Sapphire 1959 British Mystery Nigel Patrick, Yvonne Mitchell, Michael Craig, Director: Basil Dearden The New York Times Review Published: November 3, 1959 ALTHOUGH it is no secret to the devotee of British Films that London's detectives are gentlemanly, intellectual types who almost always get their culprit, "Sapphire," which came to the Sutton Theatre yesterday from England, is a vivid illustration that something new and provocative can be added to the whodunit formula. In this case, the methodical, non-hypertensive investigators are operating with the same efficiency as of yore but they are now equally involved with miscegenation and the fears, doubts and hatreds it engenders. If "Sapphire" is not entirely in a class by itself, the combination of murder mystery and racial issues puts it several interesting cuts above standard movie melodrama. To a viewer an ocean's distance removed from the British capital, the tensions and problems stemming from London's Negro population come as a sober reminder. But Janet Green, the scenarist known here for several fine suspenseful scripts including "The Clouded Yellow", undoubtedly was inspired by some facts in fashioning her fiction. If this animosity and hatred is merely touched on, it does serve, however, to point up the mystery of who killed the beautiful girl of the title and why. The scenario, the cast and Basil Dearden, the director, do not spend time in small talk, it might be said to their credit. The body of Sapphire is found in a secluded corner of Hampstead Heath Park and the police, headed by Nigel Patrick, are sent into action. Investigation proves that she is engaged to a white student architect, who has just won a scholarship; that she is pregnant, and, furthermore, that she is a "lily-skin," a Negro girl who has passed as white. Miss Green's screen play lightly touches on but does not deeply delve into Negro-white relationships but it is a model blueprint for strewing red herrings, most of which keep an observer in suspense. One hears expletives against Negroes, sees bias against this minority, but these, obviously, are subsidiary effects to the main business at hand. Is the student architect the murderer? Perhaps it is his sister; perhaps it is the jazz-bound Negro expatriates with whom the murdered lass found fun in her leisure hours. Slowly but surely, the plot leads us to the sullen, tradesman-family of the architect and back again to her Negro friends and, finally, to the killer. As a labyrinthine trek toward an awful truth, it is a professional job, neatly executed. As usual, the principals are true to the tradition of well-turned English melodramatics. Nigel Patrick is excellent as the superintendent who quickly realizes that this is not merely a simple act of passion or expediency. He is a sensitive citizen well aware that bigotry is part of his suspects as well as his confreres. Michael Craig does well as his obviously biased assistant. Paul Massie is convincing as the love-torn architect who is the prime suspect. Earl Cameron is effective and understanding as the murdered girl's doctor-brother who knows that his sister had predilections for social status of the white's world. Yvonne Mitchell turns in a strong supporting effort as the architect's brooding married sister and Gordon Heath, Harry Baird and Robert Adams add striking bits to the Negro's point of view. Although it skirts, rather than dissects, a trying sociological problem, "Sapphire" makes an absorbing and often tense melodrama. SAPPHIRE; original screen play by Janet Green; additional dialogue by Lukas Heller; directed by Basil Dearden; produced by Michael Ralph; presented by the Rank Organization and released by Universal-International. At the Sutton Theatre, Third Avenue and Fifty-seventh Street. Running time: ninety-two minutes. Superintendent Hazard . . . . . Nigel Patrick Mildred . . . . . Yvonne Mitchell Inspector Learoyd . . . . . Michael Craig David Harris . . . . . Paul Massie Mr. Harris . . . . . Bernard Miles Mrs. Harris . . . . . Olga Lindo Dr. Robbins . . . . . Earl Cameron Paul Slade . . . . . Gordon Heath Patsy . . . . . Jocelyn Britton Johnny Fiddle . . . . . Harry Baird Barman . . . . . Orlando Martins Ferris . . . . . Rupert Davis Sergeant Cook . . . . . Freda Bamford Horace Big Cigar . . . . . Robert Adams Sapphire . . . . . Yvonne Buckingham By A. H. WEILER

• published: 22 Dec 2014
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