A woman is found dead, but the biggest shock will be that she was mixed race.This is the film’s premise, and the way it handles this whole subject is intriguing. Because what the film reveals through its investigation is not only a racist atmosphere and uncertainty, but the deeper problem of an entire community, even an entire society, flawed by prejudice and bigotry. The film’s racial tension isn’t too manipulative because really, it emerges brilliantly through Dearden’s direction. He doesn’t hide anything, yet there's more, everything is found between the lines, in the pauses and the phrasing.And this is a very straightforward crime story. It carries that fast monotonous sense of investigation, especially through the performances, but at the same time it shows the emotional force. There’s a kind of tension in the air here, the same kind of tension that must have been present during that time. The film is a work of its era, but at the same time it radiates a timeless energy that is both fascinating and heartbreaking to witness.The acting is fine, the music blends jazz which gives it more modern, urban atmosphere but overall it stays in the background. The film’s style is standard British fare, with a misty city shimmering through its damp atmosphere, though most of the "action" takes place indoors, where the weight of society simmers and where we, as people, define one another. A very simple whole, but I liked how the film manages to take on such a difficult subject and make it easy to follow.So in the end, a great film, the camera peers into a place and time when tensions were high, and at the same time the crime mystery turns into its own kind of investigation into the nation’s attitudes of that era. Society forces you to choose, the film presents discrimination as something normalized, and in that way it’s also rather bold in itself. So yes, a great film, a kind of brisk experience that maybe should have lingered more in memory at the end, but it still does everything it needs to.70/100
