l_rawjalaurence It might be a commonplace critically to pronounce the first film version of Graham Greene's novel to be not as good as the source- text, but in this case we would be terribly wrong.John Boulting's film offers a dystopian world of mid-twentieth century Brighton: ostensibly set during the Thirties but applying as much to the time when the film was released. The resort's streets teem with people desperately trying to have a good time in the sunshine, sitting in deck-chairs, eating in shabby restaurants, enjoying rides in the Chamber of Horrors or eating candy-floss. Brief romances wither and flourish; older citizens find solace in the pub. No one, it seems, can think about the future; everything must be lived in the present, otherwise they might succumb to desperation.In this kind of environment it's hardly surprising that Pinkie (Richard Attenborough) and his gang should thrive. They can offer 'protection' from the chaos - at a price, of course - and should their victims be unable to pay up, they can be readily disposed of. This was the time of the spiv and his henchpersons, who walked unmolested through the streets, carefully concealing themselves from public view and striking when and where necessary.Harry Waxman has produced some truly memorable visual metaphors for this world. He uses a tilted camera in which the characters' faces are reflected in the mirror; on at least two occasions he has people smashing china figures on the ground. The death of Pinkie's loyal associate Spicer (Wylie Watson) is truly shocking, especially when the gang-leader throws a suitcase of the old man's clothes from an upper level down to the lower level, to rest on the inanimate corpse. Human life is that cheap for the young man. Yet the Boultings' version of the book also focuses on another level of meaning, as it tries to explore Pinkie's psychology in terms of his religion. He continually fingers his rosary beads, reminding us of his lapsed Catholicism; this represents a source of considerable guilt, but he conceals it beneath a veneer of bravado. Attenborough is quite masterful at this; his face remains impassive throughout, his eyes staring coldly at the camera or boring into his friends' expressions as if defying them to detect a chink of emotion underneath. He believes that the only means to survive in an amoral world is to be a 'hard man.'In line with the censorship codes of the day, Pinkie is brought to bear in the end, as he loses his sang froid and commits suicide - a final betrayal of his Catholic faith. But the Boultings have not finished yet; in a supremely unexpected moment, they have Pinkie's common-law widow (Carol Marsh) playing a gramophone record of her husband disclosing her true feelings for him. The needle sticks, and we hear only one phrase repeated over and over, so much so that it becomes meaningless - a suitable metaphor for the world Pinkie inhabited.Owing a lot to the pragmatic techniques of British documentary film=making, with lighting and shadow effects straight from German Expressionist movies of the previous decade, BRIGHTON ROCK is a true classic of the postwar British cinema, as arresting today as it ever was.

GusF Based on the 1938 novel of the same name by Graham Greene, this is a fascinating exploration of morality and the darker side of human nature. I read the novel six or seven years ago so my memories of it are not particularly fresh but I think that the film sticks closely to it with the exception of toning down the Catholic doctrine / damnation theme and the ending, which I will discuss later. As such, the film has a very strong script, written by Greene himself and Terence Rattigan. It is extremely well directed by John Boulting and the black and white cinematography by Harry Waxman is beautiful. Atypically for British films of the era, it was filmed on location in Brighton. This was to the film's benefit as the nice seaside holiday resort atmosphere is a great contrast to the underworld elements.Richard Attenborough is simply marvellous as the psychopathic 17-year-old gangster Pinkie Brown, a role which he reprised from the 1944 West End adaptation. It is an absolutely riveting and often chilling performance. Pinkie is not a particularly verbose character - he has only one line in the first 15 minutes, for instance - and he seldom raises his voice but the intense way in which he stares at people makes him terrifying. His face is often half in shadow, which adds to the effect. More importantly, the film does not shy away from presenting him as an amoral, callous bastard. The fact that Attenborough had a baby face and was quite a short, slight man provides a fantastic contrast to Pinkie's behaviour as, unlike many other film gangsters, he is in no way physically imposing. It is his strength of personality which makes people fear him. It is one of Attenborough's best known performances but it is interesting that he became well known for playing steadfast, deeply moral, thoroughly decent and courageous men in his most of later films.Carol Marsh, otherwise best known for playing Lucy Holmwood in "Dracula" (1958), is very good as the sweet, naive and deluded Rose. As she is aware of the fact that Fred Hale was dead when Pinkie and his gang claimed that he was still alive, Pinkie manipulates her into marrying him so that she will not be able to testify against him. Like Pinkie, she is a 17-year-old Catholic but she is far less worldly than her new husband and does not realise that he despises her. In his gramophone recording, he makes this