G

iven it’s Regency squares, Victorian promenades, seascapes and beautiful light, it’s no wonder that Brighton attracts film directors like bees to pollen.

The city’s big break came with the 1947 adaptation of Graham Greene’s Brighton Rock, starring Richard Attenborough and kickstarted a trend for adaptations of books and stories about the city. Hence 1953’s Genevieve (about a car race from London to Brighton), the Carry On films of the 1970s (which naturally took Brighton as a saucy weekend retreat), and the adaptation of The Who’s cult classic Quadrophenia, which put The Lanes on the map.

Given the edgier side of the city, one can understand 1986’s UK gangster film Mona Lisa using Brighton as a backdrop, though harder to fathom is why the city turns up in Bond’s Octopussy(1983) and The Living Daylights (1987).

The city has had recent turns in Hollywood successes The Da Vinci Code (2006), Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (2007), The Young Victoria (2009) and The Boat That Rocked (2009). Perfectly book-ending the tale, a recent remake of Brighton Rocks was released in early 2011.