Go to THE SILENT ERA

The Hundred Pound Window (1943)
Cast: Anne Crawford, David Farrar, Frederick Leister, Mary Clare, Niall MacGinnis, with Richard Attenborough
Directed by Brian Desmond Hurst
A Warner Bros/First National film of a crime story set in the horse racing world.
• For some years this was on the British Film Institute's list of 'lost' films until a 16mm print was found.

Brighton Rock (USA title: Young Scarface) (1947)
Cast: Richard Attenborough. 
Directed by John Boulting, produced by Roy Boulting, from a script by Graham Greene and Terence Rattigan.
The most famous of all Brighton-based films. Many local scenes, especially behind the titles and in the opening sequence in which journalist Fred Hale (Alan Wheatley) arrives at Brighton station: Palace Pier and the beach, railway station, the Lanes and the North Laine, Russell Square and the alley through to Regency Square, etc.
        Brighton Borough Council refused permission for use of the race course because of the damage association with gang crime would do to the town's image (see the on-screen disclaimer at the start of the film). 
        The film had its world premiere at the Savoy cinema at midnight on 8 January 1948. 
        The Boulting Brothers spent part of their childhood in Brighton (Hove, actually); Rattigan later lived in Marine Parade.
• Available on a Studio Canal DVD.

The First Gentleman (US title: Affairs of a Rogue) (1948)
Cast: Jean-Pierre Aumont, Joan Hopkins, Cecil Parker
Directed by Alberto Cavalcanti for Columbia Pictures
The story of a romance between the daughter of the Prince Regent and Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, filmed partly in the Royal Pavilion. The film was premiered in Brighton at midnight on 28 April 1948.

The Adventures of Jane (1949)
Cast: Christabel Leighton-Porter
Written and directed by Alfred Goulding and Edward Whiting for Brighton Studios
B-feature film of the Daily Mirror cartoon strip made at various Brighton locations.

Penny Points to Paradise (1951)
Cast: Harry Secombe, Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan, Alfred Marks
Directed by Tony Young for Brighton Studios
Zany comedy made around the time the first episodes of Crazy People were broadcast on BBC radio, a year before it became known as The Goon Show. Various Brighton locations are used by a local production company.

Lady Godiva Rides Again (1951)
Cast: Dennis Price, John McCallum, Stanley Holloway, George Cole, Diana Dors, Dora Bryan, Kay Kendall, Sid James, Renee Houston, Syd Dean & His Band, Joan Collins (uncredited debut) many others
Directed and co-written by Frank Launder
A girl accidentally wins a rigged beauty contest and enters a film career. Scenes shot in Albion Hill. [Thanks to Pat Benham for this information.] May also have scenes shot at Saltdean Lido. The co-screenwriter, Val Valentine (1898-1971), who also write Old Mother Riley and St Trinian's films, lived and died in Brighton.

London to Brighton in Four Minutes (1952)
Produced by the BBC Film Unit
Beloved of all who watched television in the 1950s—and especially of young boys who enjoyed it more than most of the regular programmes (honest!)—this is the high speed journey from Victoria Station in London to Brighton. Shot at 2fps from the front of a Brighton Belle train, it was shown many times, unannounced, as an 'interlude'. The lines and the trackside are remarkably unchanged.
• The film was remade by the BBC in 1983 (see below).

Street of Shadows (aka Shadow Man) (1953).
Cast: Victor Maddern
Shot in Brighton and London. No further details.

Genevieve (1953).
Cast: Dinah Sheridan, John Gregson, Kay Kendall and Kenneth Moore, with Joyce Grenfell
Produced and directed by Henry Cornelius
Two couples take part in friendly rivalry in the London to Brighton veteran car rally. Most of this pioneer road movie was shot in the Berkshire lanes near Pinewood Studios, although the climax of the rally is shot on Madeira Drive. Other scenes were shot in Brunswick Square. The notable theme tune is played by Larry Adler.
• Available on a Carlton DVD.
• A remake, starring Roger Moore and Susan Hampshire was planned for 2006 but has enver materialised.

