Sapphire

Synopsis: 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.
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Director(s): Basil Dearden
  Won 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 2 wins & 4 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.2
NOT RATED
Year:
1959
92 min
324 Views


[ Birds Chirping ]

[ Crow Cawing ]

[ Bells Pealing ]

[ Car Door Closes ]

Get back there, please.

- Good morning, sir.

- Good morning, Sergeant.

- Good morning, Superintendent.

- Morning.

- Inspector Learoyd!s here.

- Thank you.

- Who is she, Phil?

- Hello, Bob. No idea.

Bloodstained handkerchief in her pocket.

Letter !!S!! in the corner.

You won!t like this, Hazard.

She!s very young.

Half a dozen knife wounds

around the heart.

She died instantly.

- What sort of knife?

- Any sort, as long as it was sharp, pointed.

No sign.

- Who found her?

- Couple of kids.

No blood on the ground

or any signs of a struggle.

Must have been killed somewhere else

and dumped here.

How long has she been dead?

Between 5:
00 and 8:00 yesterday evening

is the nearest I can put it.

- Missing Persons have nothing to report, sir.

- Oh, thank you.

Ground!s pretty hard.

We!ve searched the area, sir,

but found nothing.

[ Crow Cawing ]

- Nothing but the handkerchief, huh?

- No, nothing.

Well, send her clothes

along to the station, will you?

- Yes, sir.

- Come on, Phil.

Nice, simple things.

Are they?

- Don!t quite go together, do they?

- These do.

Could be some hysterical, frightened boy.

I don!t think so.

In my experience, an hysterical, frightened boy

stabs once, oh, twice maybe...

and then runs.

But this monkey went on and on

until he was exhausted.

No, this girl was killed in hate, not fear.

I should say she was a student.

Now, if she was in the habit

of going away for the weekend...

she may not be missed until tomorrow.

Get a list of every college

and academy in London.

See if a girl doesn!t turn up

in the morning.

Particularly any girl

whose name begins with !!S.!!

[ Vehicles Passing ]

- Patsy.

- David.

Where!s Sapphire?

Isn!t she in Birmingham

with her brother?

I don!t know. She was going,

and then she changed her mind.

I don!t know what she did.

Well, if you!re worried,

why don!t you phone him?

No, I don!t want to speak to her brother.

Oh, she caught the morning train,

I expect.

Don!t worry.

Sapphire will be in Foscari!s for coffee.

See you then.

[ Background.:
Dixieland Jazz ]

- Hi, David.

- Hi.

Congratulations on your scholarship.

- When are you off to Rome?

- Next month.

Lucky devil.

David! David.

David.

[ No Audible Dialogue ]

Mr. Harris.

We won!t keep you very long.

I - I!m sorry, but we think

you may be able to help us.

Thank you, miss.

[ Continues ]

[ Fades ]

[ Patrons Chattering ]

Hey. What!s the matter with you?

Come on.

- Patsy!

- What is it?

That murdered girl on Hampstead Heath?

- It!s Sapphire.

- What?

Hey, Anna, coffee. Quick.

Sapphire. How ghastly.

The police kept asking me

questions about her-

who her friends were.

- I said us.

- Well, of course.

- We were all her friends.

- What else did they ask you?

All about David -

the scholarship and everything.

If she!d had any boyfriends before him.

Oh, I couldn!t tell them.

I!ve only known her since I took her

to stay with me at my digs.

- Where was she living before that?

- A dump in Earls Court.

- The landlady turned her out.

- But why? Sapphire was such a sweetie.

Who!d do such a thing to Sapphire?

Who!d do it?

[ Sobs ]

You say her name was Sapphire Robbins?

I!d like you to come down to my office,

ask a few questions.

Do you think you feel up to it?

We!ll send you home

in a police car afterwards.

We were going to get married.

I!m sorry.

You say the last time you saw her

was on Friday night?

Yes.

Do you know what she did on Saturday?

Well, she came to my house, apparently,

just after lunch.

You weren!t in?

No, I went to Cambridge to sketch.

I - I!m a student architect

at the Polytechnic.

What train did you catch?

I hitchhiked both ways.

- What time did you get home?

- About 1 1 :
00.

Who gave you a lift from Cambridge?

A chap in a black Consul

dropped me at the post office.

- What time was that?

- About quarter to 1 1 :00.

You wouldn!t remember

the number of the car, I suppose.

No.

Somebody ought to tell Sapphire!s brother.

We contacted Dr. Robbins in Birmingham.

He!s on his way to London now.

Oh.

Did you and Sapphire have a quarrel

on Friday night?

- No.

- Thank you.

Sergeant, drive Mr. Harris home, will you?

Very good, sir.

You!ll let me know if you

find out anything, won!t you?

You!ll be informed, Mr. Harris.

Oh. Mr. Harris. What time did you say

you got back from Cambridge?

- About 1 1 :
00.

- Thank you.

The truth, do you think?

Well, not what I!d describe

as the whole truth.

I don!t believe he came in

when he said he did...

but his grief seemed genuine enough.

You never know with these monkeys.

They can act their heads off when it suits them.

Ring up the Yard and get them to ask the BBC

to broadcast for the driver of that black Consul.

Right.

Meanwhile, we!ll take a look at that girl!s room

before her brother gets here.

- Had she been with you long?

- About six months.

Hmm. Not very tidy.

Sapphire wasn!t naturally an orderly child,

but she did her best.

- Did you like her?

- Indeed I did.

I - I felt sorry for her.

Her parents were dead,

and she wanted so much to -

to be counted in, to belong.

Did you ever meet her brother?

No, but I spoke to him on the telephone.

He sounded very nice.

- This one!s locked.

- I!m sorry. I haven!t the key.

Oh. I wish you wouldn't.

[ Lock Clicks ]

I never saw Sapphire

wear anything like that.

Hmm.

I wonder who she was dancing with.

- Did she play the gramophone often?

- All the time -very softly.

She was a student

at the Royal Academy of Music.

Hmm.

Well, thank you, Mrs. Thompson.

You!ve been most helpful.

Well, evidently there was a side to Sapphire

she didn!t know about.

Yeah.

Maybe young Harris found the same thing

and didn!t like it.

Could be.

Unless the person she was dancing with

found out about young Harris.

jealousy!s very near to hate.

[ Bell Dings ]

Oh, Mrs. Farr.

Mrs. Farr, your brother!s here.

David? What!s the matter?

Milly, I!ve got to speak to you.

The girl!s brother!s here, sir.

Dr. Robbins.

- Right. Send him in.

- Sir.

[ Sergeant ]

Dr. Robbins. sir.

- It!s very good of you to come so quickly, sir.

- How do you do?

- Please sit down.

- Thank you.

I suppose there!s no doubt.

It is Sapphire?

No doubt at all, I!m afraid.

I know this must be painful for you...

but there are some questions

I have to ask you.

Of course. No, thank you.

I understand you expected your sister

for the weekend.

Yes, I did.

Weren!t you worried

when she didn!t turn up on Saturday?

No, no. She rang me, said something

unexpected had stopped her.

With Sapphire, something unexpected

was always happening.

- How did she sound?

- Excited, I thought.

What sort of a girl was your sister?

Happy, lively- exactly as she looked.

No, no.

That!s not quite true, is it?

Are you -

Were you Sapphire!s half-brother?

No.

Our father was a doctor-white...

our mother a singer- black as I am.

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Janet Green

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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