Brighton Rock [1947] John Boulting

It's the summer of 1935 in the somewhat seedy British seaside town of Brighton. Journalist Fred Hale, in town for one day in the assumed identity of "Kolley Kibber" as a publicity stunt for his current newspaper, is found dead, seemingly by natural causes. In reality, he was killed by small time gang head Pinkie Brown. The reason for the killing is that Pinkie blamed Hale, a former investigative reporter for the local newspaper, for the murder of the former head of his gang, William Kite, by a rival gang in Hale having covered Brighton gangster activities. Sociopathic and cold-blooded Pinkie is already having problems in those gangster wars with his chief rival, Colleoni. But the new added problem is that brassy Ida Arnold, a vaudeville performer, believes that Hale's death was murder as she was with him just prior to when he would have died, his outward demeanor one of fear of someone or something. She goes on a campaign to convince the local authorities of such, which includes finding evidence on her own if need be. These items in combination lead to Pinkie having a more difficult time holding his gang together. One for self-preservation at any and all cost, Pinkie begins to court a young and totally naive waitress named Rose who can implicate his gang in the murder, that courtship despite his total disdain for her as being just one more complication in his life as she falls in love with him.