Graham Greene’s brilliant 1938 study of a murderous boy gangster receives ineffectual screen treatment in this 1964-set version of “Brighton Rock ... protective boss, Ida (a redheaded ...

His antithesis, Rose, is beautifully drawn; so is his unlikely nemesis, the barmaid Ida. As thrilling to read now as it must have been in 1938, Brighton Rock may well be the novel of the year.