A gang war is raging through the dark, seedy underworld of Brighton. Pinkie, fighting for leadership, is only seventeen yet he has already proved his ruthlessness in the brutal killing of Hale, a journalist. Untouched by human feeling, Pinkie is isolated from the rest of the world, a figure of pure evil. Believing he can escape retribution, he its unprepared for the courageous, life-embracing Ida Arnold, who is determined to avenge Hale's death. This gripping thriller exposes a world of loneliness, pain and fear, of life lived on 'the dangerous edge of things'.
Much more of a rough around the edges, hard-boiled Hollywood gangster bash than Greene’s later definitive work. But, it’s still Greene, and it’s still good; as the introduction notes, taking something popular and making it serious without destroying what made it popular, preserving integrity while writing for a mass audience.
Bottom line, though, it’s just a little too Robert Mitchum swagger, Humphrey Bogart gritting through his teeth to equal the disquieting tour de force of The Heart of the Matter or The End of the Affair.
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25 March, 2010:
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25 March, 2010:
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