RICHARD ATTENBOROUGH

                                                           Part 1

It’s hard to know where to start in detailing the incredible career of the late Sir Richard Attenborough. His career spans seven decades! He was in the very first production of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap in 1952- and it is still running! I’m going to start with his early acting parts in films, and go from there.

His first appearance of note is in Brighton Rock (1947) as Pinkie Brown, leader of a gang of criminals and a consummate murderer. He plays this psychopathic killer to the hilt. At the end, he tells his wife Rose (Carol Marsh) they should each kill themselves and she should go first. No spoiler here!

Then in 1951 Mr. Attenborough is Jack Carter in the marvelous The Magic Box. It is the more or less true story of the invention of the movie camera by William Friese-Greene (Robert Donat) and includes a who’s who list of British actors in addition to Attenborough. Maria Schell, Eric Portman, Glynis Johns, and Margaret Rutherford are on board in this very under-appreciated movie. 

Richard Attenborough is Sidney Cox in I’m All Right, Jack (1959) one of a series of comedies directed by the Boulting brothers. In this one, British industry is heartlessly and hilariously pilloried by Peter Sellers, Terry-Thomas, Ian Carmichael, et al. 60+ years later, this is still a really funny film!

In The Angry Silence (1960) Mr. Attenborough is Tom Curtis, a factory worker who refuses to go along with a strike. While not faced with actual violence, he is given the silent treatment, hence the title. The film is a good study of what it means to stand up for what you believe, even when it is very unpopular. 

The League Of Gentlemen (1960) is a very funny heist movie. Disgruntled Army veteran Colonel Hyde (Jack Hawkins) recruits a gang of military buddies to pull off a daring robbery. Richard Attenborough is on board as Lexy, one of the rag-tag band of ex-soldiers trying to get even with a government they feel has deserted them. 

The Great Escape (1963) is one of the greatest war movies ever made. It takes place in a German POW camp populated by British, American and Australian prisoners who have all tried to escape at least once. Richard Attenborough is Bartlett, known as “Big X” and is the leader of these men. The commandant informs him that if he tries to escape again, he will be shot. He then immediately begins planning the biggest escape ever from a Nazi prison camp. Steve McQueen, James Garner, and Charles Bronson are part of a crackerjack cast in a crackerjack movie. McQueen's motorcycle ride alone is worth a look.

All of the movies in this column are available on DVD. And actually all are fine for all ages, though younger viewers probably wouldn’t get a lot of the story lines.