On S List of Movie Reviews
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Sapphire (1959)
Rate:
7
Viewed:
1/25
1/25:
Sapphire may have been ahead of its time in 1959, but now, it's behind.
The race issue is what gets everybody's attention, but the longer the mystery goes on, the more workmanlike the film
is. Exasperated, I just wanted to get to the bottom of it and move on: who murdered the girl? Finally, the answer
came, but it's still annoying, causing me to conclude that the red herrings had been a waste of my time. All the
worrying for naught while I was stuck between the fiancé and his father.
The performances are fine with Nigel Patrick and Earl Cameron standing out a bit more. The former and his associate
remind me of the first part in Law & Order. No matter how many times I'm told of this or the picture is
shown, that's definitely a white girl with zero drop of black blood in her. The actress is Yvonne Buckingham
anyway. Despite the lead investigators jumping to conclusions erroneously at times, I like the photography of
London streets which was handled by Harry Waxman, but the strong neon blue light at the ends has to go.
All in all, if it wasn't for the race stuff, Sapphire would've been another run-of-the-mill murder
mystery picture.