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Rating:  -
The English seem to have a gift for "black comedy"--and nowhere is that gift on better display than in the 1949 KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS, a film that finds Alec Guiness playing eight members of the D'Ascoyne family and Dennis Price as the black sheep of the family who is determined to kill his way through them to both avenge his mother and obtain the title Duke of Chalfont.
The film is often described as "droll," and indeed the word might have been invented with this movie in mind. The story and body count are presented in an ironically "stiff upper lip" manner, the cast playing the outrageous situations in a remarkably matter-of-fact manner. The entire cast is flawless. Valerie Hobson as the meticulous, ultra-stereotypical English lady; Joan Greenwood, whose disgracefully sexy voice and languid manner is a perfect foil for the role of an adulterous wife; and Audrey Fildes as Louis' long-suffering mother are discreetly witty in the best English tradition. But there is no doubt that the film belongs to two actors: Dennis Price and Alec Guiness.
Price (1915-1973) had a memorable stage and screen career--but only up to a point, falling just short of international stardom. By the time he appeared in KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS he was drifting into alcoholism, and he would finish out in a series of low budget and incredibly dire horror films, work he accepted purely for the sake of a check. But whatever his ultimate fate, he grounds the dark humor of the film in unexpectedly rational pragmatism: determined to have the title and determined to have a good time doing it, his performance is the foundation that makes the story work. Guiness (1914-2000) also had a memorable stage and screen career--but unlike Price made the leap to international stardom, with this particular film a keystone in the process. Whether it is the doddering parson or the unlovely Lady Agatha, he gives distinct life to each of the eight D'Ascoyne heirs who must meet an unsavory end--and so brilliant are his characterizations that, although the movie offers much more than his own performance, it is for his work that the film is most often recalled.
There is at least one other version of KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS available on DVD, but as usual the Criterion edition is the way to go. The picture and sound are near-pristine, and fans will enjoy the alternate American ending forced on the film by USA censors of the day. Some may find the humor too dry for their tastes, but the ironic edges and black wit have made it a classic of its very rare kind. Recommended.
GFT, Amazon Reviewer
Rating: -
Perhaps the greatest script ever written for any movie? Quite a claim but if you have not seen KH&C, do and see if you agree. As usual the Criterion Collection edition is the DVD to go for (so now where is the CC version of The Wrong Box???????). The xtras are not many (2.5) but very worthwhile.
Rating: -
This is the kind of movie that creates it's own captivating universe. The acting and settings are top notch; Alec Guiness plays 8 different characters, the members of the Ascoyne D'Ascoyne family which Louis (Dennis Price) must murder to become a duke. The dialogue is very british, witty and precise and provides a kind of contrast to the dark mind of the protagonist.
The DVD from Criterion has an excellent image, stable, clear and without damage marks. Extras: no commentary, but an extra disc with a documentary about Ealing studios and an interview with Guiness. Also, among the extra material to be found is the "american ending", that while interesting to see it is quite hard to imagine anyone today actually preferring it to the original.
Rating:  -
"Kind Hearts and Coronets,"(1950), a black comedy/drama, is one of the most famous, and acclaimed, post World War II releases by the British Ealing Studios. It's generally agreed to be a minimalist masterpiece of wit and irony, made in black and white. Roy Horniman wrote the novel on which it's based, Robert Hamer wrote the screenplay and directed. Two celebrated witty novelists, Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh, were hired to work on the script, though nothing specific seems to survive of their efforts. The title of the film is quoted from a poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The picture is a costume drama, set at the turn of the 20th century, though it's generally held to reflect the mood of post-war disillusionment common at the time. And some viewers may be startled by the film's use, three times in a few minutes, of the racist n----r word: it was in common use in the U.K. at the time, in the child's nursery rhyme "Eeeny, meeny, miny, mo."
Dennis Price, a leading man of the British cinema in the 1940's, stars as Louis D'Ascoyne Mazzini. His Mumsie was a D'Ascoyne, one of a leading, influential, titled and wealthy family that disowned/disinherited her when she eloped with an Italian tenor, leaving her to a life of miserable poverty after the singer's untimely death. And to crown insult with injury, they won't even allow poor Mumsie to be buried in the family crypt after her death. So Louis vows revenge - something he's happy to point out that the Italians have always preferred served cold. He decides to murder all the eight D'Ascoynes that stand between him and the family dukedom and estates. He doesn't actually know any of them, of course, not as a poor man working as a sales assistant in a shop, but where there's a will, there's a way. And this is surely the lightest treatment of a serial killer that the world ever has seen, with a cleverly ironic ending.
The movie's probably best known now for the fact that all eight of Louis's victims are played by the talented young Alec Guinness, (most honored recently, as the Jedi Obi Wan Kenobi in 1977's "Star Wars" trilogy; he also won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for 1957's "Bridge on the River Kwai.") Guinness was hired to play four of the victims, and volunteered to play them all, in a feat that's never been matched and probably never will be. The vics are of different ages and sexes, talk and walk differently, have different mannerisms, etc. Unfortunately, his two funniest performances are also two of the briefest, the General, and Lady Agatha, suffragist - he's got the galumphing British actress Margaret Rutherford down pat, if only he were a little heavier. Guinness said at one point that he lived in terror he would confuse his characters: that he would open his mouth as the "Suffragette," as he persisted in calling this character -- and the General's voice would come out.
The young Joan Greenwood, famous for her plummy, husky, sexy voice, and chosen by "Empire Magazine" as #63 of the 100 Sexiest Movie Stars in 1995, plays Louis' life-long chum, and then mistress, the fickle, selfish, manipulative Sibilla. That tall, quintessentially beautiful and elegant English rose (though she was born in Northern Ireland), Valerie Hobson, plays prim Mrs. Henry D'Ascoyne, whom Louis first widows, and then marries. And, says, Louis, how well he could love the one, if only the other were not there.
Miles Malleson briefly shines as a snobbish hangman, wondering how to address a duke, before hanging him. The Welsh-born Hugh Griffith, who joined the British Army and served in India and Burma during the War, plays Lord High Steward. Hobson, daughter of a British Army officer, was married to John Profumo, a Member of the British Cabinet, when a sex scandal broke around him in 1963 and rocked the country. She retreated to private life, where she did outstanding charity work for leprosy sufferers.
Dennis Price, star of the film, was a tall, suave, elegant, popular leading man of the time. He was born to privilege, as the son of a brigadier general, whose family expected him to go into the army or the church, as they had for generations. But he became an actor, generally playing upper-crust characters. His initial entry into the theater was mentored by John Gielgud and Noel Coward. Hello; you have to say, didn't that ring any bells, as both performers were members in good standing of Britain's elite gay mafia? And his vibe in the movie is hardly that of a lusty man? Be that as it may, very soon after making "Kind Hearts," by the 1950's, Price was a serious alcoholic, no longer capable of carrying a movie. (He did contribute a good cameo to 1959's "I'm All Right Jack.") Sadly, it seems likely his double life undid him. Truth is so much tougher than fiction.
Rating: -
Super old movie, a real treasure. Given as requested birthday gift and much pleasure watching it several times already. It arrived in perfect shape and soon after being ordered. Will continue to use Amazon.com.
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