Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageSapphire (1959)
Director: Basil Dearden
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Hot on the heels of the Notting Hill race riots came Sapphire. Children playing ball on Hamp-stead Heath stumble across a murdered girl. A nice, respectable white girl in prim tweeds. But, horror of horrors, she's three months pregnant and wearing scarlet taffeta undies! Poor Sapphire only looks white and, as the film sagely informs us, 'No matter what the colour of the skin, you can always tell when the bongo-drums start beating'. Actually, in spite of Horace Big Cigar and a host of no-good blacks, the real murderer is a fanatical white racist. Dearden's analysis of English prejudice is comprehensive and uncompromising, but the film's 'impartiality' leads it perilously close to condoning what it sets out to condemn.Author: RMy
Cast & crew
Director: Basil Dearden
Producer: Michael Relph
Cast: Nigel Patrick, Michael Craig, Paul Massie, Yvonne Mitchell, Bernard Miles, Earl Cameron, Gordon Heath, Orlando Martins full cast
Genre(s): Thrillers
Duration: 92 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Has David Cronenberg turned tame?
Has director David Cronenberg veered too far from his radical and bloody roots with new film 'A Dangerous Method'?
The 10 worst date movies
Just in time for Valentine's Day, we present ten of the least romantic films ever made
Where to watch this year's Oscar-nominated films
Find out where to watch 2012's Oscar-nominated films in London cinemas
10 unlikely badboy biopics
Featuring Phil Collins, Jeremy Clarkson, Nick Clegg, David Starkey and a host of other unlikely subjects
Interview: Sean Durkin on 'Martha Marcy May Marlene'
The first-time director of the brilliant new thriller discusses religious cults and robot boxing
Pop-up cinema for Valentine's Day
Side-step romantic clichés with some alternative Valentine’s viewing
What do you think?
Post your review now