Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

mraculeated The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Myron Clemons A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

talkbaktalk Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)A black comedy about the British Victorian era, with it's aristocrats, those hoping to be aristocrats, snobs, hypocrites, rich capitalists, high-minded idealists, outrageous women's headgear and a photographer is there too. A British film, it combines class-consciousness and Victorian societal wit and manners with the peculiarly British taste for murder in a comedic context. The first 15 minutes are frankly boring, setting up the scenario for all that comes later. A distant poor relative of the Duke of D'Ascoyne plots to inherit the title by murdering the eight other heirs who stand ahead of him in the line of succession. The British flare for satire and irony is never better displayed. Alec Guiness plays the part of eight members of an aristocratic family, each one a different character, and pulls it off. The protagonist, Dennis Price, by turns charming, calculating, ironic, plays the poor relation, determined to get to the top. Valerie Hobson plays the good woman, Joan Greenwood, in her best film performance, plays the bad. She steals every scene with nothing more than her sultry voice. Dialogue, acting, even set design are all superb. This is the kind of film that Hitchcock tried to make all his life, and only succeeded a few times.

classicsoncall Droll British humor rises to the level of art form in this understated comedy. I first heard of "Kind Hearts and Coronets" in relation to Sir Alec Guinness's multiple roles in the story, and the film has been on my watch list ever since. All of the characters he portrays wind up dead, which is probably an all time record in movies for one actor. Usually someone of his caliber would have reservations about dying just once in a picture, so you have to give the man some credit. The film's pace probably wouldn't be for everyone, but if you go for the dry wit and sarcasm, there's a lot to wrap your head around here. The dialog, particularly that of Louis Mazzini (Dennis Price) talking to himself and the viewer, is quintessentially suited for his murderous heart, as he plots the death of all the potential Dukes (and one Duchess) of Chalfont. This is just the type of stuff the Monty Python folks might have come up with if that whole gang of idiots had been subject to a regimen of sedatives.

ElMaruecan82 Years and years before Tarantino was a gleam in his father's eye, a sumptuous and delightfully dark British comedy demonstrated that revenge, indeed, was a dish best served cold. And speaking of dish, I savored like a gourmet every bit of "Kind Hearts and Coronets". Movies like this are the kind of experiences that can be equaled to a diner in a fancy restaurant where every sip of wine, every bite of meal, from the appetizers to the dessert, plays like a carnival of sensations in your taste buds. I can't exactly pinpoint in which department Robert Hamer's movie most succeeded, but it is a combination of many factors that movies seldom achieve. It starts with the story, the title derives from an excerpt from Alfred Tennyson's poem: "Kind hearts are more than coronets, and simple faith than Norman blood." The story features the spectacular ascension of Louis D'Ascoyne Mazzini, a young man of common birth but not so common lineage. His mother is a Noble but due to her marriage with an opera singer and her self-inflicted exile from the Family, she made herself a Persona-Non-Grata. Louis grew fatherless and all her mother's efforts to reconnect with her family or get a job for Louis met with rejection. She doesn't even get the privilege to be interred in the family vault. Meanwhile Louis proposes Sibella, a childhood friend, for marriage but only gets cruel mockeries about his rank and then-job as a draper's assistant.For newly orphaned and love-stricken Louis, these are two rejections too many and the starting point of one of the most elaborate and perfectly oiled schemes ever concocted in a film, all in pure British refinery. Holding the D'Ascoyne family as primarily responsible for all the troubles that affected his life, he decides to take his revenge and kill each member of the family to get his way to the Dukedom: eight D'Ascoyne and so many different ways to kill that you'd come to regret the Edwardian era and the bursts of stylish creativity it could inspire even in the deadliest actions. Poisoning, explosions, arrows and even plain bullets are so many weapons used by a cold and meticulous mastermind. There is something in Louis that evokes the patient efficiency of the Jackal.And more than the story, there's the storytelling. When the film opens, we actually see Louis in the night preceding his execution. He's referred to as the Duke and the executioner seems rather impressed and nervous. At first, we take it for granted that Louis was a Duke from the start, even his manners and the way he addresses a snoring cop shows that this is man cautious about his social status. But then the flashback, as narrated by his memoirs, reveals his past, and we understand that what we saw first is only the proof of his success. And this is how the narration works, it either precedes our comprehension or completes it, sometimes, what we hear and what we see effectively overlap, sometimes, narration adds to the visual enjoyment, sometimes, visuals have a literate level of appreciation. And some other times, it is just funny as hell.There's a moment in the film where Louis has just prepared an explosion to one of his targets and while he's talking about his victim's future to his soon-to-be-widowed wife, in the midst of the discussion, there's a sort of 'poof' sound. He probably heard it but he continues talking and so does the wife while you can seem a thick cloud of smoke in the background. This is pure gold of hilarity, something of comic books and cartoon levels, and yet it fits in this refined social study on the Edwardian mentalities. And of course, the comedic masterstroke remains the little gimmick the film is celebrated for: the casting of Alec Guinness in the roles of each D'Ascoyne member. Not only that, but the director even found a way to compile six different characters in the same frame, and it's refreshing to have a director try such stunts in the 40's. And I thought that Sellers was a genius and Guinness was unrecognizable in "Ladykillers", this is nothing compared to what Guinness achieved, especially since he's convincing in every role.Naturally, it would be unfair to associate the film's success with Guinness' talent only, there's no actor who proved unworthy, and certainly not Dennis Price, a face I found myself surprised not to know. It is sad that the actor's fate didn't match the prestige of such a debut, but he couldn't have a better lifetime role. This is one of the greatest British antiheroes that the story tactfully manages to prove sympathetic through some pivotal scenes, ethical moves and ironic twist of fates. Yet, as perfectionist as he is, the man has a weakness… "cherchez la femme!" Joanne Greenwood as the luscious mousy Sibella and Valerie Hobson as the dignified Edith are two pawns in the same game and provides clever complications, proving that the film didn't just take its "serial killing" plot for granted. The women also contribute to the ambiguity of the ending, one I dare not to spoil, except to say that it was the perfect note to conclude such a masterpiece.And masterpiece is the word for I've rarely encountered films where the story, the writing, the acting, the storytelling, the directing created such a delightful combination. The film is in the Top 10 Greatest British Movies of All-Time and for reasons, and after discovering "Ladykillers", another gem of Ealing Studios, I'm looking forward to discovering all these titles I've heard about such as "The Man in the White Suit" and "The Lavender Hill Mob". There's something so irresistible about these films, but I doubt they will ever equal the experience of "Kind Hearts and Coronets". I hope I'm wrong.

