Richard Attenborough is superb as the psychotic "Pinkie Brown" (much better than his role in The Hundred Pound Window) and Dallow (William Hartnell), Spicer (Wylie Watson) and Cubitt (Nigel Stock) come across well as his loyal but disillusioned gang members. The role of the young adorable waitress Rose Brown, who gets involved in the murder plot through no fault of her own, is played brilliantly by Carol Marsh and I also like Ida Arnold (Hermoine Baddeley) as the local singer who turns detective when she senses that all isn't as it seems. The several razor slashing scenes in the film are gruesome but not overly graphic and apparently a former razor gang member served as a technical adviser (Sabini gang). John Boulting's film work is outstanding and there are some amazing views of Brighton as it was in the late 1940's, especially the scenes shot at Palace Pier and the dark music score complements the movie well. The end scene in the book was based a few miles down the coast at Peacehaven but the director chose to use Palace Pier as the climax for the movie and I think that was a great choice as piers can be quite spooky places at night.             

The short racecourse scene where Pinkie hands Spicer to Colleoni's (Charles Goldner) rival mob was filmed at Brighton and there are some great shots showing the betting ring, packed stands and track as well as the full action from one race where Ida Arnold's horse wins. I have never seen Brighton racecourse so packed and the scenes reminded me of Epsom Downs with lots of people on the inside of the track against the rails - the courses have similar layouts anyway.

Brighton Rock has achieved cult status over the years and is regularly considered as one of the best British Films ever made and always receives rave reviews. You can even go on a "Brighton Rock" guided walking tour around Brighton which takes you to some of the locations where the film was made (see link above). I am also a great admirer of the film although I would have preferred more betting and racing action but it was still amazing to see Brighton racecourse as it was in the late 1940s. In my opinion the 2010 Brighton Rock remake was very poor in comparison to the original and didn't feature any action from Brighton racecourse so won't be included on this website. (Rating 8/10)