This highly entertaining British noir film is one of the highest rated British films of all time, yet it's received no previous reviews here at Epinions. Time to rectify that oversight! Brighton Rock features a very powerful performance by Richard Attenborough in the lead role and was arguably the film that first put the Boulting brothers on the cinematic map.

Historical Background: Twin brothers John and Roy Boulting were born on November 21st, 1913, in Bray, Buckinghamshire, England. After graduating from McGill in Montreal, the pair founded Charter Films together, in 1937. They alternated in the roles of producer and director, each serving as producer for the films directed by the other. They were separated professionally only during the war years, when John served in the film unit of the Royal Air Force and Roy in that of the British Army. After the war, the early films of the pair drew a lot of praise. These included Brighton Rock (1947), Seven Days to Noon (1950), and The Magic Box (1951). Brighton Rock was selected by the members of the British Film Institute as the fifteenth best British film of all time – high praise indeed! It may very well be the best British noir film ever made, featuring atmospheric sets and cinematography, together with a brilliant performance by Richard Attenborough, as the baby-faced but ruthless Pinkie Brown.

The Story: The story is set in Brighton in the thirties, when the now tourist-friendly seaside resort was ruled by gangsters. A well-known journalist, Kolly Kibber (Alan Wheatley), has come to town as part of a newspaper promotion. He'll be hiding cards in various locations, which the finders can redeem for money. In the hideout of gangster Pinkie Brown (Richard Attenborough), one of Brown's henchmen recognizes Kibber from his picture in the newspaper, realizing that Kolly Kibber is an alias for Fred Hale, the man who brought about the murder of the gang's former leader, William Kite. Pinkie and his three henchmen, Dallow (William Hartnell), Cubit (Nigel Stock), and Spicer (Wylie Watson), will have their revenge. They track down Kibber in a bar. Kibber understands what they have in mind and figures his best chance is to stay in the company of others, since the gangsters won't bump him off with witnesses around. Kibber latches onto the busty, loud-mouthed Ida Arnold (Hermione Baddeley), who is performing as a singer on the boardwalk.

Kibber ultimately has to flee through the streets, with Pinkie's gang in pursuit. On the boardwalk, Kibber tries to disappear into the crowd, but is tracked down by Pinkie's cronies. Kibber tries to escape by jumping onto The Ghost Train funhouse ride, but suddenly finds Pinkie seated beside him. Pinkie makes short work of the man, dumping his body into the ocean from the end of the pier. When Kibber's body later washes up on shore, the coroner rules the cause of death a coronary thrombosis. Ida, however, isn't buying it. Furthermore, one of her superstitious practices seems to confirm her suspicions. Ida, who is something of a cross between an amateur sleuth and an avenging angel, sets out to find the truth.

Pinkie Brown is rather young for a gang leader – just seventeen years of age. He's vicious, however, and full of bravado that masks an underlying insecurity. Pinkie is obsessed with eliminating any possible evidence that might link him to Kibber's murder. Pinkie is upset when he learns that Spicer took it upon himself to distribute some of Kibber's promotional cards after the man was already dead. Pinkie heads to the restaurant where Spicer had left a card under a tablecloth, in order to retrieve it. He learns, however, that a waitress, Rose (Carol Marsh), has already discovered the card. Furthermore, she remembers the appearance of the man (Spicer) who left it. Rose, the epitome of innocent goodness, is the complete opposite of the evil, twisted Pinkie, but she's attracted by his boyish good looks and flirtatious attentions. "You're sensitive, like me," he says, lamely. Rose falls in love with Pinkie and Pinkie decides the best way to ensure that she can't be used as a witness against him is to marry her.

Pinkie makes his living shaking down the businessmen on the boardwalk for "protection." His small gang is overmatched, however, by the much larger one run by the town's top gangster, Colleoni (Charles Goldner). After Pinkie tries to collect from a businessman named Bill Brewer (Harry Ross), Colleoni warns Pinkie to stay away from his clients. Pinkie decides to exploit the conflict with Colleoni to get rid of Spicer. He tells Colleoni that he's decided to back off, but one of his henchmen, Spicer, is refusing to go along. Spicer gets cut up pretty badly by Colleoni's gang, but not fatally. Pinkie finishes the job himself by pushing Spicer through a decrepit banister to his death. Pinkie's sleazy lawyer, Prewitt (Harcourt Williams), is forced to declare that he witnessed "the accident."

Pinkie also assigns Prewitt the task of arranging a marriage ceremony for himself and Rose, which is complicated by the fact that both are underage. Rose, a devout Catholic, is distraught at the idea of not being able to marry in church, but she has to settle for visiting the church immediately before the civil ceremony. Ida oversees the newlyweds trying to check into the local hotel and realizes that Rose is in danger. On the boardwalk, Rose asks Pinkie to make a recording for her, in a booth, hoping he'll declare his eternal love for her. The vicious Pinkie agrees, but then records a hateful message: "What you want me to say is I love you." Then he states emphatically that he actually hates her and that she disgusts him. Then he proudly hands her the recording.

SPOILERS IN NEXT TWO PARAGRAPHS. SKIP TO THEMES TO AVOID.

