Knowing It All

Reviews of Woody Allen's "Whatever Works," "$9.99" and a Graham Greene revival.

New Yorkers seeking a more satisfying investigation of our bleak world this week will want to check out Film Forum’s revival of the superb British noir “Brighton Rock” (1947), directed by John Boulting and written by Graham Greene, adapting his 1938 novel of the same name. Richard Attenborough stars as psychopathic 17-year-old crime boss Pinkie Brown, who abstains from drinking, smoking and eating chocolate, but not from cutting people’s faces, pushing senior colleagues to their death, and cruelly deceiving smitten, hopelessly devoted young waitresses. At times, Attenborough’s nattily dressed, bug-eyed killer reminded me of another indelible movie monster, also from 1947 — Richard Widmark’s Tommy Udo in “Kiss of Death.” Yet Pinkie remains the more diabolical creation, horribly manipulating Rose (Carol Marsh), a server he marries so she won’t be called to testify against him for an earlier offing.

Rose is absolutely convinced of Pinkie’s goodness: He’s a Catholic, just like her (and like Greene), who admits to having wanted to be a priest when he was a kid. Greene’s moral universe in “Brighton Rock” is one of profound contradictions, filled with, as one character notes at film’s end, “the appalling strangeness of the mercy of God.” It’s a world that Boris Yellnikoff and Tatia Rosenthal’s tiny figurines should visit.

Melissa Anderson is our guest critic for the month of June.

“Whatever Works” and “$9.99” open in New York and Los Angeles on June 19th; “Brighton Rock” opens for a limited one-week engagement at Film Forum on June 19th.

[Additional photo: "$9.99," Regent Releasing, 2008]

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