Kind Hearts and Coronets
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Movie Reviews of Kind Hearts and Coronets
Movie Review: Revenge is a dish the people of taste prefer to eat cold
Summary: 5 Stars
"Kind hearts are more than coronets/And simple faith than Norman blood. - Lord Tennyson."
Tennyson could have been writing about the movie "Kind Hearts and Coronets," a wonderfully twisted movie all about killing one's relatives to get ahead in the world. This classic black comedy is blessed with excellent acting by Dennis Price and Alec Guinness, as well as some very inventive murders and wry dialogue.
A young lady of the D'Ascoyne family was ostracized when she married an Italian singer (he dropped dead when their son was born). Louis (Price) was raised hearing all about his noble relatives, but ignored by them -- and when his mother is refused burial at the family plot, and his devious girlfriend Sibella (Joan Greenwood) spurns him for a rich, dull man, he decides to become the next Duke.
To do that, he has to kill off several relatives, which he does in various ingenious ways. He's also wooing the widow of one such murdered relative, the kindly Edith (Valerie Hobson), while still frisking with Sibella. But you can't commit six murders -- no matter how clever -- without raising some suspicions, and soon Louis finds himself a Duke on death row... but is there a way out?
The whole story is told in flashback, as Louis writes his memoirs in his cell, and there's only a little bit after the memoirs' completion that explains what happened next. But from the first moments onward (the executioner getting excited about the "privilege" of hanging a duke), it's pretty obvious that "Kind Hearts and Coronets" has a rare, wicked sense of humor.
Much of that is through the irony (Louis is morally opposed to hunting, but not murder) and brilliantly dark dialogue ("I shot an arrow in the air; she fell to earth in Berkeley Square"). One of the best things is Louis' narration -- we learn that he's intelligent, droll, and as much of a snob as his richer relatives.
But there's also the great ways in which the D'Ascoynes expire -- exploding labs, drifting boats, shooting down a hot air balloon with an arrow, and a battleship that goes the wrong way and crashes into ANOTHER battleship. A string of murders might normally be dull, but Robert Hamer keeps the wry humor in everything Louis does.
Price does a simply brilliant job as Louis, a poor relation who uses charm, intelligence, pleasant lies, kindness and some disguises to murder his relatives (many of whom are much kindlier than he). Only crackly-voiced Greenwood is as wonderfully amoral as he. And Guinness showed his versatility by playing all the D'Ascoyne relatives -- the dotty vicar, a rather ugly suffragette, a pigheaded admiral, and others.
"Kind Hearts and Coronets" is a brilliantly dark comedy, with some great acting from Guinness and Price, a twisted sense of humor, and a great finale. Definitely a must-see for fans of murder and wit.
Movie Review: Very fine English black comedy
Summary: 5 Stars
Robert Hamer's delightful dry and witty comedy "Kind Hearts and Coronets" commences with the current Duke of Chalfont penning his memoirs in prison on the eve of his execution. The film goes on to recount the events that caused him to be in this predicament.
The Duke whose actual name was Louis Mazzini, was the product of a scorned marriage between his mother, a member of the aristocratic D'Ascoyne family and an Italian opera singer. Spurned by the powerful family, Mazzini, played superbly by the genteel and urbane Dennis Price was outraged with the undignified manner in which his beloved mother was treated upon her death. While Mazzini was tenth in line for accension to the dukedom controlled by the D'Ascoyne family, he was determined to eliminate those standing in his way.
The remarkable Alec Guinness played eight separate roles as the various members of the D'Ascoyne family including the duke, a general, an admiral and the Lady Agatha. One by one Mazzini would gain the confidence of one family member and then would murder them. Meanwhile Mazzini was rejected for marriage by long time friend the privileged Sibella played by Joan Greenwood. She went on to marry the son of a rich man, Lionel Holland, the result being a loveless, empty marriage. Sibella and Mazzini became involved in a lengthy secret intimate relationship.
The determined Mazzini's status was rising in the family as he continued to dispose of those standing in his way. He became smitten with Edith D'Ascoyne played by the patrician Valerie Hobson, wife and widow of one of the disposed family members. He offered his hand in marriage to her after a suitable period of mourning. Mazzini now had only one descendent standing in his way, the kindly duke himself. Mazzini who had been the duke's personal secretary was now offered a partnership in the duke's business. At the same time Hobson consented to the marriage. Mazzini was contacted by Sibella's husband Lionel and in a business meeting revealed that he was broke. Despondent, he asked for money and when Mazzini declined, he threatened to commit suicide and then unsucceessfully attacked him with a knife.
Mercifully for Mazzini, the duke was stricken with a stroke and eventually succumbed. With relief, he finally achieved his title. At the ceremony he was shocked by a visit from Scotland Yard implicating him in the death of Lionel, a death he had no responsibility for. He ultimately was convicted but Sibella offered him a chance for salvation.
The perfect ending topped off what was a sterling typically British example of excellence in filmmaking. The acting performances by Price and Guinness were superb and well supported by Hobson and Greenwood. A great supporting role was also contributed by memorable British character actor Miles Malleson playing the hangman.
