Watch Brighton Rock For Free

From my favorite movies..

Brilliant and touching

Admirable film.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

I recently discovered this little gem of a movie and enjoyed it immensely. It is a dark film noir type of film that looks as though it was made on a modest budget by the infamous Boulting Brothers.Pinkie Brown (Richard Attenborough) is head of a "mob" that runs a protection racket out of a Brighton race track. Members of his group, of which he is the youngest include: Dallow (William Hartnell), Pruitt (Harcourt Williams), Spicer (Wylie Watson) and Cubitt (Nigel Stock) who run their operation from a seedy rooming house.Pinkie sets out to eliminate his competition in the person of Fred Hale (Alan Wheatley). During the pursuit of Fred, Fred becomes acquainted with Ida Arnold (Hermoine Baddeley)whom he helps with a gift. Shortly after their meeting, Fred is eliminated by Pinkie. The police report lists Fred's death as suicide but Ida knows better and sets out to prove it Miss Marple style.Ida'a investigation turns up a naïve young waitress Rose (Carol Marsh) who apparently knows more than she seems. Pinkie too becomes interested in Rose for the simple reason that she could implicate him in Fred's murder. Pinkie begins to "court" the young waitress to the point that they get married on the premise that a wife cannot testify against her husband. Ida discovers that Rose and Pinky are together.In the meantime, dissension among the members of the gang results in another murder. Becoming increasingly paranoid, Pinky devises a suicide pact with Rose to escape persecution but has ulterior motives. Ida suspects that Pinkie is up to something and goes to the police. Meanwhile Pinky and Rose go to an isolated spot to carry out their pact when........................................................Attenborough, whose friends called him "Dickie" is outstanding as the baby faced small time hoodlum. He was only in his early 20s at the time.His dead pan expression is positively terrifying. Baddeley on the other hand, also turns in a top notch performance as the boisterous snooping Ida.From the useless trivia department, Alan Wheatley who plays Fred, was The Sheriff of Nottingham in the Richard Greene Robin Hood series of the early 60s.

British film noir announced the arrival of Sir Richard Attenborough as the young, baby-faced (albeit with a large scar) gangland leader (Pinkie Brown) whose tenuous grip on his volatile mob of stand-over men and misfits is tested, forcing him to assert his authority, but pushing him to the brink of psychosis as his minor empire disintegrates amid in-fighting, pressure from the law and competitors seeing an opportunity to muscle-in.William Hartnell significantly elevated his status in British films with his portrayal of the wily, experience-hardened and brutally calm right-hand man, a reassuring presence to the under-siege Pinkie, until he senses the embattled leader's weaknesses. For his part, though much of what his character displays is faux bravado, Attenborough remains chilling as the almost psychotic thug, one of the best performances of his acting career.The scene in which the demented Pinkie callously hurls an innocent victim through second-story balustrades to the ground below is one of those moments in film you never forget, not only the event, but director Boulting's pacing, tightly edited photographic angles, and the stunned reactions of those who witness the abhorrent and opportunistic murder (it has that same callous and sinister tone that Richard Widmark conjured in his infamous scene in "Kiss of Death"). While better known for his production credits, director John Boulting shows a talent for suspense and edgy storytelling (relative to the era) in a landmark British film that's well worth the time.

This is simply one of the greatest movies I've ever seen. It's a prototype for Scorsese's great gangster films -- cut-throat nihilism intertwined with Catholic superstition to create a world where the guy who slits your throat is the same one that lies awake at night worrying that he's going to (literally) burn in hell. Perhaps you'd expect nothing less with Graham Greene writing the screenplay from his own novel, but the writing is great throughout -- from the terrified Fred's desperate attempts to score a protective date ("my, you work fast, don't you?") to Pinkie Brown's deranged malapropism for a suicide pact ("a suicide pax... that's Latin for peace, you know it?") -- the script is a non-stop collection of great dialog and inspired storytelling. The acting is electric from Richard Attenborough's teeth-gritting paranoia to Carol Marsh's sweet but dangerous naiveté. If you're into noir and gangster movies this is one of the must-see films.

There was no action and not much substance to it. Attenborough held the same expression (moody) throughout and there was a pathetic female character in it who really epitomised everything I hate about a lot of films made in the black and white period; over-the-top, whiny, clingy and acting completely without passion or skill. I believe the film was supposed to be character-driven but as the main character was more silent than talkative, an audience wouldn't really be able to explore the depths of his persona. Given Attenborough's one expression, I don't think his character had any other sides to his personality. If his character was a word it would be 'monosyllabic'.