Brighton Rock

1948

1h 32m

Crime

Drama

List

95%

21 Reviews

Tomatometer

85%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

In 1940s Brighton, England, the vicious criminal Pinkie Brown (Richard Attenborough) is the leader of his small-time gang. After Brown murders a rival, he finds an alibi through a waitress, Rose (Carol Marsh), whom he promises to marry in return for her corroboration. Despite the police ruling it a suicide, Ida Arnold (Hermione Baddeley), a woman who was with Brown's victim before the murder, continues with her own investigation. Meanwhile, Brown is rapidly losing his grip on the situation.

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Wendy Ide

Times (UK)

Richard Attenborough, aged only 24, creates one of the most chilling antiheroes in British cinema: baby-faced psychopath Pinkie Brown takes an unsettling satisfaction in his capacity for cruelty and ruthlessness.

Jul 6, 2023

Full Review

David Thomson

The New Republic

Anyone interested after seeing this film [the 2011 version] should go straight to the 1947 original and the uncanny way in which the steadily decent and amiable Attenborough was so scary.

Jun 24, 2013

Full Review

Keith Uhlich

Time Out

The film is too often compromised by a muddled Catholic moralism

Rated: 3/5

Nov 18, 2011

Full Review

Sarah Boslaugh

PopMatters

...cinematographer Harry Waxman captures the desperate grittiness of a resort town during the Great Depression.

Rated: 8/10

May 5, 2020

Full Review

MFB Critics

Monthly Film Bulletin

Brighton Rock is disappointing and difficult to follow. Those who have not read the book will be completely at sea, and those who have will be irritated at the tricks played with a superb story.

Jan 23, 2018

Full Review

Jeremy Carr

MUBI

Based on Graham Greene's 1938 novel of the same name, and directed by John Boulting...this superb picture discloses with penetrating clarity an emotional street life teeming beneath the veneer of amusement park gaiety.

Jan 9, 2018

Full Review

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Audience Member

This was one of the least engaging film noir movies I've watched. The plot was unremarkable, and the characters uninteresting. Even good acting will not help a plot that is flat, and basic. The pace was also very slow, and the build-up led to a contrived and predictable end for the protagonist. Some actions were very pointless, and did not contribute to the movie in any way. And letting the wife continue in her delusion at the very end was ruthless. So a young wholesome, and beautiful girl's destiny is to throw her life away in a convent endlessly pining over a thug that never loved her, and was going to kill her in the end..okay..

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

01/27/23

Full Review

Joan P R

Despite its age and the twisted Graham Greene form of Catholicism, this is a compelling story of the clash between stupid innocence and moral degradation, with some great acting. Worth seeing.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

07/17/21

Full Review

paul d

After seeing this very good film (Brighton Rock aka Young Scarface), I would like to read the Graham Greene novel on which it was based, to see the details of character development, morality and immorality behind these tense and disquieting 90 minutes. The film shows us the seedy underworld of a British seaside resort city, with a deep look at the damaged, rough and ruthless people who inhabit it, as well as a glimpse of the authorities who don't rule this underworld so much as tolerate it, and a fearless citizen with character who pursues truth and justice. A modern morality play with a great cast and an outstanding, psychotic Richard Attenborough.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

True to the novel and actually better than it because greene was a poor writer. Yeah, I said it. Why is it called Young Scarface? Clearly this is Brighton Rock. Richard Attenborough is better than his brother. The whole film is overwrought but entertaining.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/28/23

Full Review

William L

Derided for its violence in the UK at the time of release, today Brighton Rock would hardly raise the blood pressure in a kindergarten on gore alone. Where it shines is its vibrant depiction of postwar England and in Attenborough's performance; nonchalantly violent and unsettling. Toss in some creative camerawork to heighten the thrills and you've got one of the definitive British crime films. (4/5)

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

08/12/20

Full Review

Audience Member

One of the few cases in which movie is better than the book, and that is difficult talking about Graham Greene. A great cast contributes to it.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

Full Review

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John Boulting

Director

Richard Attenborough

Pinkie Brown

Hermione Baddeley

Ida Arnold

William Hartnell

Dallow

Carol Marsh

Rose Brown

Nigel Stock

Cubitt

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Synopsis

In 1940s Brighton, England, the vicious criminal Pinkie Brown (Richard Attenborough) is the leader of his small-time gang. After Brown murders a rival, he finds an alibi through a waitress, Rose (Carol Marsh), whom he promises to marry in return for her corroboration. Despite the police ruling it a suicide, Ida Arnold (Hermione Baddeley), a woman who was with Brown's victim before the murder, continues with her own investigation. Meanwhile, Brown is rapidly losing his grip on the situation.

Director: John Boulting
Screenwriter: Graham Greene
Production Co: Charter Films Inc.
Genre: Crime, Drama
Original Language: English (United Kingdom)
Rerelease Date (Theaters): Jun 19, 2009
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 11, 2011
Box Office (Gross USA): $10.6K
Runtime: 1h 32m

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