Brighton Rock [1947]

Customer Reviews:

A fine, cold-blooded movie with Richard Attenborough by way of Graham Greene.......2007-09-01

We make our own sordid hell and then we live in it, and the innocents among us deserve what they get because they can't tell the difference. Not exactly Graham Greene with his Catholic conflicts, but this excellent film written by Greene (and Terence Rattigan) from Greene's novel certainly sets up the issues. Brighton Rock is an excellent movie, scarcely dated, and features one of Richard Attenborough's most effective performances. His Pinkie Brown will wipe away all those avuncular grandfathers and Santas he's been playing the last few years.

Pinkie leads a small criminal gang in Brighton in the late Thirties. The gang's former leader was betrayed by a man named Fred Hale. When Hale is spotted in the guise of newspaper reporter Kolley Kibber passing out coupons near the Brighton pier in a promotion stunt for the paper, Hale's health is about to fail. Pinkie and the gang face Hale in a pub, then follow him through the streets of Brighton waiting for an opportunity to kill him. On the Brighton pier Hale meets Ida Arnold, a blowzy, cheery woman he encountered in the pub, and pleads with her to stay with him. She agrees, but then must leave him for a moment to retrieve a handkerchief. Frightened out of his wits, he gets on a tunnel of frights ride...and at the last moment Pinkie slips into the seat next to him. Hale is dead before the ride ends. Now Pinkie realizes there are a couple of loose ends. He kills one and marries the other, an innocent young waitress named Rose who saw more than she should have. A wife, after all, can't testify against her husband. Before long, Pinkie is plotting a double suicide for himself and Rose. Naturally, she'll go first. I'm not giving anything away, but things at last don't turn out Pinkie's way.

Did I mention? Pinkie is a puritanical sociopath. He doesn't smoke, doesn't drink and prefers to use a straight razor. He's 17. His gang has only three other members, all older. He dominates them because he knows what he wants, he's calm and he doesn't hesitate to take action. He can become violent, but with all the emotion of a snake. He marries his young waitress to get an alibi. While she naively loves him with all her heart, he can barely keep from showing his impatience and revulsion for her. On the Brighton pier together she sees a recording kiosk where people can make a record of their voices. Make a recording for me, she begs Pinkie, so I'll always have something that tells me how you feel. While Rose, outside the booth and unable to hear, gazes at him through the glass, Pinkie speaks into the mike. "You wanted a recording of my voice, well here it is. What you want me to say is, 'I love you'. Well I don't. I hate you, you little slut... " They don't have a gramophone so Pinkie knows she can't play the record. Pinkie wants security and power. He sees both slipping away as stronger competition from another gang moves in, as his own gang starts to crumble and as the relentless Ida Howard dogs his steps, pulling the police behind her. It all comes together in the rain late at night on the pier.

Attenborough was 24 when he played Pinkie. It was his breakthrough performance, and he's so good it's a wonder he wasn't typecast. Pinkie's age is not made much of; we learn it only when we learn he is underage, as is Rose, and must utilize a corrupt, aged lawyer to arrange the marriage ceremony. The off-hand way we realize how young Pinkie is makes his youth and his cold behavior even more disturbing. Hermione Baddeley as Ida, loud, vulgar and loving a drink and a good time, and William Hartnell as Dallow, the senior member of Pinkie's gang and a hard man with a certain degree of loyalty, are excellent. One of the major stars is Brighton, itself, and how it has been photographed. There's the pier and the rides and the beach chairs, of course, but this Brighton also has grubby and depressing boarding houses, loud pubs and narrow, dark streets and alleys. The location photography brings out all the grit and desperation.

Graham Greene's novel in a very fine screen adaptation........2006-11-15

I first saw "Brighton Rock" on its first release in 1947 and it has been a favourite ever since although I cannot agree with the British Film Institute who in 1999 voted it the fifteenth best British film ever made.

An incredibly young Richard Attenborough brilliantly portrays the vicious Pinkie Brown juvenile leader of a Brighton race track gang in the 1930s, gangs that existed in real life enforcing protection racket payments with cut throat razors.

The gang members are well cast, William Hartnell as Pinkie's friend Dallow and Nigel Stock young and slim, very different from our usual perception of him. Hermione Baddeley is brilliant as the coarse seaside concert party entertainer who becomes obsessed with proving Pinkie guilty of murder.

The harrowing end of Graham Greene's novel has been altered to provide a soft landing for the waitress (Carol Marsh) that Pinkie so callously marries to prevent her testifying against him.

This is a very fine film indeed.

"What Do All These Athiests Know About Hell" - Pinky Brown.......2006-10-16

`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; I'm 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. Richard's 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 Carol's 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 it's a bit of a shame because I think we've missed something there. I place her performance alongside Dorothy Malone's 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.

Average customer rating:

Like "GoodFellas"-on-sea
An early Clockwork Orange
More than just a gangster film.
More than just a gangster film.
Unforgetable British gangster film

Brighton Rock [1947]
Starring: Richard Attenborough , Carol Marsh , Hermione Baddeley , William Hartnell , and Nigel Stock
Director: John Boulting
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00006JNAV
Release Date: 2002-09-16

Amazon.co.uk Review

Hard to imagine now but long before Richard Attenborough became Lord Dickie, benevolent patriarch of British moviedom, he specialised in playing weaselly little thugs and punks. Brighton Rock, adapted from Graham Greene's classic novel, offered him one of his best early roles as Pinkie, juvenile leader of a seedy gang of racetrack crooks in the Sussex seaside town. When it seems an innocent young waitress may know too much about one of their killings, Pinkie decides to keep her quiet by marrying her. But in Greene's world of guilt-ridden Catholicism and inexorable doom, it was never going to be that easy.

