Films made in the Brighton & Hove area
The sound era: to 1999
Chronological order

Go to THE SILENT ERA

 

North Road

Brighton Rock (US title: Young Scarface)
UK | b&w | 92 mins | 1947 (released 8 January 1948)
Cast: Richard Attenborough, Alan Weatley.
Written by Graham Greene and Terence Rattigan from a novel by Greene
Directed by John Boulting, produced by Roy Boulting
• 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 film was released in the US on 7 December 1951 without a Seal of Approval from the Production Code Administration.
• The Boulting Brothers spent part of their childhood in Brighton (Hove, actually); Rattigan later lived in Marine Parade.
• The film was re-released in the UK in March 1994 in a double bill with The Third Man.
• Available on DVD.



The First Gentleman (US title: Affairs of a Rogue)
UK | b&w | 111 mins | 1948 (released March 1948)
Cast: Jean-Pierre Aumont, Joan Hopkins, Cecil Parker, Athene Seyler, Hugh Griffith
Written by Reginald Long from Norman Ginsbury's play
Directed by Alberto Cavalcanti for Two Cities Films
• 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 first film to be shot there.
• The film was premiered in Brighton at midnight on 28 April 1948.
• The film's portrayal of the Prince Regent's immorality and excesses caused censorship problems in the US. It was cut to 91 minutes and the prints were adjusted to darken the over-exposure of women's breasts in Regency costume. It was released in the US with a new title in February 1949 by Columbia Pictures.

Brighton station
Gaiety cinema
Tudor Court hotel

Brighton station
Gaiety cinema

The Adventures of Jane
UK | b&w | 111 mins | 1949
Cast: Christabel Leighton-Porter, Dennis Price
Written by Alfred Goulding, Con West and Edward G Whiting
Directed by Edward G Whiting for Brighton Studios
B-feature
• Film of the Daily Mirror cartoon strip made at various Brighton locations.
• Locations include Brighton station, the Gaiety cinema (as a theatre) and the Tudor Court Hotel in Rottingdean. A poster in the background of the scenes at the station advertises the auction rooms in St Nicholas Road, home of Brighton Film Studios.
• Available on DVD with Murder at 3am (April 2008 release).

Chichester Terrace
North Street

Langford's Hotel, Third Avenue

Penny Points to Paradise
UK | b&w | 77 mins | 1951
Cast: Harry Secombe, Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan, Alfred Marks, Paddy O'Neil, Bill Kerr, Freddie Frinton
Directed by Anthony Young for Advance Productions (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 for the film, which was shot in two weeks.
• In the scene travelling up North Street, the Jacey news cinema can be seen on the left.

Albion Hill/Quebec Street
Regent ballroom

Ewart Street/Islingword Road

Lady Godiva Rides Again
UK | b&w | 90 mins | 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 for London Film Productions
• A girl accidentally wins a rigged beauty contest and enters a film career. Scenes shot around Albion Hill and Islingword Road area. [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.
• Available on DVD (January 2008 release).



My Death is a Mockery
UK | b&w | 75 mins | 1952 (released 1 August 1952)
Cast: Donald Huston, Kathleen Byron, Bill Kerr
Directed by Tony Young for Park Lane Films
• Made at Brighton Film Studios.

Street of Shadows (aka Shadow Man)
UK | bamp;w | 76 mins | 1953 (released April 1953)
Cast: Cesar Romero, Kay Kendall, Edward Underdown, Victor Maddern
Written and directed by Richard Vernon for William Nassour Productions from a novel by Laurence Meynell
• Murder mystery. Shot in Brighton and London, made at Merton Park Studios. No further details.
• Called Der Vampyr von Soho in GErman.
• Released in the UK on VHS by Warner Home Video in 1995; in the USA on video by Forgotten Hollywood in 2002 and on DVD in 2006 by VCI Entertainment.

