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Sapphire

Sapphire

1959
Drama, Crime
1h 32m
In 1950s London racial hostility to Commonweath immigrants is openly paraded. A pregnant girl, initially assumed to be white, is murdered. As two detectives start to investigate, and discover her racial origins were much more mixed, public prejudices and those of the officers themselves are exposed. (imdb)
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Sapphire

1959
Drama, Crime
1h 32m
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Avg Percentile 54.9% from 44 total ratings

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(44)
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Rated 12 Mar 2017
50
53rd
Whodunit meets social justice film-making in a depiction of the racial tension in 1950s London. Some of the characterisation -- the sound of the bongos sequence, and Paul Slade -- might still seem concerningly racist, but the film's heart is in the right place. It came out a year after the Notting Hill Race Riots.
Rated 09 Aug 2013
70
25th
I'm under the impression that this kind of cinematic examination of racial prejudice in 1950s Britain was rare if not altogether unheard of. I greatly appreciate Dearden's depiction of black communities and culture in Britain, and his condemnation of racial prejudice at a time when such a thing was scarce, but the filmmaking here is pretty by-the-book. It's just a shame that the performances, script and direction never strive for any more than adequate.
Rated 25 Jun 2011
77
60th
As a racial issues movie, it's a little ham-fisted, but not as much as most films of its era. As a police procedural, it involves an effective bit of misdirection but nothing too special. However, it functions very well as a blend between two, neither part overwhelming the other. It's nicely balanced. Otherwise, the film neither excels or fails in any area... the direction, the performances, the pacing, the music are all fine. A pretty good movie, just not much to say about it.
Rated 29 Oct 2020
6
55th
Largely effective police procedural and study of racial prejudice, quite bold for its era. It gets bogged down in dance clubs somewhere around the middle but is an engaging watch,

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