1949 is the year that cemented the Ealing Studios' close association with comedy. This year saw the release of three bona fide classics: Passport to Pimlico (Henry Cornelius), Whisky Galore (Alexander Mackendrick) and lastly Kind Hearts and Coronets.
Dennis Price stars as Louis Mazzini, only son of a disinherited heir to the aristocratic D’Ascoyn family, dispossessed for marrying an Italian singer deemed below her status. On his mother’s death he vows to take revenge on the family and sets out to murder the eight D’Ascoyns who stand between him and dukedom.
Price delivers a career best performance as Mazzini, cool and callous, yet charming enough to elicit audience sympathy, as he dispenses with the various D'Ascoyns. Excellent support comes in the form of Valerie Hobson and Joan Greenwood as rival love interests and an astonishing performance by Alec Guinness as the eight D'Ascoyns on Mazzini's hit list. It is all the more remarkable considering that this is only Guinness third screen appearance, his first for Ealing and the first cinematic hint of his outstanding comedic talents. In spite of which, the excellent Price never lets Guinness steal the picture from him. The talented Robert Hamer directs with a light touch which never sees the movie descend into bad taste of farce.
Based upon the novel Israel Rank by Roy Horniman and taking it filmic title from Tennyson, Kind Hearts and Coronets is the most literate of Ealing comedies. The astute screenplay by Hamer and John Deighton is both darkly cynical and witty and 70 years after release it remains, arguably, the blackest of black comedy scripts to reach British cinema screens.
In this respect it is unique among the Ealing comedies. Characterised by their themes of individuals or small groups of people pitted against a more powerful foe, Kind Hearts... only partially fits this 'little guy against the system' mould. Certainly it conveys the social commentary of its stable mates but lacking the gentle morals of say Passport to Pimlico or The Man in the White Suit (Alexander Mackendrick, 1951) and their reflection on post-war mores. Rather, its period setting allows for a biting critique of an outdated class system and the notion of inherited privilege.
Kind Hearts and Coronets also features perhaps the greatest of all ambiguous endings, originally soften for US audiences with a specially filmed coda to enable it to pass the strict production code. Its original ending, now more commonly seen is only really rivaled for greatness by the "Nobody's perfect!" climax of Some Like it Hot! (Billy Wilder, 1959).
While initially dismissed by some critics as too dark, Kind Hearts and Coronets is now widely considered the greatest of the Ealing comedies. I personally favour the more representative of the genre The Man in the White Suit, but will happily agree that Kind Hearts... is one the greatest comedy movies of all time. It is difficult to think of any other movie so simultaneously dark yet delicate. Expertly performed and beautifully told; I would recommend this masterpiece of a movie to those with even the slightest interest in the cinema.
Price delivers a career best performance as Mazzini, cool and callous, yet charming enough to elicit audience sympathy, as he dispenses with the various D'Ascoyns. Excellent support comes in the form of Valerie Hobson and Joan Greenwood as rival love interests and an astonishing performance by Alec Guinness as the eight D'Ascoyns on Mazzini's hit list. It is all the more remarkable considering that this is only Guinness third screen appearance, his first for Ealing and the first cinematic hint of his outstanding comedic talents. In spite of which, the excellent Price never lets Guinness steal the picture from him. The talented Robert Hamer directs with a light touch which never sees the movie descend into bad taste of farce.
Based upon the novel Israel Rank by Roy Horniman and taking it filmic title from Tennyson, Kind Hearts and Coronets is the most literate of Ealing comedies. The astute screenplay by Hamer and John Deighton is both darkly cynical and witty and 70 years after release it remains, arguably, the blackest of black comedy scripts to reach British cinema screens.
In this respect it is unique among the Ealing comedies. Characterised by their themes of individuals or small groups of people pitted against a more powerful foe, Kind Hearts... only partially fits this 'little guy against the system' mould. Certainly it conveys the social commentary of its stable mates but lacking the gentle morals of say Passport to Pimlico or The Man in the White Suit (Alexander Mackendrick, 1951) and their reflection on post-war mores. Rather, its period setting allows for a biting critique of an outdated class system and the notion of inherited privilege.
Kind Hearts and Coronets also features perhaps the greatest of all ambiguous endings, originally soften for US audiences with a specially filmed coda to enable it to pass the strict production code. Its original ending, now more commonly seen is only really rivaled for greatness by the "Nobody's perfect!" climax of Some Like it Hot! (Billy Wilder, 1959).
While initially dismissed by some critics as too dark, Kind Hearts and Coronets is now widely considered the greatest of the Ealing comedies. I personally favour the more representative of the genre The Man in the White Suit, but will happily agree that Kind Hearts... is one the greatest comedy movies of all time. It is difficult to think of any other movie so simultaneously dark yet delicate. Expertly performed and beautifully told; I would recommend this masterpiece of a movie to those with even the slightest interest in the cinema.
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