Pavilion Parade



The Straw Man
UK | b&w | 74 mins | 1953 (released October 1953)
Cast: Dermot Walsh, Clifford Evans, Lana Morris, Amy Dalby
Directed by Donald Taylor for Hedgerley, distributed by United Artists
• Murder mystery that includes establishing shots of Brighton in the opening section, including this scene and Marine Parade.

Brunswick Square
Metropole Hotel
Madeira Drive
Old Steine
King's Road, opposite Metropole Hotel Madeira Drive

Genevieve
UK | Technicolor | 86 mins | 1953 (released 15 February 1954)
Cast: Dinah Sheridan, John Gregson, Kay Kendall and Kenneth Moore, with Joyce Grenfell
Written by William Rose
Produced and directed by Henry Cornelius for J Arthur Rank Organisation

• 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.
• Won Best British Film at BAFTA Film Awards 1954; Kenneth More nominated as best actor. Nominated at the Academy Awards 1955 for Best Music (Larry Adler) and best script.
• The film ran into censorship problems in the US, partly because of the implication of weekends of illicit sex and because of the moment when Wendy asks for a coin so she can 'spend a penny'. References to toilets were specially taboo in the US at that time.
• Available on a Carlton DVD.
• A remake, starring Roger Moore and Susan Hampshire was planned for 2006 but never materialised.

No image available

The Girl on the Pier
UK | b&w | 65 mins | 1953
Cast: Veronica Hurst, Ron Randell, Marjorie Rhodes, Campbell Singer, Anthony Valentine
Written by Guy Morgan
Directed by Lance Comfort for Brighton Studios/Major Pictures.
• Various locations, notably the Palace Pier (see title).

Madeira Drive Madeira Drive

Mad About Men
UK | Technicolor | 90 mins | 1954 (released 16 November 1954)
Cast: Glynis Johns, Dora Bryan, Margaret Rutherford, Donald Sinden
Directed by Ralph Thomas for Group Film Productions
• The Palace Pier concert hall and the sea beneath stand in for Cornwall.
• Also released in Denmark, Finland, France and Spain
• Available on a Greek DVD

Jill windmill

Adventure in the Hopfields (alt title: Hop Dog)
UK | b&w | 60 mins | 1954
Cast: Mandy Miller, Melvyn Hayes; uncredited: Jane Asher, Edward Judd, Anthony Valentine,
Written by John Cresswell from a novel by Nora Lavin and Molly Thorp
Directed by John Guillermin
Produced by Roger Proudlock for Vandyke Picture Corporation and Children's Film Foundation; distributed by British Lion
• Made at Brighton Film Studios. Location filming mainly at Goudhurst in Kent, but the burning oasthouse scene was filmed at the then derelict Jack and Jill windmills on the downs at Clayton, north of Brighton, according to a correspondent on the My Brighton and Hove website. The film was believed lost until a copy was found being thrown out at a Chicago television studio.

Brighton Station
Old Steine

Brighton Station
Approaching the Palace Pier

One Good Turn
UK | b&w | 90 mins | 1954 (released 4 January 1955)
Cast: Norman Wisdom, Joan Rice, Thora Hird, Shirley Abicair
Written by John Paddy Carstairs and Sid Colin
Directed by John Paddy Carstairs for Maurice Cowan Productions
• Children from an orphanage threatened with closure spend a day in Brighton. Locations include the Palace Pier and Old Steine [right].
• Also released in Finland, Italy, Sweden, East and West Germany
• Available as a Region 2 DVD with The Buldog Breed

Telscombe Cliffs
West Pier
Police station
Telscombe
King's Road
Police station: but which one?
Children's home, Lansdowne Place

The Secret
UK | Eastmancolor | 80 mins | 1955
Cast: Sam Wanamaker, Mandy Miller, Andrι Morell
Directed by Cy Raker Endfield for Golden Era Film Distributors/Laureate
• Various locations in Brighton and Telscombe, interiors at Brighton Film Studios.
• The film was released in the US without a Seal of Approval from the Production Code Administration.