sandnair87 Instead of the usual warm comedy, contemporary setting and familiar cast of lower-middle class worthies, 'Kind Hearts and Coronets' is set in the 1860s and shot through with pitch black humor and biting satire on both the moribund upper class and the grasping venality of the suburban middle class.A waspishly poised Dennis Price plays Louis Mazzini whose mother was cast out from the aristocratic D'Ascoyne family for marrying an Italian opera singer. After her death and a series of provocations from his estranged relatives - mainly their refusal to let her be buried at Chalfont in the D'Ascoyne family crypt, Louis embarks on a plan to murder his way into his inheritance, knocking off eight D'Ascoyne heirs (all played with great relish by Alec Guinness) one by one, in a series of wonderfully absurd set pieces - even polishing off one of his kinsmen, a windy general, by putting dynamite in his caviar. Louis only finds his match in his childhood sweetheart from the suburbs, the vulgar and scheming Sibella. Matters get complicated when he falls in love with Hobson, the widow of one of his victims. But after Price ascends to the dukedom and marries Hobson, fate catches up and something startling ensues.In this delicious little satire on Edwardian manners and morals, the sly and adroit Mr. Guinness plays eight Edwardian fuddy-duds with such devastating wit and variety that he naturally dominates the film. He scores an eightfold tour de force as every member – young, old, male, female – of the D'Ascoyne clan, adding an additional masterstroke to the ruthlessly pitched satire about British imperialism backfiring on itself. He's aptly matched by Dennis Price as the Byronic anti-hero, who coolly undertakes a monstrous scheme of killing off all his kinfolk in order to succeed to the family coronet.But don't let this obvious admiration for the leads obscure the fact that the picture itself is a sparkling, devilishly cutting jest. Robert Hamer's poised direction chimes perfectly with his Edwardian setting. He directs the script as a story being narrated as the recollections of a candid scoundrel - the Wildean wit of Price's voice-over an unfailing delight - and the whole development of the scoundrel's calculated career - in this case, of civilized murder - is described in the finest spirit of Gallic wit. Such a story of unmitigated contempt for the fundamental laws or society could only be tolerable when played as a spoof - a spoof on the highest level of cultivated humor and device.The result, Kind Hearts and Coronets, is one of those films that can be seen repeatedly and still offer surprises. As a combination of rollicking black humor and satirical pokes at the English upper crust, nothing else comes close.