Sapphire is a 1959 British crime drama film, directed by Basil Dearden, and starring Nigel Patrick, Earl Cameron and Yvonne Mitchell. The film focuses on racism in London toward immigrants from the West Indies, and won the 1960 BAFTA Award for Best Film.
A pregnant college student named Sapphire Robbins is found murdered on London's Hampstead Heath. When Superintendent Robert Hazard discovers that the victim was a light-skinned black woman passing as white, it upends his initial assumptions. Hazard and his openly racist assistant Inspector Phil Learoyd explore the city's racially tense underground jazz scene as they interview suspects, including Sapphire's white fiancé.
Tropes:
- Black Gal on White Guy Drama: When the Superintendent Hazard discovers that the murdered woman Sapphire Robbins was a fair-skinned black woman passing herself off as white, the murder case becomes a lot more complicated. She was a dating a white man—who knew she was black—and was pregnant with his child, and the suspect pool now includes him; his racist family, who could have murdered her if the discovered she was black, or if they believed she was pulling a Baby Trap on him; random racist thugs who objected to a black girl dating a white boy; or various members of the black community who didn't like her either pretending to be white or dating a white man.
- Character Title
- Faking the Dead: After Johnny Fiddle stabs Horace Big Cigar in a fight over a card game, Horace decides to lay low and Horace's friends tell Johnny that Horace has died, leading Johnny to assume the police after him from Horace's murder when they come looking for him.
- Joggers Find Death: The film opens with two children chasing a runaway ball finding Sapphire's murdered body.
- Noble Bigot: David's father had reluctantly agreed to David and Sapphire marrying despite his own racist views, and the family's concern about their social standing, as well as the knowledge that David would probably have to forfeit a scholarship to study in Rome. This is at least partially driven by his insistence that his son will 'do the right thing' when he learns Sapphire is pregnant. By the end of the movie, he has formed a friendship of sorts with Sapphire's brother.
- Noble Bigot with a Badge: Inspector Learoyd. After learning Sapphire was black, and frequented black nightclubs, he is quick to jump to racist assumptions about the victim's behaviour, but Superintendent Hazard is nonjudgmental and sometimes counters his assistant's biased views.
- Old Cop, Young Cop: Superintendent Robert Hazard and his assistant, Inspector Phil Learoyd who are in charge of the investigation into Sapphire Robbins murder. Learoyd is a Noble Bigot with a Badge who is quick to jump to racist assumptions about the victim's behaviour, but Hazard is older and wiser and is non-judgemental and frequently counters his assistant's biased views.
- One-Word Title
- Pass Fail: Sapphire was biracial, but able to 'pass' as white. When Hazard and Learoyd discover this, they have consider whether this was a factor in her murder.
- Plot-Triggering Death: The discovery of Sapphire Robbins' dead body on Hampstead Heath triggers an investigation that delves into the racist underbelly of 1950s London.
- Posthumous Character: The movie starts with the discovery of Sapphire's murdered body on Hampstead Heath.
- Racist Grandma: Sapphire's landlady, who has a 'No Coloureds' policy in her boarding house, and says she would have evicted Sapphire if she had known she was black.