Band stand
Holiday time
West Pier
Bandstand
Paddling pool, Hove
Studio set

Cast a Dark Shadow
UK | b&w | 82 mins | 1955 (released 20 September 1955)
Cast: Dirk Bogarde, Margaret Lockwood, Kay Walsh, Kathleen Harrison, Robert Flemyng, Mona Washbourne
Directed by Lewis Gilbert for Angel Productions
• Film noir about a fortune-hunter who murders his wife. Brighton locations mainly on the seafront, although the balcony scene is distinctly the studio version of Brighton meets the Riviera.

Eaton Road
Denmark Villas
St Mary's, Eastern Road
Eastern Road

Eaton Court
St Mark's Street
Eastern Road

The Gelignite Gang (US title: The Dynamiters)
UK | b&w | 74 mins | 1954 (released 12 March 1956)
Cast: Eric Pohlmann, Wayne Morris, Patrick Holt, Sandra Dorne
Written by Brandon Fleming
Directed by Terence Fisher and Francis Searle for Cybex Film Productions
• Distributed by Renown Pictures Corporation (UK), Astor Pictures Corporation (USA)
• Underworld crime story about the search for a gang of jewel thieves. Shot at Brighton Film Studios with exteriors in St Mark's Street, Eastern Road, Kemp Town, Eaton Court, Eaton Road and Denmark Villas.



The Flaw
UK | b&w | 61 mins | 1955 (released October 1955)
Cast: John Bentley, Donald Houston, Rona Anderson
Written by Brandon Fleming
Directed by Terence Fisher for Gibraltar Films
• Distributed by Renown Pictures Corporation
• Crime drama. Shot at Brighton Film Studios and Shoreham.
• Available on a Renown Pictures DVD.

Shoreham Airport

NATO Headquarters, Stanmer House

The Master Plan
UK | b&w | 68 or 78 mins | 1955 (US release 1956)
Cast: John Bentley, Donald Houston, Rona Anderson
Written by Cy Endfield (as Hugh Raker) from the television play Operation North Star by Harald Bratt
Directed by Cy Endfield for Cybex Film Productions
• Distributed by Grand National Pictures (UK), Astor Pictures Corporation (USA)
• Espionage story set in NATO headquarters in Germany (represented by Stanmer House). BFI Film & TV Database says this was made at Brighton Film Studios, IMDb says Southall Studios, Middlesex (but IMDb mis-attributes several other films to Southall.).

Quatermass II (US title: Enemy from Space)
UK | b&w | 85 mins | 1957 (released 17 June 1957)
Cast: Brian Donlevy, William Franklin, Sid James, Bryan Forbes
Written by Nigel Kneale and Val Guest from Nigel Kneale's story
Directed by Val Guest
• Sci-fi thriller adaptation of the classic television series. Partly filmed on the South Downs outside Brighton.
• Available on DVD as The Quatermass Collection.

Battle of the V1 Slave labour prison camp, Shoreham
Battle of the V1Pennemunde rocket launch site

Battle of the V1 street scene Sussex Terrace, Brighton
Battle of the V1 cinema Norfolk cinema, Portslade

Battle of the V1 (US title: Missiles from Hell)
UK | b&w | 102 mins | released 25 August 1958
Cast: Michael Rennie, Patricia Medina, Milly Vitale, David Knight, Esmond Knight, Christopher Lee
Written by Jack Hanley and Eryk Wlodek from the book They Saved London by Bernard Newman
Directed by Vernon Sewell
Produced by George Maynard for Eros Films in association with John Bash Films Corporation
• Made at Brighton Studios and National Studios, Elstree. The concentration camp and V1 lunch site at Penemunde were shot at Shoreham Beach, probably the first filming there since fire destroyed parts of the studio site in 1922. The cinema was the Norfolk in North Street, Portslade. Other scenes were shot at Shoreham Airport. The street scene was in Sussex Terrace, Brighton.
• The film is available on DVD and can be viewed online



Linda
UK | b&w | 61 mins | released November 1960
Cast: Carol White, Alan Rothwell
Written by Bill MacIlwraith
Directed by Don Sharp for Independent Artists
• B feature romance of a teenage girl and a gang member. Various locations, notably the Palace Pier.
• Currently in the BFI's list of 10 most wanted films.
• Alan Rothwell became famous within weeks of the film's release as a member of the original cast of Coronation Street.

