from Ealing Studios
Directed by
Robert Hamer
Starring
Dennis Price (Louis Mazzini/his father)
Valerie Hobson (Edith)
Joan Greenwood (Sibella)
Alec Guinness (Ascoyne d'Ascoyne/Henry d'Ascoyne/Canon d'Ascoyne/Admiral
d'Ascoyne//General d'Ascoyne/Lady Agatha d'Ascoyne/Lord d'Ascoyne/Ethelbert
d'Ascoyne)
Audrey Fildes (Mrs Mazzini)
Miles Malleson (Hangman)
Clive Morton (Governor)
John Penrose (Lionel)
Cecil Ramage (Counsel)
Hugh Griffith (Lord High Steward)
John Salew (Mr Perkins)
Eric Messiter (Burgoyne)
Lyn Evans (The Farmer)
Barbara Leake (Schoolmistress)
Peggy Ann Clifford (Maud)
Anne Valery (Girl in punt)
Arthur Lowe (Reporter)
Written by
John Dighton
Robert Hamer
Roy Horniman (novel Israel Rank) |
Alec Guinness, best known for the serious dramatic
roles and authoritative presence of his later films, made his
mark early as a versatile character actor and a gifted comic
performer. These talents are shown to their best in this bewitchingly
black-hearted 1949 comedy of a poor cousin murdering his way
up the inheritance ladder of a titled, old-money family. Guinness,
in only his third film, becomes practically the entire family
tree, starring in no less than eight hilarious roles. Handsome
Dennis Price is the scheming relative, the progeny of an unfortunate
marriage that turned his mother into a family pariah. Determined
to earn the title he believes is rightfully his, he ingratiates
himself back into the family and plots his ascension through
a succession of Guinness-created social dinosaurs, joyfully killing
off his kin in a series of inventive assassinations. It's class
warfare in action, and Price is winning the war. The delectable
Joan Greenwood costars as the married object of Price's affections,
whose own venomous nature becomes apparent when Price falls for
Valerie Hobson, the cultured widow of one of his victims. Robert
Hamer directs with a light touch and dry wit, marrying the understated
Ealing Studios comic style with the dark, satirical edge of John
Dighton's sharp screenplay. The wiliest of all Ealing comedies,
right down to its splendidly sardonic conclusion. --Sean
Axmaker
Kind
Hearts and Coronets [DVD]
Kind
Hearts and Coronets [VHS]
The
Alex Guinness Collection [DVD]
Includes The Man in the White Suit, The Lavender Hill Mob, The
Ladykillers, Kind Hearts and Coronets, and The Captain's Paradise
Movie Posters 
Classic
Movie Posters
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