The Girl on the Pier (1953)
Directed by Lance Comfort for Brighton Studios.
Various locations, notably the Palace Pier (see title).

Mad About Men (1953)
Cast: Glynis Johns, Dora Bryan, Margaret Rutherford
Directed by Ralph Thomas
A pier concert hall and the sea beneath stand in for Cornwall.

One Good Turn (1954)
Cast: Norman Wisdom, Joan Rice, Thora Hird
Directed by John Paddy Carstairs
Children from an orphanage threatened with closure spend a day in Brighton. Locations include the Palace Pier and Old Steine [right].

The Secret (1955)
Cast: Sam Wanamaker, Mandy Miller
Directed by Cy Raker Enfield for Brighton Film Studios
Various locations.

Quatermass II (1957).
Partly filmed on the South Downs outside Brighton.

The Night We Got the Bird (1960) (US title: Who's Cuckoo, 1964)
Cast: Dora Bryan, Brian Rix, Ronald Shiner
Directed by Darcy Conyers for British Lion Films.
Brian Rix plays a Brighton antique dealer with a talking parrot whom he believes is the reincarnation of his dead partner Ronald Shiner. Based on Basil Thomas' play The Love Birds. Various town centre locations, including the sea front, Regency Square and pier, plus some suburban streets. The picture here looks a little like St James's Street.

Linda (1960)
Cast: Carol White, Alan Rothwell
Directed by Don Sharp.
B feature (61 minutes). Various locations, notably the Palace Pier.

The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961)
Cast: Edward Judd, Janet Munro, Leo McKern
Directed by Val Guest
The montage of scenes of global warming includes an aerial shot of the Palace Pier.
• Available on VHS and DVD

Jigsaw (1962).  
Cast: Jack Warner—at the time most famous as television's Dixon of Dock Green.
Written, produced and directed by Val Guest, based on the play Sleep Long My Love by Hillary Waugh.
Apparently inspired by the famous Brighton trunk murders, this entertaining film follows police investigating a murder in an isolated house at '1 Bungalow Road, Saltdean'. Largely shot on location in Brighton and Lewes, scenes include the then Brighton police headquarters in Little East Street, an estate agents in Queen's Road, the seafront, Gardner Street and police cars driving around the streets.

The Running Man (1963)
Cast: Laurence Harvey, Lee Remick, Alan Bates
Directed by Carol Reed for Columbia Pictures
Reportedly includes scenes in Brighton. (Not seen)
• Not to be confused with the Arnold Schwartzenegger film of the same name.

Smokescreen (1964)
Cast: Peter Vaughan, John Carson, Gerald Flood
Directed by Jim O'Connolly for Butchers
Made at Brighton Studios and on location. The opening sequence shows a burning car pushed over Beachy Head. Other locations include Brighton Station, the Palace Pier and Dyke Road (Avenue).

KIL 1 (1964) (US title: Skin Game)
Cast: Ronald Howard, Jess Conrad
Directed and co-produced by Arnold L Miller
B feature (61 minutes) about car thieves whose car is spotted while they are trying to hide out in Brighton.

Be My Guest (1965)
Cast: David Hemmings, Steve Marriott, Avril Angers, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Nashville Teens, with The Zephyrs (as Slash Wildly and the Cut-throats), Kenny & The Wranglers, The Niteshades and The Plebs.
Produced and directed by Lance Comfort.
A succession of pop acts appear to attract custom to a Brighton hotel that the main characters inherit.
• Available in the UK and US on VHS.

Strip Poker (US title: The Big Switch) (1968)
Cast: Sebastian Breaks, Virginia Wetherell
Directed, written and produced by Pete Walker
Cheap crime B feature that ends with a shoot-out on the ghost train on the West Pier.
• Previously available in the US on VHS from Monterey Home Video.