The Night We Got the Bird The Night We Got the Bird King's Road

The Night We Got the Bird (US title: Who's Cuckoo, 1964)
UK | b&w | 82 mins | 1961
Cast: Dora Bryan, Brian Rix, Ronald Shiner
Written by Darcy Conyers, Ray Cooney and Tony Hilton, based on Basil Thomas' play The Love Birds
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. Various town centre locations, including the sea front, Regency Square and pier, Ship Street, plus some suburban streets. The picture here looks a little like St James's Street.

No image available KIL 1 (aka The Con Man, US title Skin Game)
UK | b&w | 71 mins | 1961 (released February 1962)
Cast: Ronald Howard, Jess Conrad
Directed and co-produced by Arnold L Miller for Searchlight Films
• B-feature crime story about car thieves whose car is spotted while they are trying to hide out in Brighton.

Jigsaw King's Road
Jigsaw Police headquarters, Little East Street
Jigsaw The bungalow crime scene
Jigsaw Gardner Street (really Dockerill's earlier shop)
Jigsaw Bartholomews
Jigsaw Market Street aas it should have remained

Jigsaw
UK | b&w | CinemaScope | 107 mins | 1962
Cast: Jack Warner, Yolande Donlan, Ronald Lewis, Michael Goodliffe, Moira Redmond, John Le Mesurier, Ray Barrett
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 the basement of the Town Hall in Little East Street (now a museum), an estate agents in Queen's Road, the seafront, Gardner Street [at the corner with Church Street, right] and police cars driving around the streets.
• Jack Warner was most famous at the time as BBC Television's avuncular Dixon of Dock Green.

Brighton station

West Pier

Smokescreen
UK | b&w | 70 mins | 1963 (released in USA October 1963)
Cast: Peter Vaughan, John Carson, Gerald Flood
Directed by Jim O'Connolly for Butcher's Film Service
• Made at Brighton Film 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).

Lansdowne Road/Brunswick Place
Wick Hall, Lansdowne Road

Lansdowne Road

Shadow of Fear
UK | b&w | 60 mins | 1963
Cast: Paul Maxwell, Clare Owen, Anita West, John Arnatt, Eric Pohlmann, Reginald Marsh
Directed by Ernest Morris for Butcher's Film Service
• B-feature crime story about a couple on the run who hide out in Seaford. Made at Brighton Film Studios and on location. Apart from Seaford, scenes include Shoreham harbour and power station and Montpelier Road, Brighton.

Preston Park Preston Park

The Chalk Garden
UK | Technicolor | 105 minutes | released April 1964
Writtem by John Michael Hayes from Enid Bagnold's stage play
Directed by Ronald Neame
Starring Deborah Kerr, Edith Evans, John Mills, Hayley Mills
• Closely inspired by but not specifically set in Bagnold's own home, North End House, in Rottingdean. Scenes at the tennis courts in Preston Park and on a bus in various parts of London Road/Preston Road.
Available on DVD.

Madeira Drive at the start of the title sequence

Be My Guest
UK | b&w | 82 mins | 1964-65 (released in USA March 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 guest house in Powis Grove that the main characters inherit. The titles appear over a long tracking shot from Madeira Drive along the seafront. Other scenes in Pavilion Buildings, around the Clock Tower, the Pavilion gardens, The Dome (stage door and interiors) and, most notably, the Hippodrome, where the stage show rehearsals were shot, culminating in the performance by the Nashville Teens filmed live during the theatre's penultimate show on Sunday 1 November 1964, before its closure three weeks later. This is the only known footage of the Hippodrome during its variety theatre days.
• Available on VHS and DVD (slogan: Brighton Rocks!)

