Character Introductions 008: Pinkie Brown

Few Words, Big Impact

Next in our series of Character Introductions is Pinkie Brown of Brighton Rock, played by Richard Attenborough (yes, David’s brother).

The film’s opening scenes involve various characters chattering about the day’s big news, who’s been murdered, and ‘what Pinkie’s gonna say.’

So when a nervous lackey approaches the door, we perhaps expect a volcanic response to the newspaper headline and intrusion.

The other three gathering down the stairs — shot at POV-esque angle from the lackey — is really funny! But they’re also heavily loaded onto the right side of frame, in a shot with dozens of shadows and lines going all different directions, so it also adds to the general sense of unease.

This ‘funny or deadly?’ feeling (perhaps best immortalised in an iconic Goodfellas scene) is one Brighton Rock will play with time and time again, and the tension isn’t only in the leadup, but when the lackey goes into Pinkie’s room.

The first thing we see of Pinkie is not his face, but his hands:

It’s again shot from a nigh-POV angle, which lets us see how afraid the lackey is — look how close he stays to the wall, leaning away — and gives the impression of Pinkie tying a noose around his neck, or weaving a spider web to catch him in.

So far about half of our character introductions don’t start on the face: Johnny Guitar first shows us Johnny’s quick hands; both Dusty Chandler and Cora Smith let the camera begin down at their ankles and drift upward. It’s one way to prolong the tension of but what do they look like, but it also tells us something about who they are: Johnny a gunslinger, Cora a femme fatale, and Pinkie a schemer.

Pinkie doesn’t actually say anything here: we get just one look at his face as he looks at the newspaper and considers, his eyes hardly moving, showing no fear or surprise. The pinstripes of his pillowcase and the bars of his bed headboard create leading lines, but also, of course, suggest jail bars and a prison uniform.

A Second Intro

The scene immediately transitions to a bar, I left the crossfade in, and include this because it gives even more context for Pinkie, a second introduction though

We see him first in the mirror; a lovely bit of camerawork.

Again, he doesn’t speak, which ends up making him even more insidious; the men do his dirty work and say his dirty words.

But specifically notice how Fred ‘barrels the camera’ and so does Pinkie; Fred’s eyes shift a bit, but it’s clear he and Pinkie are looking at each other, so the shot-reverse-shot has the effect of making us feel both intimidated and intimidator, in turn.

Finally Pinkie turns away as his thugs harass Fred,, and in the ‘reverse’ shot the camera keeps him in the foreground, so we can watch his face even though the other three characters are the only ones talking or acting. He’s still the most important, even though he’s not doing anything but playing Cat’s Cradle.

And that’s how you know he’s the one with power, in the scene as well as story.