The
lowdown: Directed by John Boulting, 'Brighton Rock' is
a 1947 film adaptation of a 1938 Graham Green novel
with the same title, and
is an example of British film noir. The film closely follows the original
novel, although given
the constraints of a 90-minute
feature some plot elements had to be excluded. Set in the seaside town
of Brighton
in the 1930s, the film focuses
on a small group of criminals, whose leader (played by Richard Attenborough)
is young,
ruthless and ambitious,
and his vicious nature is completely understated by his nickname of 'Pinkie'.
The other gang
members include Dallow (played
by William Hartnell, long before he stepped into the TARDIS), Nigel Stock
and
Wylie Watson.
The film opens with the gang
finding out that newspaper journalist Fred Hale is coming to Brighton in
the guise of
'Kolley Kibber', who is
organising a prize contest in the town. Pinkie has a score to settle with
Fred, who caused
the death of another gang
leader. Pinkie and his henchmen track down Fred and kill him, but not before
the journo
befriends a local pub singer
named Ida, who suspects that Fred met with foul play and begins her own
investigation
when the police close the
case. Meanwhile, Pinkie marries a local waitress named Rose, not because
he loves her
but simply because he needs
an alibi, and as he says, a wife cannot testify against her husband. However,
events
begin to spiral out of control,
with a falling-out among members of Pinkie's gang (particularly after Pinkie
decides that
one of them, Spicer, is
a liability and kills him), a rival gangs starts moving into Pinkie's territory,
and Pinkie decides
that Rose is a liability
and plans her demise'. Dallow is almost as ruthless as Pinkie, but his
conscience gets the
better of him when Pinkie
reveals his plans for Rose, and Dallow decides that he cannot allow Pinkie
to hurt his wife.
The film ends very badly
for Pinkie, who had failed to convince Rose to take part in a suicide pact
(although he had
no intention of going through
with it himself.
The
verdict: Despite its age, 'Brighton Rock' is an aborbing,
well-written and superbly directed film, and a marvellous
example of the film noir
genre, particularly given that it is British rather than American. It lacks
the slow pace of many
films of the era, and despite
a few points where the plot gets bogged down a bit, the action moves along
quite quickly.
The film is worth watching
for the performance of Attenborough alone, although the supporting cast
is also excellent -
and it is great to see Hartnell
in a role in which he is for the most part a thoroughly unpleasant character.
The scene
where Dallow and Pinkie
make a late-night visit to a man who hasn't paid his 'subscription' shows
just how well Hartnell
could do menacing roles.
There are plans for a remake of 'Brighton Rock', although it is hard to
imagine how it could be
any better than the original.
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