No image available

Half a Sixpence
UK | 70mm Technicolor | 143 mins | 1967 (released in US 20 February 1968)
Cast: Tommy Steele, Julia Foster
Directed by George Sidney
• Believed to include scene(s) in Brighton. Not confirmed.
• Available on Region 1 (NTSC) DVD

La Ragazza con la Pistola [English title: Girl with a Pistol]
Italy/UK | Technicolor | 100 mins | 1968 (released in Germany 7 March 1969)
Cast: Monia Vitti, Stanley Baker, Anthony Booth, Corin Redgrave
Directed by Mario Monicelli
• Includes a long tracking shot of Monica Vitta driving a spots car along the Brighton and Hove seafront (A259).
• Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 1969 Academy Awards; Monica Vitti won three best actress awards

Oh! What a Lovely War
UK | Technicolor | 144 mins | 1968-69 (released 10 March 1969)
Cast: Dirk Bogarde, Phyllis Calvert, Jean-Pierre Cassell, 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 for Accord ProductionsParamount.
• 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.
• Available on Paramount Home Entertainment DVD, and as a Special edition with director's commentary and documentary.

On a Clear Day You Can See Forever
USA | Technicolor | 129 mins | 1969 (released in US 17 June 1970)
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.
• Available on DVD and VHS

Marine Drive
Marine Gate
Shoreham Airport
West Pier
Marine Gate
Marine Gate
Regency Square
West Pier

The Big Switch [alt title Strip Poker]
UK | colour | 89 ins | 1969
Cast: Sebastian Breaks, Virginia Wetherell, Jack Allen, Derek Aylward
Written and directed by Pete Walker
Cinematography: Richard Scott, Brian Tufano
Produced by Pete Walker (Heritage); distributed by Miracle Films
• Cheap crime B-feature that ends with a shoot-out on the West Pier in the snow.The villains hang out at the Marine Gate apartment block on Marine Drive; scene and Shoreham Airport and on the (pre-A27) road from Shoreham.
• in the scene of the arrival at the West Pier, the construction of the Regency Square underground car park can be seen in the background.
• Available on DVD with Pete Walker's Man of Violence.

The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer
UK | Eastmancolor | 100 mins | 1970 (premiere 12 November)
Cast: Peter Cook, Denhold Elliott, Valerie Leon, Ronald Fraser, Arthur Lowe, Roland Culver, Dudley Foster, Julian Glover, Richard Pearson, Harold Pinter, Dennis Price, Ronnie Corbett, Graham Chapman, John Cleese
Written by Peter Cook, John Cleese, Graham Chapman and Kevin Billington
Directed by Kevin Billington
Produced by David Frost, Harry Fine for Warner Bros/Seven Arts
• Brief scene on the West Pier.
Available on DVD

Boundary Road, Portslade
Bear Road
Hartington Road

Loot
UK | Eastmancolor | 101 mins | 1970 (released in US 26 May 1971)
Cast: Richard Attenborough, Lee Remick, Hywel Bennett, Milo O'Shea
Written by Alan Simpson and Ray Galton from Joe Orton's stage play
Directed by Silvio Narizzano for Performing Arts
• 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.
• Available on DVD and VHS

Villain
UK | Technicolor | 98 mins | 1971 (released in US 26 May 1971)
Cast: Richard Burton, Ian McShane, Nigel Davenport, Joss Ackland
Directed by Michael Tuchner
• The film includes a sequence on the West Pier.
• Available on DVD and VHS.

