Classic Film of the Month

Sapphire

Dir: Basil Dearden | UK | 1959 | 92mins

Distributor | BFI

Sapphire was made just after the 1958 Notting Hill race riots and was one of the first films to feature life in, and attitudes to, the black British community at the time. Watching it now, it's sometimes difficult to conceive what life was like for the migrant communities living in the UK at that time but also what opportunities there were to see black actors on screen in British film and the way in which they were portrayed. Basil Dearden was no stranger to liberalism in film and went on to to direct the classic Victim (1961) which was also written by Janet Green, the author of Sapphire. The film centres around the murder of a student in London and the investigation takes the police into the heart of the city's black community, uncovering racism as a possible motive for the killing. Its realism brings the city to life in all its gritty qualities and it has an authenticity and rawness to it unusual for the time.