Promenade (1968).
Directed, produced and written by Lance Comfort.
B feature (40 minutes, released as support for Planet of the Apes). Set during the 1967 Arts Festival, locations include the West Pier, the Dome and the Lanes.

Oh! What a Lovely War (1969).
Cast: Dirk Bogarde, Phyllis Calvert, John Clements, Paul Daneman, Meriel Forbes, John Gielgud, Jack Hawkins, Joe Melia, John Mills, Kenneth More, Laurence Olivier, Michael Redgrave, Vanessa Redgrave, Ralph Richardson, Maggie Smith, Susannah York. 
Adapted by Len Deighton from the stage play by Joan Littlewood and Charles Chilton.
Directed by Richard Attenborough.
The First World War staged as an end-of-the-pier attraction, shot (in Panavision and Technicolor) mainly on the West Pier before the landward end disappeared. Scenes of battle and the finale of mass war graves were filmed at the Municipal Amenity Site (ie, dump) in Sheepcote Valley off Wilson Avenue [right]. Clements and Olivier were Brighton residents.
• Amazingly, not available on video.

On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (US, 1969).
Cast: Barbra Streisand, Yves Montand
Directed by Vincente Minnelli for Paramount Pictures.
Location scenes for this omantic musical, written by Alan Jay Lerner, were shot in April 1969 at several Brighton locations, including the Royal Pavilion and the gardens at Lewes Crescent, Kemp Town.

Loot (1970)
Cast: Richard Attenborough, Lee Remick, Hywel Bennett, Milo O'Shea
Directed by Silvio Narizzano
The film opens on the West Pier and various Brighton locations appear, including Woodvale Cemetery in Lewes Road, Bear Road, Hartington Road, opposite Brighton Racecourse on Warren Road.

Villain (1971)
Cast: Richard Burton, Ian McShane, Nigel Davenport, Joss Ackland
Directed by Michael Tuchner
The film includes a sequence on the West Pier.
• Previously available on a Warner Home Video VHS.

Carry On at your Convenience (1971).
Cast: Barbara Windsor, Kenneth Williams
Directed by Gerald Thomas
The management and workers from W C Boggs & Co, makers of sanitary ware, have a day out in Brighton. They visit the West Pier and then retire to a nearby hotel (exteriors of the Clarges Hotel on Marine Parade, then owned by Dora Bryan, now closed, below left), but the interiors were shot in the studio.

Carry On Girls (1973).
Cast: Barbara Windsor, Sidney James, Kenneth Connor, Joan Sims, Bernard Bresslaw, June Whitfield, etc
Directed by Gerald Thomas
A beauty contest is organised to revive the fortunes of the seaside resort of Fircombe-on-Sea [snigger]. Shot at much the same places as Carry On at your Convenience: outside Clarges Hotel [above centre] and on the two piers. A pair of knickers flutters on the flagpole above the Madeira Lift. The film ends with a go-kart chase sequence on the West Pier [above right], the last time it appeared on film before its closure as unsafe in September 1975.

Made (1972)
Cast: Carol White, Roy Harper, John Castle
Directed by John MacKenzie
Brighton sequence shot on Marine Parade and the beach. Represented UK at the Venice Film Festival
• Previously available on a Warner Home Video VHS.

The Flesh and Blood Show (1972) (aka Asylum of the Insane)
Cast: Ray Brookes, Jenny Hanley, Robin Askwith, Patrick Barr, Judy Matheson, Jess Conrad
Directed by Pete Walker from a script by Alfred Shaughnessy for Entertainment Ventures.
Horror film shot in the Palace Pier theatre about a troupe of actors who are killed off.
• Available in the USA on VHS.

The Black Windmill (1974).
Cast: Michael Caine, Janet Suzman, Donald Pleasance, Delphine Seyrig
Directed by Don Siegel
A thriller in which a hunt for the kidnapped son of a British secret agent ends at the Jack and Jill windmills at Clayton on the Downs above Brighton.

