Terrific British noir movie with Richard Attenborough as small time gangster Pinkie Brown. If by chance you’ve never seen it you’re in for a good time.
A newspaper reporter is coming to Brighton to hide some cards in the area. Find one and you’ll get some cash. Pinkie Brown’s (Richard Attenborough) gang recognize him as an old enemy named Fred that Pinkie’s been after.
They spot him in a pub, let him know they’re around and then wait outside. Fred meets Ida (Hermione Baddeley). She’s part of a traveling entertainment troupe. Fred leaves the pub and is chased through the amusement pier. Pinkie and the boys catch up to him and he takes off. He meets Ida again and wants her to stick with him.
Ida leaves for a moment and Fred waits in a boat going through the tunnel of love ride. At the last minute Pinkie joins him and while they’re in the tunnel disposes of him. The death was ruled a heart attack. Ida doesn’t buy it and starts investigating on her own.
To establish an alibi, Spicer, one of Pinkie’s mob leaves one of Fred’s cards in the cafe under a tablecloth. Pinkie tells him to get it back. No one wants to go so he does it himself. He meets naive seventeen year old waitress Rose (Carol Marsh). She found the card and cashed it in. She also knows it wasn’t Fred who left it there.
Pinkie has more problems with local mob boss Colleoni. He’s the real power there. Pinkie wants to establish himself. He wants to get rid of Spicer before he’s identified as the man who actually left the card. Colleoni says he’ll take care of it. Pinkie will pat Spicer on the shoulder at the race track. Colleoni’s boys close in…then they close in on Pinkie. One of them slashes his cheek with a knife. Before they can do anymore damage the cops show up and everyone scatters.
To Pinkie’s surprise Spicer is still alive. He tells Pinkie he’s leaving town. Pinkie pushes him over a bannister and kills him. Now he has to take care of Rose. He marries her because a wife can’t testify against her husband. She’s head over heels for him but he still wants to get rid of her.
Put this movie on a must see list. Graham Greene co-wrote the screenplay based on his novel.
American TV viewers know Hermione Baddeley as Mrs.Neil Naughatuck on “Maude” (1974-77). In 1951 she was Mrs.Cratchit in “Scrooge.”
This was Carol Marsh’s first movie. She appeared in episodes of several British TV series.
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