very clear: "You asked me to make a record of me voice. Well, here it is. What you want me to say is 'I love you.' Here's the truth: I hate you, you little slut." Charming.The film has a very strong supporting cast such as Hermione Baddeley as the principled, forceful "brass" Ida Arnold, William Hartnell as Pinkie's frightening right-man hand Dallow (who eventually displays a glimmer of conscience), Harcourt Williams as the alcoholic, Shakespeare quoting lawyer Prewitt, Attenborough's future "The Great Escape" co-star Nigel Stock as Cubitt, Alan Wheatley as the murder victim Fred Hale, Reginald Purnell as Frank Spicer and George Carney, who died the very month that the film was released, as Phil Corkery. It also features a small appearance from Marianne Stone, whom Attenborough would later direct in "Oh! What a Lovely War" in which he returned to Brighton.Now, onto the ending. In the final scene, after Pinkie has committed suicide, Rose plays the aforementioned record but it becomes stuck and plays "I love you" over and over again. I have seen this described as upbeat when compared with the novel's ending in which Rose hears the full message but I can't agree. I think that it is very depressing that a very nice young girl is so deluded that she thinks that a boy who was repulsed by her and wanted to murder her was in love with her. It's less bleak than the ending of the novel but not by much. In any event, there is nothing to stop her from listening to the full message the next time that she plays it. It is a rare example of a film changing the ending of a novel without completely invalidating the original one.Overall, this is an excellent and thrilling example of film noir which pushed the limits of what was acceptable in British films in the 1940s.

johnnyboyz Cold, cutthroat and bleak is the tone of Brighton Rock; one of the best lines of the film arriving in the form of an individual whom states that it'd be a "good idea to throw his case down there with him", so as to doubly make it look like he fell when trying to paint a murder involving a worn out banister as an accident on the victim's behalf. On another occasion, two of the members visit a hapless man at an ungodly hour demanding money; his wife is very ill and he can't pay, but that doesn't stop them cutting up his face and spitting on his floor on the way out. Brighton Rock is cold like that, chilling in its portrayal of how these people operate. The film carries that sort of air, the sort that sees mostly everyone who comes into contact with these people and their fearsome leader are individuals whose lives and well-being gradually decline, in what is a fearsome and greatly involving 1947 British piece set in between the two World Wars.The film will open warmly and welcomely, like a tourist film shot to bring in those from outside of Brighton as typical iconography in the form of a beach, on a hot day, with children happily playing on them complete with everyone else enjoying the warm weather is given to us. But, as the opening title card informs us, Brighton is apparently not all what it seems; and the consequent diving into the brooding, ugly side of the town as all the typical surface content is observed is knowingly delivered. The opening sequence even goes so far as to detail the place was only once rife with wrong-doing and corruption, "now, no more" suggesting a past tense to proceedings and that now everything is fine again; a strange would-be promise to the audience not to worry at any point during the film, as everything will end up rosy by the end. From here, the film's credits are eerily inter-cut with the lapping waves; again, an odd precursor to the film's ultimate conclusion in what happens to whom and where.The film revolves around the aftermath of a murder perpetrated by a small crew of thugs, a crew consisting mostly of men but with a final member of much younger ilk; a self proclaimed leader named Pinkie. The young thug is put across by way of a fantastic performance from Richard Attenborough, one that oozes evil; menace and a fair degree of sadism, but above all else, Attenborough convinces us this young man, the youngest of the gang, really has the drive and mind of someone capable of taking relentless command of such a crew and dominating. Our first altercations with him sees the film place Pinkie on the first floor of the terrace house they operate out of, as his minions chatter below and must venture up to inform him of some bad news, a sense of hierarchy established by way of a wildly angled shot looking directly below at the minions as one of them braves the stairs to go and see him. His first words, indeed, are a spitting insult later on in a public house directed at an employee about a middle aged woman across the room whom, ironically, becomes more involved later on.The murder in question is that of a man named Fred (Wheatley), who returns to Brighton for just the one day as a part of a newspaper game-come-promotion, but bumps into this vicious circle of thugs with whom he shares a history, and is promptly offed after some pleading and conversation. One would most certainly have wanted to see Fred's face the previous day when told by his newspaper employers he was to return to Brighton. Director John Boulting, adapting from a Graham Greene novel, nicely has the ensuing chase and murder spill out into what has been established as your more typical Brighton. The promenades, piers and fairgrounds appear harmless enough in the opening, but the cutting to the crew's dingy hideaway does not