The Persuaders: Sporting Chance (1976)
Cast: Roger Moore, Tony Curtis,
Directed by Peter Medak and Leslie Norman
Two episodes of the British television series merged for theatrical feature-length release. Our two heroes become involved in a communist plot while relaxing in Brighton. Includes scenes on the beach.
• Available on Universal Home Video VHS

Quadrophenia (1979). 
Cast: Phil Daniels, Mark Wingett, Sting, Leslie Ash
Directed by Franc Roddam




Mods and rockers fighting on the seafront, in East Street (outside the ABC Cinema) and the adjoining twittens (alleyways), to a soundtrack by The Who (and others). The memorable ending was shot at Beachy Head. Conducted tours are arranged around the locations of the 1964 riots.
• Available on a Universal DVD

London to Brighton in 3½ Minutes (1983)
Produced by BBC Television
A colour remake of the classic 1952 'interlude', shot on 15 July 1983 and timed to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the electrification of the London to Brighton line. Contrary to the created impression, it is only the speed of the time-lapse cinematography that has increased, not the speed of the trains!

The Ploughman's Lunch (1983)
Cast: Jonathan Prycem Tim Curry, Frank Finlay
Directed by Richard Eyre from a script by Ian McEwan
Partly shot during the 1982 Conservative Party Conference at the Brighton Centre, the Grand Hotel and King's Road. [On the next occasion the Conservative conference was held in Brighton, in 1985, the IRA bombed the Grand Hotel.]

Mona Lisa (1986).
Cast: Bob Hoskins and Cathy Tyson
A crime thriller that includes scenes on the Palace Pier, at the Royal Albion Hotel and on the seafront in Hove.
• Available on DVD

The Living Daylights (1987)
Cast: Timothy Dalton
Directed by John Glen
The James Bond has a stunt scene filmed at Beachy Head between Brighton and Eastbourne (representing Gibraltar). A description can be found here.

A Handful of Dust (1988)
Cast: Anjelica Huston, Judi Dench, James Wilby, Kristin Scott Thomas, Alec Guinness
Directed by Charles Sturridge

The Fruit Machine (US title: Wonderland) (1988)
Cast: Emile Charles, Tony Forsyth, Robbie Coltrane, Robert Stephens
Directed by Philip Saville
Two gay teenagers come to Brighton to hide after witnessing a murder in Liverpool. Locations include a flat in the Brunswick area, the West Pier and 'an aquarium'.
• Available on VHS from First Independent Video

Under Suspicion (1991)
Cast: Liam Neeson, Kenneth Cranham
Directed by Simon Moore
Set in Brighton in 1959, with a story line of a private detective involved in one of the town's principal trades: providing proof of adultery for divorce proceedings.
• Available on a Columbia-TriStar DVD.

Brighton Belles (1993)
Cast: Sheila Hancock, Wendy Craig
Directed by James Cellan Jones
Ten half-hour episodes of a British version of the US sitcom The Golden Girls.

Dirty Weekend (1993).
Cast: Lia Williams, Rufus Sewell, David McCallum
Directed by Michael Winner
'Bella has decided to take out a few men.' Young woman becomes a killer to wreak revenge on men. Various locations, including Brunswick Square [right].
• Not to be confused with the 1972 film of the same name starring Marcello Mastroianni and Oliver Reed.
• Available on a Polygram VHS (but may have been deleted).

Richard III (1995).
Cast: Ian McKellan, Annette Bening
Directed by Richard Loncraine

Shakespeare's play in a 1930s fascist setting, includes scenes at a summer retreat. The reverse angle scene of entering the royal palace were shot in the gardens of the Royal Pavilion (the remainder of the sequence in Bexhill). A number of scenes were shot at night inside the Pavilion, including the king's private dining room [above left], the ground-floor long gallery and the music room as the king's bedroom. Aerodrome scenes were shot at Shoreham Airport [above right] and railway scenes on the Bluebell Railway.
• The annotated screenplay, with notes about locations, is available online.
• Available on a Pathé DVD.