Ida tracks down Rose and tries to warn her that her husband has already killed at least two men. Rose, however, is steadfast in her love for Pinkie and certain that he will reform and repent, as her Catholicism has taught her to believe. When Pinkie spots Ida leaving his wife's room, he decides that Rose still poses a threat. He decides to talk her into a "suicide pact." Naturally, she'll shoot herself first. He leads her out into the rainy night and down to the end of the pier. Ida and Darrow, a henchman with a heart, who has decided to protect Rose at any cost, lead the police (who they call "Bogeys") in search of Rose and Pinkie, interrupting Rose's suicide effort in the nick of time. Pinkie, whose gig is up, plunges into the waters below and disappears.

The final scene takes place in a Catholic home for pregnant teens, where an angelic nun comforts the distraught Rose. Rose at least has her precious recording of what she supposes to be Pinkie's declaration of love and the nun has arranged for a gramophone on which to play it. "There is always hope," says the nun, "it is the air we breathe. Love can bring about salvation." Rose puts on the recording and we hear Pinkie's voice: "What you want me to say is I love you." At that point the needle becomes stuck on the damaged record, repeating over and over again, "I love you . . . I love you . . . I love you . . . I love you."

Themes: The casual viewer of the film may hardly notice, but behind this simple story of gangsters, revenge, and paranoia is a morality play based on Catholic perspectives. Pinkie represents the lapsed Catholic – a sinner who has turned altogether to evil. There's still enough of the Catholic teachings embedded inside him, however, to ensure that he's slowly consumed by self-loathing and guilt. He's the classic bully who is simultaneously ruthless and frightened of his own shadow. Rose, despite her own sins (becoming pregnant outside of wedlock and marrying outside the church), represents the Catholic notion of absolution and redemption through faith. "I don't care what you've done," she says to Pinkie, expecting that her love will lead him to reform. Rose's faith is quaintly preserved when the miraculous jamming of the gramophone recording reconstructs Pinkie's malicious message. Ida, by contrast, lies outside The Church and has no understanding of Rose's devotion to her fallen lover.

Production Values: The screenplay for this script was based on the novel Brighton Rock by Graham Greene. Greene was a staunch Catholic whose works typically take the form of morality plays. Greene's view of morality was based strictly on the precepts of The Church and made no allowances for either humanism or atheism. The screenplay, as co-written by Greene and Terence Rattigan, reigns in the religious undercurrents, but retains the wonderful dialog, the colorful characters, and most of the plot (except for an altered ending, demanded by the producers). The film adopts many of the conventions of the American film noir genre, but preserves a British quality through its settings (e.g., the pub and the racetrack) and language (Cockney accents and British slang). Some viewers experience the film's ironic ending as ingenious while others declare it a cop-out. I'm of the former opinion.

The black-and-white cinematography by Harry Waxman beautifully captures the grimy Brighton of the thirties, with its rows of squalid boarding houses, dark alleyways, smoke filled pubs, and the quaint boardwalk. The outfits are vintage thirties get-ups consisting of showy dresses or rumpled suits. The overall effect is a classic noir atmosphere with just a touch of German expressionism thrown into the mix. The Boultings were especially well known for beautiful framing and composition, and both are well in evidence as the present story unfolds.

The top reason for dusting off this old film is the magnificent performance by Richard Attenborough. Long before morphing into a mediocre director, Attenborough had been a first-rate actor. Born in 1923, Attenborough began performing when he was just 12 and made his professional stage debut at age 18, in 1941. Attenborough's first appearance in film was in In Which We Serve (1942), playing a coward. It was a few years thereafter before he escaped being typecast in that kind of role. He achieved star status in such films as Stairway to Heaven (1946) and Brighton Rock (1947). He went on to roles in such films as I'm All Right Jack (1959), The Great Escape (1963), Doctor Dolittle (1967), Jurassic Park (1993), and Elizabeth (1998). As a director, he was best known for Oh! What a Lovely War (1969), Young Winston (1972), A Bridge Too Far (1977), Ghandi (1982), Chaplin (1992), and Shadowlands (1993). In Brighton Rock, Attenborough's crazed performance as the psychopathic young gang leader is riveting. Carol Marsh, as Rose, nicely complements Attenborough in their grotesque sadomasochistic relationship, emulating Catholicism itself. Marsh was otherwise best known for a turn in Horror of Dracula (1958).

Herminone Baddeley plays her role with abandon – a bit too much abandon for my taste, though she adds color to the proceedings. She later had roles in Passport to Pimlico (1949), Belles of St. Trinian's (1954), Mary Poppins (1964), and The Secret of Nimh (1982). William Hartnell, who plays Dallow, also appeared in such films as The Way Ahead (1944), Odd Man Out (1947), The Mouse That Roared (1959), and This Sporting Life (1963).

Bottom-Line: Brighton Rock (1947) combines an excellent, suspenseful script with well-drawn characters beautifully realized by strong performances. Attenborough's performance is especially unbending. The moody cinematography provides a stylish noir atmosphere. The film's British title, Brighton Rock, was a delicately literate reference to the character Ida, who remains rock solid in her determination to ferret out the truth and ensure justice. It gives one pause to realize that the film's American distributor thought so little of the intelligence of the American public that they felt it necessary to dumb-down that exquisite film title to "Young Scarface" for the American release. 'Cause otherwise we might think that "Brighton Rock" was where the settlers of Brighton first stepped off their boats!

Recommended:
Yes

Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older