and engaged to David (Paul Massie) whose family is a caulderon of racial tension. The mother is nice, the father (Bernard Miles) is an racist and the daughter, as a constable says "she's her father all over again". David is introverted and under the father's thumb. Yvonne Mitchell is riveting as Mildred, whose bottled up racism explodes in a scene that catches everyone by surprise (maybe not Sup. Hazard). She is married to a merchant seaman and has twin daughters, who she is very ambitious for. She is very jealous of the love she perceives Sapphire and David have for each other. Unfortunately, Sapphire is "passing for white" so the happiness is not going to last.Highly recommended.

sol- A competently made police investigation mystery, with some racial ideas at hand, it nevertheless is too slowly paced for it to be totally enthralling, and there are often dry gaps between the good bits. However, even if it never possesses the power to fully encapsulate, this is definitely very watchable stuff. Some of the performances, or perhaps it is just their characters, tend to be a bit over-the-top, and a few of the music inserts are questionable. Still, it is okay viewing, and some of the racial ideas do come across quite well. It is good as it is, but perhaps a more intriguing mystery with more intricate characters could have improved the way the film gets across its messages.