Is the famous twist ending a cop-out? That depends just how much irony you read into it. But the Brighton atmosphere, all tawdry gaiety shot through with a crackling undercurrent of fear, is so vivid you can smell it. Made with a cool, dispassionate eye by the Boulting Brothers (before they turned jokey with the likes of I'm Alright Jack, for instance) and superbly shot by Harry Waxman, this is one of Britain's few great contributions to the noir thriller cycle. Young Dickie, twitchy, vicious and terrified, is a revelation--and don't miss William Hartnell, the original Dr Who, as his cynical sidekick. --Philip Kemp

Amazon.co.uk Review

Rightly regarded as a genuine classic of British cinema, Brighton Rock has stood the test of time remarkably well to emerge as a tense, original thriller. Although there is much that is old-fashioned here (particularly the less than convincing East End accents), the tale of feuding gangster factions holds up favourably compared to modern-day efforts. In place of the now all-too-familiar violence is a quiet, brooding menace with much of the black and white film shot in the dark shadows of the underworld. Richard Attenborough holds it all together with his remarkable portrayal of young gangster Pinkie, exuding a threatening aura while often saying very little. Not surprisingly, given its base in Graham Greene's famous novel, the film has an exceptionally strong storyline that is matched by the directions and performances. A good lesson in timeless film making.

On the DVD: Brighton Rock on disc sadly is a package with nothing to offer over the standard video release. The black and white footage shows little sign of remastering, nor does the soundtrack. There are no extras whatsoever—this is surely a massive oversight given the classic nature of the film itself. --Phil Udell

Customer Reviews:

Like "GoodFellas"-on-sea.......2005-07-17

"Brighton Rock" still stands the test of time fairly well, largely due to a memorable performance by Richard Attenborough as Pinkie Brown, a vicious and thoroughly unpleasant gangster in 1930's Brighton. His menacing presence pervades this film from start to finish as his murderous exploits lead him into a relationship with a naive waitress who is a potential witness to a crime he committed and into conflict with rival gangsters and a determined Mrs Marple figure. There are religious overtones to the film, with Pinkie's girl being a staunch Catholic and her unconditional love for him is held up in contrast to Pinkie's coldness to her and the total absence of love in all aspects of his life. Good and Evil are shown in "Brighton Rock" as being absolutes and the result of the presence of God's grace and its absence respectively. In years to come, films like "A Clockwork Orange","Good Fellas" and "Scarface" would all bear echoes of "Brighton Rock".

An early Clockwork Orange.......2004-04-25

Director John Boulting, in his polished adaptation of Graham Greene'snovel, creates a convincing portrait of post-WWII Brighton that hasslipped into the past. The gangster class could have fitted into CockneyLondon, but the settings of Brighton offer a lighter and more intimateworld in which the group of desperados vainly attempt to hang on to theirpatch as the London underworld moves in.
Led by the psychopathic Pinkie (Richard Attenborough), the gangself-destructs, with only the wiser head (William Hartnell), having theflexibility in his make-up to allow for change and to attempt to prevent aparticularly grim fate for the protagonists.
With its slightly surreal side-show and jetty settings and Attenborough'sstarched, inhibited characterisation, I suspected the seeds of AntonyBurgess' Clockwork Orange and Kubrick's cinematic realisation of it inthis film noir.

More than just a gangster film........2004-02-03

Fantastic film adaptation of the Graham Greene novel. I had read the novel prior to seeing the film and was not disappointed at all. Very realistic, sinister and disturbing gangster movie with a murder-mystery twist which makes it even more compelling. This film really blew me away!
The DVD package unfortunately has nothing to offer other than the "chapter selection". No subtitles, production notes or behind the scenes facts. Very disappointing for such a wonderful film but definitely worth adding to any serious movie collection.

More than just a gangster film........2004-02-03

Unforgetable British gangster film.......2002-10-18

Brighton Rock, Graham Greene's novel about the British criminal underworld, has been improved by this adaptation for the screen. Most movies are worse than the book, this movie is better.

On the surface the story is easily told. Set in post-WW2 Brighton, the story revolves around the activities of teenage gangster "Pinkie". He commits murder, courts and marries the witness to prevent her bearing testimony against him.

For Greene this story seems to have had a wider meaning and his novel invites the reader to reflect on the moral, metaphysical and theological significance of these events. The movie invites this multi-layered analysis too and viewers can be as cerebral as they wish as they try to work out the "moral" in this morality tale set in the jolly-sinister carnival atmosphere of Bank Holiday Brighton.

But there are other pleasure too. Firstly, it has to be one of the best performances Attenborough has given. He is more memorable for this chilling performance as the demonic "Pinkie".
than anything else I've seen him in. Other performances also get under the skin, especially "Ida", Pinkie's nemesis.

Secondly, there is the pleasure of the black-and-white, highly atmospheric camera work, the lip-smacking scene setting, the delightful character acting, and a trip in time to a period in British history that is rarely represented in cinema (or any other format). This is one of those movies you watch over and over just to see the clothes people used to wear and how they used to hold their beer glasses or eat ice-cream.

Thirdly, there is the pleasure of contrasting this movie with other gangster movies e.g. from USA or Japan, especially those featuring teenage gangsters. You can never watch Marlon Brando or James Dean after this without contrasting them with Pinkie. Compared with the skinny, thread-bare, thoroughly nasty Pinkie the well-fed, well-dressed, terribly nice Americans seem like the boys-next-door and about as threatening as a used teabag and the Japanese, though more violent, are somehow far less malevolent.

But you should watch this great little classic of British cinema for yourself and reach your own conclusions and write your own moral. Highly recommended if you want to build a library of DVDs you'll watch over and over and gain something new every time you do. Worth every penny.

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