Die Screaming, Marianne
UK | colour | 99 mins* | 1971 (released 13 August 1971)
Cast: Susan George, Barry Evans, Christopher Sandford, Judy Huxtable, Leo Genn
Written by Murray Smith
Directed by Pete Walker
• Thriller-horror movie, made at Brighton Film Studios and on location, including London, the Algarve in Portugal and Queen's Road in Brighton.
• *Cut to 84 mins for release in the USA
• Available on a PAL Region 0 DVD and in the USA on a Region 1 DVD

Carry On at your Convenience
UK | colour | 90 mins | 1971 (released December 1971)
Cast: Barbara Windsor, Kenneth Williams, Sidney James, Bernard Breslaw, etc
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, right), but the interiors were shot in the studio.
• Available on DVD and VHS

Made
UK | Technicolor | 101 mins | 1972
Cast: Carol White, Roy Harper, John Castle
Written by (Brighton resident) Howard Barker from his own stage play
Directed by John MacKenzie for International C-Productions
• Brighton sequence shot on Marine Parade and the beach.
• Represented UK at the Venice Film Festival
• Previously available on a Warner Home Video VHS.

Images still to come

The Flesh and Blood Show (aka Asylum of the Insane)
UK | Eastmancolor | 93 mins | 1972 (released 17 May 1974 in US)
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 on DVD.

Carry On Girls
UK | colour | 88 mins | 1973 (released November 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 left] 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.
• Available on DVD

Black Windmill Black Windmill

The Black Windmill
UK | Technicolor | 106 mins | 1973-74 (released 17 May 1974 in US)
Cast: Michael Caine, Janet Suzman, Donald Pleasance, Delphine Seyrig
Directed by Don Siegel for Universal Pictures
• 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.
• Available on a Universal DVD


La course ΰ l'ιchalote
France/West Germany | colour | 95 mins | 1975 (released in France October)
Cast: Pierre Richard, Jane Birkin, Michel Aumont, Claude Dauphin
Written and directed by Claude Zizi for Les Films Chrisian Fechner, Renn Production (France) and Hermes Synchron (Germany)
• Madcap chase comedy about a bank clerk and a girl who track down deeds that give them ownership of a theatre (on the Palace Pier).



Quadrophenia
UK | colour | 107 mins | 1979 (released 2 November 1979)
Cast: Phil Daniels, Mark Wingett, Sting, Leslie Ash
Written by Dave Humphries, Martin Stellman and Franc Roddam
Directed by Franc Roddam
• Mods and rockers fighting on the seafront, in East Street (outside the ABC Cinema) and the adjoining twittens (alleyways)—especially that next to 11 East Street, which bear commemorative graffiti—to a soundtrack by The Who (and others). Other scenes include the Waterfront Cafe next to the Peter Pan playground, the Grand Hotel and the Aquarium. The memorable ending was shot at Beachy Head. Conducted tours are arranged around the locations of the 1964 riots.
• First shown at the Toronto Film Festival on 14 September 1979
• Available on DVD and as a special edition DVD set

All Time High All Time High

Octopussy (1983)
• It is not clear whether the Royal Pavilion stands in for an Indian palace in the film itself but in the video of Rita Coolidge singing the opening theme, All Time High, written by Tim Rice and John Barry, she is seen in a soft focus Indian palatial setting that is clearly the Royal Pavilion.

Cannon Place car park
Grand Hotel terrace
King;s Road

Seafront
Opposite Kingswest
Outside Brighton Centre

The Ploughman's Lunch
UK | colour | 107 mins | 1983 (released May 1983)
Cast: Jonathan Pryce, Tim Curry, Rosemary Harris, 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.]
• Won best film in the Evening Standard British Film Awards 1984.
• Available on VHS and as a Region 1 (NTSC) DVD