mean they're limited to such undergrowth, suggesting hatred and crime rife amidst the locals. When Fred runs, towards the bus station; the piers; the bars, anywhere, Boulting brilliantly applies a distorted hand-held aesthetic suggesting chaos and panic, a sense that he isn't in control which stands in perfect balance with that of his pursuers, whose accompanying compositions are steady and far calmer as they give chase: they're in total control of the situation, and the menace builds and builds to a harrowing conclusion.As the aftermath worsens, and middle aged woman Ida (Baddeley) grows increasingly suspicious - herself defying dominant uniformed male police officers that implore with her the case is closed, Pinkie instigates one of the more unbearable on screen flings in cinematic memory; the charging of himself with the seducing of a young waitress named Rose (Marsh), whom could place blame on Pinkie and his crew for Fred's murder, with what unfolds on that strand one gross love affair complete with its own sordid twists, turns and revelations. The gang must struggle with the occupying of the territory with another local gangster named Colleoni (Goldner), a man whom occupies a more exquisite place of dwelling when we see him in a hotel suite and speaks with a more sophisticated tone, further suggesting hierarchy. He runs a larger group of thugs Pinkie actually uses to help kill off one of his own; of whom the night before the execution Pinkie looms over as the victim lies on a bed, the difference in age resulting in nothing here as expressionistic lighting dominates the locale suggesting brooding menace and evil. The film is a masterclass in gangster detailing and crime fiction story telling, effortlessly branching out an array of characters; plots and subplots as a hostile, dramatic and intimate atmosphere is put across as these people merge resulting in it easily being one of the great British films.

yourstruly2010 So much has already been said of this film its pointless to type out the story but this is absolutely without shadow of a doubt the finest British gangster film ever made and one of the greatest British films ever made. Richard Attenborough was very almost typecast as hoodlums and gangsters (the hundred pound window, London belongs to me, boys in brown, dancing with crime) his performance here is not uncagney like (via public enemy) phycotic seething brooding filled with rage fear hate and despair. He seems to bear a grudge against religious and authoritative figures he also appears to be homosexual in one scene he goes berserk to find fellow gang members and their girlfriends drinking and acting flirtatious and promiscuous he even threatens to kill when a fellow gangster says his wife is going to make a man of him on their wedding night and then the next morning after their wedding night he hasn't slept with his wife. his best friend tells her "not to worry hes just busy hes got stuff on his mind" she tells pinkies best friend "i don't want to be on his mind ever i just want be with him" implying she hasn't 'BEEN' with him in fact by the end of the film I'm not sure he has slept with her at all. You can fill in the blanks why does a 17 year old lad wind up this vicious and angry where are his parents what lead him to the place where he is now why the hatred toward religion ? even his nick name pinky brown... you have to wonder ... the relationships hes forged with other members of the gang are quite interesting also the former leader seems to have been somewhat of a father figure to pinky and hes trying to forge that same relationship with Dallow (william hartnel) who is clearly the brains of the outfit and would be the leader of the mob if he wasn't scared of pinky as everyone is he knows fine well what pinky is capable of he gets a good indication in the first few minutes of the film. Pinky isn't used of people standing up to him and not fearing him he doesn't like the fact the town is now increasingly ran by colleani he hates it and the rest of the mob know if it wasn't for pinkies murderous reputation they'd be finished. Pinkies relationship with women also worth noting the only time he shows his wife anything but hostility is when hes hurt and wants mothering.1947 Was the year england took America's crown albeit briefly as the worlds finest producer of gangster films as this They Made Me A Fugitive and Black Memory stormed onto British screens, we had previously had a few films that dealt with small scale gangsters (the man from Chicago) and young hoodlums (bad boy) but we had always been weary of the kind of film America had been producing in fact the British censors blocked an attempt to produce a screen version of the play The Blue Cafe which dealt with organised crime in London's seedy Soho district and No Orchids For Mss Blandish was filmed in America complete with fake American accents but here finally in 1947 we were treat to a reflection of our own homegrown gangsters on screen no there's no ring of tommy gun fire but believe me the violence and sheer darkness of these films are just as gripping intense and shocking.To those who question attenboroughs legitimacy as a 17 year old saying hes unbelievable i say that its a cultural difference here people leave school at 16 (at the earliest) they can leave home get a job and start a family in fact i know people doing that right now and back then people were leaving school at 14 so yes attenboroughs performance is actually a lot more believable than you'd give it credit for.Flat out Masterpiece !!!