Based on Graham Greene’s 1938 novel, which Greene and Terence Rattigan adapted, Brighton Rock is a terrifying crime thriller, set between the wars, about a gang of hoodlums, headed by vicious, 17-year-old Pinkie Brown, which “offers” protection and eliminates Fred, who has a rival protection racket. Fred’s death, in a beachside tunnel of horrors ride, […]
Daily Archives: July 20, 2009
Written by Robert Riskin, American Madness, a great film of the Great Depression, may even be director Frank Capra’s masterpiece. Perhaps he could be so patiently and penetratingly objective about the times because, a right-wing Republican (who veered into fascism with Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, 1939, and Meet John Doe, 1941), Capra wasn’t seduced […]
“These are lofty matters beyond women’s ken.” Boom, in Flanders, in 1611 bustles with activity, which slides into desperation when it is learned that a Spanish duke is headed with his troops to spend the night; such occupations normally leave towns skinned and pillaged. The mayor and his council are seized by a dark (and […]
Dennis Grunes 