Brighton Rock 1948 Directed by John Boulting
Centring on the activities of a gang of assorted criminals and, in particular, their leader – a vicious young hoodlum known as "Pinkie" – the film's main thematic concern is the criminal underbelly evident in inter-war Brighton.
Richard Attenborough Hermione Baddeley William Hartnell Nigel Stock Wylie Watson Carol Marsh Harcourt Williams Virginia Winter Reginald Purdell George Carney Charles Goldner Alan Wheatley Lina Barrie Joan Sterndale-Bennett Harry Ross Campbell Copelin Marianne Stone Norman Watson Constance Smith Pamela Cundell
Finstere Gassen, Le gang des tueurs
Richard Attenborough gives a disquieting performance as the vicious Pinkie Brown in this 1948 movie, and it's one of his most memorable roles; it's a position which he reprised from the West End stage a few years earlier. Graham Greene co-wrote the screenplay, based on his 1938 novel, and it conveys a disturbing insight into Brighton's gangs with a scrupulously subdued aesthetic. The cast and crew have uniformly done accomplished work with this adaptation, and Hermione Baddeley’s portrayal as Ida Arnold also deserves special recognition.
"I've sunk so deep I carry the secrets of the sewer."
Unceasingly bleak melodrama about the internal corruption of the hateful male psyche and the folly of an inexperienced lust for power. Careful not to get lost in an almost impenetrable fog of British slang; the ending is kind of a knockout.
British crime flicks was certainly on to something post-World War II, and Brighton Rock (1948) is a chilling example of that. I felt there could have been a little bit more to the story, but Richard Attenborough was such a cold murderous bastard that it was all that mattered.
I'm entranced by the way the Boulting Brothers wield their camera. (This is the first movie of theirs I've seen.) The sharp pans with which they follow Pinkie and his gang around Brighton, or their preoccupation with certain objects: a telephone, a doll, a crucial phonograph record. I'm also upset by how tightly Catholic guilt, courtesy of writer Graham Greene, is wound around the character of Rose, played with the utmost devotion by first-time actress Carol Marsh. Her performance, coupled with Richard Attenborough's display of mesmerizing sociopathy, makes this essential (and especially powerful) Brit noir. There's this shot of her gazing through the glass of a soundproof booth while Pinkie engraves his voice onto that record for her, and god, it tore my heart right out.
A British gangster film noir about a psychopathic gang leader Pinkie Brown that is based around his downfall for his recent murders. To keep it bluntly, I did not enjoy this film due to its lifeless characters. The gangster and noir elements are there which works well but for the best of me I did not care. This film is based around Pinkie’s paranoia and his romantic fling with the most unbelievable romance I’ve seen in some time. First of all, Pinkie literally has no personality and it’s not entirely on the actor for that fault, the writing doesn’t help his case either. The other cast of characters are just as forgettable. This film is just so dry and dull…
John Boulting’s classic British noir thriller, based on Graham Greene’s novel, stars Richard Attenborough as the amoral 17-year-old gangster Pinkie, running Brighton racecourse ragged.
In 1940s Brighton, England, the nasty gangster Pinkie Brown (Richard Attenborough) is in charge of his small-time group. After Pinkie kills an enemy, he spots an explanation through a waitress, Rose (Carol Marsh), whom he aptitudes to tie the knot with in return for her legalisation.
Despite the cops ruling it a suicide, Ida Arnold (Hermione Baddeley), a woman who was with Pinkie’s target before the crime, lingers with her own investigation. On the other hand, Pinkie is losing his hold on the state of affairs – and fast.
Richard Attenborough gives a terrific performance in…
[80]
"I hate you, you little slut." How the hell did that make it into a 1947 film? Devastating not only because Rose is truly in love with this man, but she also believes he's leaving her a sweet, romantic recording of his voice that she can playback and listen to whenever Pinkie's out of town. The story itself is rather weightless, hard to even quantify sizably enough to sound substantial or worthy : the key lies with the characters, vibrant and baroque, gummed up with contagious personality, whether it be immensely sociopathic or blindly devout and blissfully unaware -- the tennis match between Attenborough's uncompromising self-interest and Marsh's magnanimous affection is equal parts gripping and heartbreaking. We kinda know…
After watching the debut episode of Channel 4's excellent Brighton set gangland drama 'The Fear' tonight I was in the mood for some more of that seaside town that Keith Waterhouse declared 'always looks as though it is helping the police with their inquiries' and so I found myself re-watching Brighton Rock.