Project: Assassin (1996)
Cast: Michael Hanson, Kit Corcoran, Robert Hill, Chris Orr, Sasha McGann, Nicholas Quirke
Directed by Andy Hurst, Robin Hill
Producers: Andy Hurst, Robin Hill, Michael Hanson for Red Cloud Productions
Ultra-low budget science fiction feature (shot for £4,000 on VHS) set in a Brighton squat from which visitors mysteriously disappear. Theatrically released in Germany after a £250,000 tape-to-film transfer.

The End of the Affair (1999).
Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Julianne Moore
Directed by Neil Jordan


The film version of the Graham Greene novel features a 'dirty weekend' in Brighton for Maurice Bendix (Ralph Fiennes) and Sarah Miles (Julianne Moore) in the months after the end of the Second World War. It includes scenes near the Palace Pier, at Eastern Terrace and in the Royal Pavilion. Other scenes were shot near the aquarium and under the arches on Madeira Drive. A scene between Bendix and private detective Mr Parkis (Ian Hart) on Marine Parade has the Marina visible in the background; construction of the Marina began 25 years after the film's period setting.
• Available on a Warner Home Video DVD.

Circus (2000).
Cast: John Hannah, Famke Janssen, with Amanda Donohoe, Eddie Izzard
Directed by Rob Walker
Thriller that takes exaggerated liberties with Brighton topography, mixing scenes on the beach west of the Palace Pier, in the Lanes, at the Grand Hotel, Madeira Drive, the marina and elsewhere. The 'nudist beach' is moved to a new location with much greater exposure just below the West Pier [right]. The station is not Brighton but West Worthing in disguise.
• Available on DVD

Me Without You (2001)
Cast: Anna Friel, Michelle Williams, Kyle McLachlan
Directed by Sandra Goldbacher

Two London teenage girls grow up together and go to the University of Sussex, which is used as a location. Other Brighton settings include the inevitable seafront and Adelaide Crescent, although for budgetary reasons much of the film was shot in the Isle of Man. The 'pier' looks like a landing stage compared with the Brighton equivalents.
• Available on DVD

The Only Hotel (2002)
Directed by Stuart Collinge
Cast: Danielle Budlong, Haidee Augusta, Eric Redman, Chris Vincent, Danielle White, Neil Burgess
Produced by Ivan Francis Clements for Globalcine International Pictures
Shot in London, Bexhill and Brighton.

Live on Brighton Beach—Big Beach Boutique II (2002)
Feature-length video recording of a mammoth free concert ('Normstock') between the piers on Brighton beach by Fat Boy Slim (Norman Cook), attended by around 250,000 people [below left].
• Available on DVD

Redemption Road (2002)
Cast: Pauline Quirke, Ken Sharrock, Stephen Marcus
Directed by Lloyd Stanton
A road movie with scenes in Brighton, Crawley, Eastbourne and on the South Downs. Produced jointly by Enterprise Films and Spice Factory, the prolific production company based in Peacehaven.

Summer Rain (2002)
Cast: Clea Smith, Catherine Sampson, Lara Clancy, Charlie Watts, Paul Vaughan Evans
Directed by Jonathan Glendening


'Summer Rain is a colourful, contemporary romantic coming of age drama set against the backdrop of Brighton’s vibrant youth culture. Following three girls in their early 20s sharing a flat, the film observes their interweaving love lives, confused emotions and distant dreams and ambitions, set against a long hot summer, spectacular sunsets and a great soundtrack.' [Website synopsis] Shot on location in Brighton at sites including the Zap Club and the inevitable beach (in Hove as well as Brighton). Winner of a number of awards at international film festivals, shown as part of the fringe at the Brighton Festival 2004.

