Brighton Rock

This is a terrific film, and you cant get it on disk in the US. Read about it on allmovie.com.

Classic British Noir. Attenborough is Britains answer to Richard Widmark in this. Since he typically played a nice guy later in life, it has tremendous impact.

This is a well-made crime drama, not the top rank (like Double Indemnity or The Third Man), but quite good and rather subtle. It has the merit of considerable fidelity to the book and was scrpted by the author Graham Greene.

Great movie, dark and twisted. Would recommend to anyone wanting to experience a classic story, very well done. Great use of shadows to convey the darkness of the storyline.

Attenborough is truly scary in this story. Unemotional thug who abhors feelings of any kind. Carol Marsh is absolutely outstanding as the naive waitress.

This great and sturdy plot has been remade recently but, of course, the original is better. All well done. I was going to stay away because it seemed so old and English but its so ahead of its time. And of course the denouement is one of the best ever.

The film seems wooden and dated, with little of the tension or mounting dread of Graham Greenes book and absolutely none of Greenes speculations on the nature of Gods mercy. It is noteworthy only for Richard Attenboroughs youthful performance as the sinister villain Pinkie Brown.

Fans of what is now called film noir should definitely check out this adaptation of an early Graham Greene novel. Greene really had a knack for establishing atmosphere while advancing the plot. (Example: an annoying singer in a pub - not even on camera at first - quickly becomes a major character.) Great location photography is well matched by studio sets to show an genuinely squalid environment. Young Richard Attenborough is convincing as a teen-age sociopath.

`Brighton Rock is essentially a tale of a teenage gangster, Pinkie Brown, and his attempts to silence a potential witness, Rose, to a crime. John Boulting (Thunder Rock, 1942; Im All Right Jack, 1959) directed it in 1947 and was producer by his twin brother Roy. The screenplay was adapted from the Graham Greene novel of the same name by Terence Rattigan. There are significant differences at the ending of the film in relation to the novel (the book is more brutal) but I think that it takes nothing away from the film or the book. Due to BBFC rules at the time some changes had to made to the intended ending (the record scene) of the film because they wanted it to have a happy ending, which I think in retrospect made it better. The only feature really missing is the strength of character development one could only expect from a novel. However saying all that, the adaptation is excellent. `Brighton Rock featured two brilliant performances from Richard Attenborough (In Which We Serve, 1942; A Matter Of Life And Death, 1946) as Pinkie and Carol Marsh as Rose. Richards performance is a career highlight for him, which could be regarded as the emergence of the `angry young man in British cinema, but it was Carols performance that I really loved. Her performance of innocence is something we so rarely see in modern cinema that it is remarkably refreshing to watch. One thing worth pointing out though is that Rose in the novel was not quite as pretty and we see more of her family life and the possible reason for her attachment to Pinkie. Carol Marsh never made many other significant films that I feel its a bit of a shame because I think weve missed something there. I place her performance alongside Dorothy Malones bit part in `The Big Sleep (1946) who we also never saw enough of sadly. Cinematography on `Brighton Rock was by Gilbert Taylor who would later work on films such as `Repulsion (Polanski, 1965) `Dr Strangelove (Kubrick, 1964) and the much loved `Star Wars (Lucas, 1977). Other films adapted from Graham Greene novels worth watching are `This Gun For Hire (Tuttle, 1942) which has a similar theme and the excellent `The Third Man (Reed, 1949). I loved this film and I loved the novel and I recommend both to you. `Brighton Rock is ranked No.15 in the BFI Top 100 British Films. I cant believe this is not available on Region 1 DVD yet. Get it on Region 2.

Great Black and White with riveting suspense.