Centring on the activities of a gang of assorted criminals and, in particular, their leader – a vicious young hoodlum known as "Pinkie" – the film's main thematic concern is the criminal underbelly evident in inter-war Brighton.
This tends to prove that Britain can turn out a gangster picture as brutal as any Hollywood had devised.
– Variety Staff,
Variety,
20 Nov 2008
fresh:
A seedy noir, equal parts concealed-camera atmosphere and tense set pieces.
– Vadim Rizov,
Village Voice,
16 Jun 2009
fresh:
The future Lord Dickie's sinister stylings are what linger, especially the vitriolic audio recording he makes for his betrothed, done as if damnation were the most casual of enterprises.
– Keith Uhlich,
Time Out New York,
17 Jun 2009
fresh:
Anyone interested after seeing this film [the 2011 version] should go straight to the 1947 original and the uncanny way in which the steadily decent and amiable Attenborough was so scary.