Mona Lisa

Mona Lisa

Mona Lisa
UK | Technicolor | 104 mins | 1986 (released 13 June 1986)
Cast: Bob Hoskins, Cathy Tyson, Michael Caine, Robbie Coltrane
Written by Neil Jordan and David Leland
Directed by Neil Jordan for HandMade Films
• A crime thriller that includes scenes on the Palace Pier, at the Royal Albion Hotel and on the seafront in Hove.
• Bob Hoskins won the best actor award at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival.
• 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

A Handful of Dust
UK | colour | 118 mins | 1988
Cast: Anjelica Huston, Judi Dench, James Wilby, Rupert Graves, Kristin Scott Thomas, Alec Guinness, Stephen Fry
Written by Derek Granger, Charles Sturridge and Tim Sullivan from Evelyn Waugh's novel
Directed by Charles Sturridge for Compact Yellowbill, Handful of Dust, Stagescreen and London Weekend Television
• Available on VHS and DVD

No image available

The Fruit Machine (US title: Wonderland)
UK | colour | 103 mins | 1988
Cast: Emile Charles, Tony Forsyth, Robbie Coltrane, Robert Stephens
Written by Frank Clarke
Directed by Philip Saville for Ideal Communications Films/Granada Television
• 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 DVD and on VHS from First Independent Video.

Under Suspicion
UK | colour | 99 mins | 1991 (released 27 September 1991)
Cast: Liam Neeson, Kenneth Cranham
Written and directed by Simon Moore for Carnival Films
• 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. Locations include the Undercliff Walk, the beach. The West Pier is anachronistically seen to be derelict.
• Available on a Columbia-TriStar DVD.

Regency Square car park
Palace Pier
Union Street, outside Bath Arms
Brunswick Square
Market Street
Meeting House Lane
West Pier
Brunswick Square
Brunswick Place

Dirty Weekend
UK | colour | 102 mins | 1993 (released 29 October 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 .
• Not to be confused with the 1972 film of the same name starring Marcello Mastroianni and Oliver Reed.
• Available on DVD.

Richard III Richard III

Richard III
UK | colour | 89 mins | 1995 (released 26 April 1996)
Cast: Ian McKellen, Annette Bening
Directed by Richard Loncraine for Bayly/Parι Productions, British Screen Productions, First Look International and United Artists
• 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.
• Won Silver Bear for best director at the Berlin Film Festival 1996, best actor award (Ian McKellen) at the Europeam Film Awards 1996; Academy Award nominations for best costume design and best art direction-set decoration
• The annotated screenplay, with notes about locations, is available online.
• Available on DVD.

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Night Warrior: Deadly Jade
UK | colour | 120 mins | 1995 (released 2 July 1996) Cast: Philip Ambler, Ross Boyask, Tom Hay, P L Hobden, Mike Hurst, Paul Portinari, Andy Wenham Written and directed by Ross Boyask and Phil Hobden for For This Is Film/Modern Life
• Crime story. Locations include the West Pier.
• Premiered at BHASVIC Film Festival 21 December 1995.

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Project: Assassin
UK | colour | 89 mins | 1997
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 New Blood Film/Red Cloud Film
• 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 in August 1997 after a £250,000 tape-to-film transfer. Released on video in Germany 15 December 2001.



The End of the Affair
UK/US | Technicolor | 102 mins | 1999 (released 11 February 2000)
Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Julianne Moore, Stephen Rae, Ian Hart, James Bolam
Written by Neil Jordan from Graham Greene's novel
Directed by Neil Jordan for Columbia Pictures
• 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 as a Warner Home Video DVD.

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Don't Go Breaking My Heart
UK | colour | 95 mins | 1999 (released 12 February 2000)
Cast: Anthony Edwards, Jenny Seagrove, Charles Dance, Amanda Holden, Susannah Doyle, Jane Leeves, Lynda Bellingham, George Layton
Written by Geoff Morrow
Directed by Willi Patterson
• Romantic comedy about a dentist who tries to attract a beautiful widow by means of hypnosis. Includes a beach scene in Brighton.

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