Brighton Rock (Blu-ray)

Richard Attenborough (Brannigan) gives a tour-de-force performance as the emotionally and physically scarred gang leader Pinkie Brown, who courts and marries a local waitress (Carol Marsh, Horror of Dracula) he detests in order to stop her from testifying against him. Beautifully scripted by literary greats Graham Greene (The Third Man, The Fallen Idol) and Terence Rattigan (Separate Tables, The Browning Version) and wonderfully directed by John Boulting (Seven Days to Noon, I’m All Right Jack), Brighton Rock is utterly hard-bitten in tone and abundant in cruel ironies, right up to its well-judged, refreshingly cynical ending. Expressively shot by legendary cinematographer Harry Waxman (The Wicker Man, The Day the Earth Caught Fire), this masterful, evocative film noir is one of the finest British thrillers ever made.