I say re-watching but to be honest it's been that long since I first saw it (in my teens) that apart from a few obvious well known set pieces that I'm naturally familiar with (I mean who could forget the ghost train or all the face slashing? The crowd turning on Spicer...and Pinkie? Hartnell's cruel spitting in the hallway after roughing up a debtor or Pinkie's vinyl recording…
The performances of Richard Attenborough and Hermione Baddeley in this movie are outstanding in the entire history of British cinema. Baddeley plays the most unlikely detective as she tracks the murder of Kolley Kibber (yes that's right, I spelt it wrong) and tries to save the naif Rose from herself and the dread Pinkie Brown. Baddeley's Ida Arnold, a pier end clown by day, the very definition of the old phrase "brass", is the natural mother hen. She also plays the human analogue of the town of Brighton, tough, seedy; grinning on the outside but hard as a stick of rock through the middle. Brighton appears to be an amoral hell on earth, where the law is sneered at. The…
The June / July Classic Crime and Noir Project: 1930-1969
I love Brighton.
I've been lucky enough to spend a lot of time down there. Not so much in the last few years since moving back to the Manchester / Stockport area, but before that I would be down there quite a lot with the kids especially. Hell, I even got married there! But I don't hold that against it.
So during that splendid foot chase early on as Pinkie and the gang pursue poor old Kolley Kibber, it was really interesting to see just how little the place has changed. It's a great chase scene but I'm also convinced that the Boutings just wanted to do a quick tour…
"I've never changed. I'm like those sticks of rock. Bite one all the way down, you'll still read Brighton."
Pinkie Brown isn't exactly a name that sounds too threating but Richard Attenborough plays this evil sociopath to perfection. A truly unforgettable screen villain.
Wonderful snapshot of Brighton, England in the 1940s and a little gem of British cinema.
Great movie, but how are we expected to take the British seriously? Kolley Kibber? Shut the fuck up.
British crime flicks was certainly on to something post-World War II, and Brighton Rock (1948) is a chilling example of that. I felt there could have been a little bit more to the story, but Richard Attenborough was such a cold murderous bastard that it was all that mattered.
Great ending and some really good on location scenes/shots (I wonder if that was the influence of Italian neo-realism)
Also interesting to see Richard Attenborough as a baby faced killer.
(Taped from 9Gem)
Graham Greene's classic tale of violent gangs in Brighton, a lust for power and the ultimate downfall of their leader.
Richard Attenborough is mesmerising as Pinky Brown a violent psychopath who is slowly losing control as the cover up of the murder begins to unravel. He acts so brilliantly with his eyes, the cold dead stare, inflicts terror in his other gang members, you can see his pupils darting around as he is thinking. Hermione Baddeley, as Ida Arnold is equally as good. in the beginning you could dismiss her as a drunken lush out on the town, looking for a good time, but it is her dogged attitude and investigative skills that keep Pinky on his toes throughout the…
To be honest I was yawning half the time because there is no life whatsoever in the script other than some fleeting moments.This film needed better actors. would recommend 10 Rillington Place over this film for THE definitive performance by Richard Attenborough.
P.S - Can't believe this film has a rating of 95% on Rotten Tomatoes!!!
Graham Greene's novel generates a power through the unlikely collision of 17 year-old sociopathic hoodlum Pinkie Brown and Ida Arnold, a buxom and boisterous woman with her own agnostic sense of Right and Wrong. Without the acute psychological insight of Greene's text, the gangland machinations here aren't all that interesting, though this adaptation's performances and depiction of seaside Brighton are very credible.
The PG certificate meant I wasn’t expecting this film to be ........... I don’t know the word. It’s not violent. There’s no sex. There’s no bad language. The plot and pinkie’s actions are so dark throughout
I’m so getting my gf a record with that same message on.
Easily one of my favourite endings to a film.
"I've never changed. I'm like those sticks of rock. Bite one all the way down, you'll still read Brighton."
Pinkie Brown isn't exactly a name that sounds too threating but Richard Attenborough plays this evil sociopath to perfection. A truly unforgettable screen villain.
Wonderful snapshot of Brighton, England in the 1940s and a little gem of British cinema.
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