1948 / 92m - UK
Crime, Thriller
1.5*/5.0*
Brighton Rock poster

Watches

April 06, 2022

1.5*/5.0*

A pretty typical noir, but with a British twist. It's not a perfect match, as the British influences can get a little too prim and proper, but it's certainly not all bad. Boulting's direction is a bit more inspired compared to his American contemporaries and the film feels just a tad slicker. But it's still very much a typical noir.

Pinkie is the leader of a small gang in Brighton. When he kills an old rival, he makes it look like it was an accident. The police buys into the scheme, but Pinkie's girlfriend isn't so sure. She finds a witness that places Pinkie at the murder scene, so in order to shut her up, Pinkie proposes to his girlfriend.

I wasn't too impressed with Attenborough's performance and some characters don't really feel at home in the film. On the upside, the editing was better than usual and the pacing wasn't too bad either. It's certainly not the worst noir I've seen, but after making some inroads into the genre I'm pretty certain it's not really for me.