Kind Hearts & Coronets is one of the most perfect of the Golden Age Ealing comedies and is included on the British Film Institute's list of the 100 Best British Films of the 20th Century.
Deprived of his inheritance by the D'Ascoyne family, Louis Mazzini (played with cool and masterly understatement by Dennis Price) plots to regain his title and avenge his wronged mother. Standing between him and his inheritance are eight of the D'Ascoynes, all of whom are played with relish by Alec Guinness in a variety of guises. Coolly and beautifully cynical in its detached view of Edwardian society and manners, this is one of Ealing's finest. Funny, articulate and really quite amoral.
Deprived of his inheritance by the D'Ascoyne family, Louis Mazzini (played
with cool and masterly understatement by Dennis Price), plots to regain his
title an... more >
Deprived of his inheritance by the D'Ascoyne family, Louis Mazzini (played
with cool and masterly understatement by Dennis Price), plots to regain his
title and avenge his wronged mother. Standing between him and his
inheritance are eight of the D'Ascoynes, all of whom are played with relish
by Alec Guinness in a variety of guises. As Louis' plan progresses and the
D'Ascoynes start to disappear he finds that old attachments die hard, and
Joan Greenwood and Valerie Hobson provide an irresistible contrast in
attraction.
Coolly and beautifully cynical in its detached view of Edwardian society and
manners, this is one of Ealing's finest. Funny, articulate and really quite
amoral.
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Director Robert Hamer brought a darker vision to Ealing than was usual in Michael Balcon’s pro-England films. Kind Hearts (1949) reflects the changing balance between ... more >
Director Robert Hamer brought a darker vision to Ealing than was usual in Michael Balcon’s pro-England films. Kind Hearts (1949) reflects the changing balance between classes and sexes that occurred in the post-war years. But Hamer drenches his subject in humour, recognising that he couldn’t make the satire too explicit. The scheming Mazzini who murders his way to a dukedom is half Italian - ahh, so that explains his behaviour.
Alec Guinness plays all eight members of the house of D’Ascoyne who come to sticky ends in Mazzini’s aristocratic pursuit. Most of these roles are forgettable, though he blossoms as Lady Agatha who swoops over London in a hot air balloon, dispensing women’s suffrage literature onto the winds. Guinness’s multi-role bonanza must have contributed to Balcon’s green light, but it shows clearly that in his quest Mazzini always comes up against the same barrier, merely disguised.
Mazzini shows no remorse. Yet his charm and impeccable manners - save for a bit of trouble with the sixth commandment - gain him sympathy even as he murders. Anyway, it’s not his fault, it’s his mother who plays Lady Macbeth and flaunts the possibility of the dukedom before him as he grows up.
