Dennis Price

Alec Guinness

Joan Greenwood

Valerie Hobson

Audrey Fildes

Miles Malleson

Clive Morton

John Penrose

Cecil Ramage

Hugh Griffith

John Salew

Eric Messiter

Lyn Evans

Barbara Leake

Peggy Ann Clifford

Anne Valery

Arthur Lowe

Peter Gawthorne

Molly Hamley-Clifford

Leslie Handford

Cavan Malone

Jeremy Spenser

Carol White

Laurence Naismith

Gordon Phillott

Richard Wattis

Harold Young

Roy Horniman

Michael Balcon

Robert Hamer

Ernest Irving

Peter Tanner

John Dighton

Douglas Slocombe

William Kellner

Michael Relph

Ernest Taylor

Sydney Pearson

Barbara Barnard

Pearl Orton

Harry Frampton

Jeff Seaholme

Nancy Mitford

Hal Mason

Roy Baker

Leigh Aman

Bert Davey

Daphne Martin

John Jympson

Seth Holt

Anthony Mendleson

Norman Priggen

Geoffrey Dickinson

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Stephen Dalby

Phyllis Crocker

John W. Mitchell

Philharmonia Orchestra

Comedy

Crime

Kind Hearts and Coronets

Ealing Studios

J. Arthur Rank Organisation

United Kingdom

English

prison

jealousy

based on novel or book

italian

poison

widow

gallows

dark comedy

hot air balloon

duke

relatives

singer

black and white

series of murders

heir

dysfunctional relationship

edwardian england

1900s

understated

absurd

Nutshell

This is hands down my favorite Ealing Studios comedy, as I'm sure it is for many others.
A most exquisite and brilliantly dark comic showcase, most especially for Dennis Price who
is outstanding here in the lead role of Louis, and for some young actor named Alec Guinness
who plays a whopping 8 roles in this film! In those early days the young Mr. Guinness was
constantly challenging both himself, and his directors, in order to prove his capabilities. He
had done just that the year before with his fabulous portrayal of Fagin in Oliver Twist, and that
was only his 2nd movie! With this phenomenal 3rd piece of work, he silenced any critics that
might still be left, going on to enjoy a tremendous career that would last nearly the rest of his life.

CinemaSerf

The best, I think, of the Ealing Comedies features a wonderful Dennis Price as the hard-done-by aristocrat who sets out to exact the most spectacular series of acts of vengeance on those whom he blames for the plights of his childhood. Alec Guinness plays the entire (somewhat doomed) "D'Ascoyne" family outstandingly (especially, I thought, the vicar) and both Valerie Hobson and Joan Greenwood complete this excellent casting of this very enjoyable dark comedy that has the odd extra twist to complicate things nicely. It is one of those films you can watch over and over again and it just doesn't get wearisome.

For everything that I'd heard about this film, I was left underwhelmed. I'd always heard that Alec Guinness was superb, playing multiple characters, but most of them were on screen for just a moment. Yes, the makeup artist did a good job making them all visually distinct, but only a couple really have a role to play in the story. There is one shot, clever for the time, which brings them all "together" which you can admire on a technical level. It does nothing to raise the piece.

Honestly, all of that is a side-show to the actual story and had it been six different actors the film would be unaffected.

The humour is that of a gentle farce and personally it caused little more than a wry smile for me. I realise it's "of it's time", but even for the late '40s I think it's pedestrian.

KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS Trailer

John Landis on KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS

Kind Hearts and Coronets( 1949)

He chopped down the family tree...

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A review by Nutshell

Written by Nutshell on Sun May 24 2020

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