Ashes and Sand (2003)
Cast: Nick Moran, Lara Belmont, Victoria Scarborough
Directed by Bob Blagden for Open Road Films



A gang of teenage girls mug young men on the seafront in order to have enough money to get away from Brighton. The gang leader falls in love with a disturbed young detective transferred to Brighton from London. Seafront locations in Brighton but the pier scenes were shot in Worthing.
• The film was given its premiere at the Odeon Kingswest during the Brighton Film Festival on 25 November 2003 and has its own website.

The Blind Spot (2003)
Cast: Ray Bullock Jr, Sarah Louise Young
Directed, written and produced by Tim Kirkby
A low budget feature (£15,000, shot on digital video) set on the coast in and near Brighton [right]. As well as on the beach, at the West Pier and the Marina, the film was shot at the Ocean Rooms club in Morley Street, the Candy Bar cafe in St James's Street and several houses in Kemp Town.
• The film won Kirkby the award for best screenplay at the Milan Film Festival.

The Johanna Man (2003)
Cast: Adrian Foiadelli, Adam Pumphrey, Sara Abraham, Jim Briffett, Kevin Akehurst
Directed by Kevin Akehurst
Written and produced by Adrian Foiadelli for Modern Life?/Big Cat Productions/Jimbo Entertainment
'A story of grief, friendship, love and unnecessary cruelty to goldfish.' When television comedy writer Chris Riseborough returns to his hometown of Brighton to pay his last respects he is brought face to face with the friends that he left behind.
• The film has its own website.

Left for Dead (2003)
Cast: Glenn Salvage, Andy Prior, Gordon Alexander Milne, Adrian Foiadelli, Kevin Akehurst, Adam Pumphrey
Directed by Ross Boyask
Written by Adrian Foiadelli
Produced by Phil Hobden for Modern Life?/Big Cat Productions/Jimbo Entertainment
A feature-length martial arts film shot on digital video entirely on location in Brighton, representing 'a cold and unrelenting city called Hope'.
• Not yet released. The film has its own website.

Wimbledon (2004)
Cast: Kirsten Dunst, Paul Bettany, Sam Neill, Bernard Hill, James McAvoy, Eleanor Bron
Directed by Richard Loncraine
The main character, an aspiring tennis player (Paul Bettany), hails from Brighton. Scenes shot on Marine Parade and Madeira Drive in the first week of September 2003.
     

Andrew and Jeremy Get Married (2004)
Directed by Don Boyd.
Feature-length documentary about two middle-aged gay men from different social backgrounds who get married.
 

MirrorMask (2005)
Cast: Stephanie Leonidas, Gina McKee, Rob Brydon, Jason Barry, Dora Bryan, Andy Hamilton, Stephen Fry
Directed by Dave McKean from a script by Neil Gaiman and McKean.
A 15-year-old girl from a circus family living in Brighton travels through a world in her imagination.
The film has its own website.

London to Brighton (2006) [right]
Cast: Lorraine Stanley, Johnny Harris, Georgia Groome, Sam Spruell
Written and directed by Paul Andrew Williams.
A prostitute and a young runaway girl escape from London to hide in Brighton. 'Innocence has nowhere to hide.' As The Guardian reviewer Peter Bradshaw put it: 'The journey from London to Brighton has become something else: a journey into the final circle of the inferno. ... It's the best British film of the year.'
The film has its own website.

Angus, Thongs and Full-frontal Snogging (2008) [right]
Cast: Georgia Groome
Written by Gurinda Chadha and Paul Mayeda Berges from a novel by Louise Rennison
Directed by Gurinda Chadha.
Lynda Obst Productions for Paramount/Nickelodeon Movies
Shooting during late September 2007, locations including The Lanes.
The film has its own website.

Brighton & Hove Film & Cinema home page
Films made in Brighton introduction