Brighton Rock
Dir: John Boulting
1947
*****
John Boulting's adaptation of Graham Greene's classic is the best of British film noir. Visuals aside, I think the reason the film works so well is because Greene wrote the screenplay himself, making sure it never deviated from the novel's greatness. Richard Attenborough's performance as the infamous Pinkie, a psychopathic teen-aged hoodlum, is one of the greatest of his career and is one of the most thrilling villains in cinema's history. The direction is probably the best of the Boulting twins career's and indeed cinematographer Harry Waxman's (although The Wicker Man comes close). I'm not sure a thriller that had the villain as main character had ever worked or had been as compelling before. There is is something uniquely chilling about the audiences relationship with Pinkie, his unpredictability being quite compelling as well as repellent. It is a great film but I've always had issues with it's conclusion. I've always thought that the audience shouldn't hear what Pinkie says in the voice recording booth but should instead find out at the end when the record is playing. Still, that aside, the film is fantastic as are the rest of the cast, Attenborough steals the show but Carol Marsh is utterly convincing in what would be one of her few roles and Hermione Baddeley, William Hartnell, Harcourt Williams, Wylie Watson and the great Nigel Stock provide brilliant supporting performances.