Movie Review: Utterly delightful black comedy
Summary: 5 Stars
This film is most famous as the one in which Alec Guinness plays eight roles, but I have always been somewhat uncomfortable with the film being characterized in that way, because it makes it sound as if the main attraction of the film is a gimmick. In fact, this is a first rate comedy in many ways. This was one in a series of great comedies produced by the Ealing Studios in the 1940s and 1950s. The film stars Dennis Price as the narrator, Louis Mazzini. He recounts his efforts to wreck revenge on the members of his mother's titled family who had disowned her when she married an Italian opera singer. His particular form of revenge consists of murder, and the film consists of his various efforts in this direction. Guinness, who in the course of his career managed to die in an astounding number of films, in this one manages to die eight times. He is excellent in each and every incarnation of a member of the D'Ascoyne family. Valerie Hobson is as elegant as always in playing the widow of one his victims with whom he later becomes romantically involved. Hobson was a great light of British cinema in the forties and early fifties, but gave up acting to marry politician John Profumo, who would be the principal public figure to fall in the Christine Keeler scandal. The film also features one of my all time favorite actresses, Joan Greenwood, who may have possessed the most delicious voice of any female in the history of film. Mention must also be made of Miles Malleson, who has a small but memorable role as the hangman.
The makers of the film manage a perfect concoction of highbrow wit that still managed to border on the absurd. For instance, at one point Mr. Mazzini informs a victim that he will first kill him and then run screaming for help, and then we manage to see him doing precisely that, running from the woods crying for assistance. There are many marvelous lines, many of them almost throwaways. As a fan of Samuel Johnson, I was delighted when Mazzini tells someone, "Dr. Johnson was right, as he always was . . . " In particular, I love the understated humor throughout the film. If this were a TV show instead of a film, I am certain that they would have dispensed of the laugh track.
Before someone complains about the DVD not offering a widescreen option, I should point out that the original was a 35MM print in 1.37:1 ratio. In other words, this will of necessity be a full screen DVD, and there will never be a widescreen.
Movie Review: Darkly Hilarious
Summary: 5 Stars
This film was included in a box set I bought that features 50 years of Janus Films. Most of the films I had never heard of since most were made before my time, so I have only the company's reputation for good taste to guide me. I may never have seen Kind Hearts and Coronets if I had not bought the box set since there is nothing in the title ( part of a quote from Tennyson, as it turns out) that would lead me to believe this is a film I might like. As it turns out, its just the kind of darkly hilarious movie I do like.
I won't rehash the plot in its entirety, but Dennis Price is marvelous as Louis Mazzini, a man born of an aristocratic mother and a commoner father who bitterly resents being cheated out of what he considered to be his birthright. His father had died at Louis' birth and so he was raised in poverty by his loving mother and made keenly aware by her of both his heritage and his rightful station in life. Her premature death from an accident galvanizes him to plotting the demise of those members of the D'Ascoyne family who stand between him and the dukedom he feels is rightfully his. What happens next becomes progressively funnier.
Though needy, Louis is an arrogant twit. As his goal comes ever closer to realization, you'll note that he becomes ever more arrogant. I like the scene where the rival who had married the woman Louis loved ends by calling Louis to his home in order to discreetly beg him to save him from bankruptcy . Louis coldly but justifiably refuses him and showers him with deserved scorn. This leads to a fight and the irony is that Louis's visit to the home of his rival culminates in his later being arrested for and convicted of the one murder he did not commit!
There are a lot of other things going on as well, too much to describe without spoiling the film for you. There are several love triangles and any number of nasty jabs at the British aristocracy, some subtle and some not. There is the masterful acting of Alec Guinness who plays all the D'Ascoyne roles, including that of the window-smashing suffragette. Valerie Hobson and Joan Greenwood each put in strong performances as the rival ladies in Mazzini's life. The bloviating executioner is too funny. But it is the ending that is purely delicious. Not only does Mazzini face a Hobson's choice in love, but there is something else which clouds his future. Watch it and find out what that is!
Movie Review: Murder Has Never Been So Hilarious.
Summary: 5 Stars
Louis D'Ascoyne Mazzini (Dennis Price) is the forgotten heir of the aristocratic D'Ascoyne family, who ostracized his mother when she married well below her station. But Louis was raised to value his blue-blooded heritage, with the understanding that he was in line to inherit the Dukedom of Chalfont and its accompanying wealth, although it was a very long line. Louis eventually becomes frustrated by his professional prospects and so spiteful of the D'Ascoyne's arrogance that he decides to elevate himself to the Dukedom...by murdering the 8 heirs that stand before him in the line of inheritance."Kind Hearts and Coronets" is probably the most acclaimed and widely appreciated of the "Ealing Comedies", which Great Britain's Ealing Studios produced after World War II under the reign of studio boss Michael Balcon. The film was directed by Robert Hamer and brilliantly adapted for the screen by Hamer and John Dighton. It is loosely based on the 1907 novel "Israel Rank" by Roy Harniman, although the novel is not a comedy, and its tone as well as the personality of its protagonist are very different from the movie. "Kind Hearts and Coronets" is probably best known for Alec Guinness' multiple comic performances. He plays all 8 members of the D'Ascoyne family, who range in age from 24 to about 80, with comic but convincing flair. Dennis Price, as Louis, recounts the film's events with wonderfully dry wit. His one-liners are priceless. Sociopathic behavior has never been more delightful. The filmmakers shamelessly lampoon the hereditary aristocracy, all in the form of Alec Guinness. "Kind Hearts and Coronets" is simply a thoroughly enjoyable film.
The DVD: Bonus features include a rather long theatrical trailer and a written bio for Sir Alec Guinness, also long. Dubbing is available in French. No subtitles.