Sapphire (1959)
Country: GB
Technical: col 92m
Director: Basil Dearden
Cast: Nigel Patrick, Yvonne Mitchell, Michael Craig, Paul Massie
Synopsis:
The police attempt to solve the stabbing of a girl found on Hampstead Heath, and find that it is linked to racial prejudice.
Review:
Before Relph and Dearden tackled the cogent task of decriminalising homosexuality in Victim (1961, also scripted by Janet Green), they produced this arch exposé of racism in 50s Britain. The premise, that a fair complexioned black girl might suddenly realise she could pass as white, together with the representation of 'colour' as a quasi social disease, of blacks as either Oxbridge accented middle class types or giggling jungle archetypes, mean that the film now appears as much part of the problem as the solution. However, via the Patrick character's sage reflexions on the hysterical attitudes confronted, it does at least offer the hand of friendship and shows what a long way we have come. Performances are somewhat wooden in the manner of the time, and colour is a distraction, but the film making remains a professional example of mixed location and studio production.
Country: GB
Technical: col 92m
Director: Basil Dearden
Cast: Nigel Patrick, Yvonne Mitchell, Michael Craig, Paul Massie
Synopsis:
The police attempt to solve the stabbing of a girl found on Hampstead Heath, and find that it is linked to racial prejudice.
Review:
Before Relph and Dearden tackled the cogent task of decriminalising homosexuality in Victim (1961, also scripted by Janet Green), they produced this arch exposé of racism in 50s Britain. The premise, that a fair complexioned black girl might suddenly realise she could pass as white, together with the representation of 'colour' as a quasi social disease, of blacks as either Oxbridge accented middle class types or giggling jungle archetypes, mean that the film now appears as much part of the problem as the solution. However, via the Patrick character's sage reflexions on the hysterical attitudes confronted, it does at least offer the hand of friendship and shows what a long way we have come. Performances are somewhat wooden in the manner of the time, and colour is a distraction, but the film making remains a professional example of mixed location and studio production.
Country: GB
Technical: col 92m
Director: Basil Dearden
Cast: Nigel Patrick, Yvonne Mitchell, Michael Craig, Paul Massie
Synopsis:
The police attempt to solve the stabbing of a girl found on Hampstead Heath, and find that it is linked to racial prejudice.
Review:
Before Relph and Dearden tackled the cogent task of decriminalising homosexuality in Victim (1961, also scripted by Janet Green), they produced this arch exposé of racism in 50s Britain. The premise, that a fair complexioned black girl might suddenly realise she could pass as white, together with the representation of 'colour' as a quasi social disease, of blacks as either Oxbridge accented middle class types or giggling jungle archetypes, mean that the film now appears as much part of the problem as the solution. However, via the Patrick character's sage reflexions on the hysterical attitudes confronted, it does at least offer the hand of friendship and shows what a long way we have come. Performances are somewhat wooden in the manner of the time, and colour is a distraction, but the film making remains a professional example of mixed location and studio production.