Apparently this was cut because it would have been too shocking or something, I kind of wish it was that way instead of just quite sinister, but never mind. Basically twenty-something small town crook Pinkie Brown (Lord Sir Richard Attenborough) runs a gang who racket at the Brighton race course, and he is told to murder rival Fred Hale (Alan Wheatley). The police believe he committed suicide, but quite talkative stage performer Ida Arnold (Hermione Baddeley) is determined to find the real cause of death as she saw Fred before he died. She, and Pinkie before her, come across naive waitress Rose Brown (Carol Marsh), who can prove that Fred was murdered, but Pinkie is doing all that he can to make sure she keeps her mouth shut. He convinces her that he has fallen, and not too long later gets her to marry him to make sure she stays silent. His gang however have started to doubt Pinkie's ability in the racket, with rivals trying to take over the gang, and Pinkie becomes more desperate and violent, which is where he gets his scar (and the film was released in America as Young Scarface), to keep what little has. The most memorable scenes are of course the murder on the ghost train, Pinkie recording his voice of hatred for a smiling Rose, and the ending sees her listening to the scratched record after he is found dead, and all that plays is "I love you", so it cut off the nasty stuff, probably for the best. Also starring William Hartnell as Dallow, Nigel Stock as Cubitt, Wylie Watson as Spicer, Harcourt Williams as Prewitt, George Carney as Phil Corkery, Charles Goldner as Colleoni, Victoria Winter as Judy and Reginald Purdell as Frank. Young Attenborough proves himself a great young talent, in possibly his finest performance, Marsh a good underrated talent also, there are some good dark moments, so it a very worthwhile crime drama. Lord Sir Richard Attenborough was number 34 on The 100 Greatest British Actors, and the film was number 44 on The 50 Greatest British Films. Very good!
Review of Brighton Rock
