Brighton Rock

`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.

Excellent example of the noire genre. Close to the original book, although the book captures much more of each characters inner conflict. Still, this abbreviated film form is more accessible for those too busy or lazy to read the book.

If you like classic gangster-psychology films like Little Caesar and The Public Enemy, you will probably enjoy this original film adaptation of Graham Greenes novel set in crumbling 1930s Brighton. The recent remake transplanted the story to the 60s and changed quite a few more details; I think this original is better, and it regularly makes lists of top British films as well. The main character is a psychopathic teenage gangster named Pinkie (played by a very young Richard Attenborough), and he is truly menacing to the point where he can practically scare people to death. When a newspaperman on assignment to Brighton runs afoul of Pinkies mob and later turns up dead, a blowzy boardwalk performer, Ida (Hermione Baddeley) is convinced that Pinkie killed him and sets out to prove it and see justice done. Meanwhile, Pinkie is romancing a very young and naive waitress, Rose, who also happens to be a witness, and Ida becomes concerned with protecting her as well. Rose, of course, is the classic good girl who thinks she can help save a very bad guy just by loving him enough, and even if she cant save him, shes willing to go to the ends of the earth and die trying. Will Rose wise up and escape in one piece? Will Pinkie have a last-minute redemption through the power of love? Will Ida succeed in getting the cops to take an interest before Rose and/or herself end up dead? Oddly, theres not as much suspense to all of this as youd expect, even if you havent read Greenes book and dont know how its going to turn out (although if you have read the book, the films ending differs from it slightly - just enough to be interesting in its own right). Perhaps the lack of thrills is partly due to liberal use of Catholic symbology of heaven, hell (represented by fire), death, and other holy allusions (another witness is a blind man being led by a little girl) signifying that in the end, everybody is bound to get the reward they deserve, and the only question is how theyre going to get there. Its still a good, solid, well-made and well-acted film, and the emphasis on Roses Catholicism is in keeping with Greenes work. Also wonderful to see Baddeley in a long meaty role, sort of like a younger brash Jessica Fletcher, rather than her usual character roles as a maid or neighbor or whatnot. She was one heck of an actress. Its too bad that in her era, there werent tons of leading roles for chubby fortyish ladies. Overall, I recommend this version. Its so awesome, I have no idea why someone felt a need to remake it. About my only complaint is that the characters accents and slang can be a little hard for Americans to understand - you need to know that a blower means the telephone, for instance. But not too far removed from similarly slang-ridden US vintage gangster films.

Excellent performances by Attenborough and Baddeley with a good supporting cast. Just as dark as the book, but in an abbreviated format.

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

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.

No worth buying.

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.

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.

(Young Scarface is the American Title for Brighton Rock) `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 yet. Get it on region 2 from Amazon.co.uk. Well worth it.