Petros T
A delightfully macabre satirical comedy with a charming, winding voice-over, several laugh-out-loud moments and a very good cast including Dennis Price, Joan Greenwood and of course Alec Guinness as eight different characters (and even appearing as six of them in the same frame!). The fact that Louis's scheme arouses no suspicion is a little hard to believe however (forgiven though this may be due to the comedic premise), and the last part is not as interesting or snappy as what has come before.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
11/16/23
Full Review
Suzanne G
Watched it all the way through, just to see how it would end. It was a bit interesting to see Alec Guinness play so many parts, and the story definitely was told in a droll style, but it was kind of a waste. Not really funny. Kind of a drag.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
11/05/23
Full Review
Matthew B
Ealing Studios is a name associated with cosy comedies, often expressing a distinctly insular British viewpoint – a hatred for authority, and a love for quaint local people. Yet curiously a few of its best-loved works are those that have a distinctly darker tinge.
Kind Hearts and Coronets was a black comedy that involves eight deaths (six of them by murder), adultery, and a satirical look at Britain's class system. This is no Ealing assertion of traditional British qualities. Instead it mocks aristocracy, marriage, family values and conventional morality.
The Head of Ealing Studios, Michael Balcon was uneasy about a film that eschewed sentimentality and exuberantly embraced its darker side. The openly sexual nature of the anti-hero's relationship with a married woman concerned Balcon, and caused him to ask for scenes to be censored. The director Robert Hamer refused, and the scenes were left in the film.
Nonetheless Balcon warned Hamer, "You are trying to sell that most unsaleable commodity to the British – irony. Good luck to you." Five minutes was trimmed off the American version, including the original ambiguous ending.
Hamer was a homosexual, and it is possible to detect a certain gay sensibility in Kind Hearts and Coronets, and not just because one of the male actors is playing a woman. The story came from a book by Roy Horniman, who was clearly seeking to imitate the style of Oscar Wilde in his dry witticisms.
The leading actor was Dennis Price, another homosexual, who is seen throughout the movie dressed in outfits made from satin, brocade and velvet. While Price's character is distinctly predatory towards women, he does not evince any genuine affection for them, and seems happy to use them for his own ends. The world of heterosexual monogamy is hardly celebrated here.
Another clear influence on the film was World War 2, which had ended four years ago. This may explain why the ethnicity of the leading character was altered. In Horniman's book he is half-Jewish. In the film, Louis D'Ascoyne Mazzini (Price) is half-Italian, a more suitable enemy for the post-war period when Jews were regarded with more sympathy, and Italy had been on the losing side.
Maybe we can see the atmosphere of the war in the amoral character of Mazzini too. Mazzini does not mention the war, but his behaviour occupies the same moral world as that of Fascism. Murder is acceptable, just so long as one does not get caught. Like the rulers of Germany and Italy, Mazzini will eliminate that which stands in the way of his acquiring power, though he has other sympathetic motives too.
The mischievous tone of Kind Hearts and Coronets is established during the opening credits. Images of the leading characters appear as if in portraits, recalling the studio-bound costume dramas made by Gainsborough Pictures. The Mozartian music score hints at elegance and order. As we shall soon see, there is chaos and darkness lying
Mazzini does not mention the war, but his behaviour occupies the same moral world as that of Fascism. Murder is acceptable, just so long as one does not get caught. Like the rulers of Germany and Italy, Mazzini will eliminate that which stands in the way of his acquiring power, though he has other sympathetic motives too.
From the beginning the story sides with Mazzini against his family. He is motivated by anger and a desire for revenge as much as by greed, though he is motivated by greed too. In Mazzini's eyes his family are "monsters of arrogance and cruelty".
Mazzini wishes to become the Duke, but he cannot rely on nature alone to remove the eight d'Ascoynes who take precedence, so he hatches a plan of his own. He will murder each family member who stands between him and the dukedom. The family refused to allow his mother a place in the d'Ascoyne crypt, so he will send them to the crypt early. They would not acknowledge Mazzini's existence, so now he will end their existence.
How Mazzini sets about this task is played for laughs. It is hard to take seriously the many murders that take place when Mazzini's account of the murders is laced with so much dry humour, irony, understatement and wordplay.
The film contains a number of literary allusions to Johnson, Tennyson, Longfellow, Shakespeare and John Gay. Hamer said that one of his intentions in making the film was "that of using this English language, which I love, in a more varied and more interesting way".
The result of this is that we feel no sense of horror. We share Mazzini's sense of detachment from his victims. Only Mazzini's viewpoint is shown to us, and that encourages us to identify with him.
Other methods are used to distance us from the victims. For one thing all of the d'Ascoyne family are played by Alec Guinness. Guinness was originally asked to play just four members of the family, but this was increased to eight characters.
The result is a bravura acting performance as Guinness plays family members of all ages and both genders. This might remind us of a common criticism made about inbred aristocratic families that they are a family who share one face between them. In this case, that is literally true.
Since the deaths are played for laughs, it is impossible to feel too upset about the demise of so many people, even the comparatively decent family members. We might note that the d'Ascoynes are killed by methods that are only possible due to their privileged position in society. They are a family who can afford to spend their leisure time eating caviar, using hot air balloons, and going boating and hunting.
This is one of the most amusing and macabre of all the Ealing comedies, a cheerfully Machiavellian story of murder, intrigue, infidelity and ingratitude.
I wrote a longer appreciation of Kind Hearts and Coronets on my blog page if you would like to read more: https://themoviescreenscene.wordpress.com/2023/05/21/kind-hearts-and-coronets-1949/
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
08/25/23
Full Review
Tim P
Once seen, never forgotten - classic cinema at its very best. So many memorable lines and scenes even 70+ years later they still come to mind. Price, Guinness, Hobson ….even the hangman ….. perfection
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
08/13/23
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Raymond S
Delightful, funny, memorable
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
12/25/22
Full Review
Audience Member
One of the best ever made. And yes Guinness is wonderful but he is by no means the leading star of this film. It is Dennis Price all the way. Watch the brilliant way he takes a breath before delivering his lines. Guinness has a few funny scenes, and several of the characters appear a few seconds, with no lines. Price is in every scene, leading the entire narrative. Equally great is Joan Greenwood who should have received an Oscar as Sybella.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
09/15/22
Full Review
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