He Kills Everyone But Himself(?)

Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) – Eight people stand between a disinherited member of a noble family and the title. He decides to disinherit them in the most final way possible.

Directed by Robert Hamer

Starring Dennis Price, Alec Guinness, Valerie Hobson

Why I Liked It – A wickedly funny assault on the English nobility, plus a tour de force performance by Alec Guinness

The movie begins with the main character, Louis Mazzini (Price) writing his memoirs about the killing spree that made him the 10^th Duke of Chalfont. Telling a story through flashbacks can be tough, with the audience getting lost in the timeline. “Kind Hearts and Coronets” is a textbook example of how to pull it off. Mazzini has eight murders to discuss, and each gets its own “chapter” in the memoir. Each story gets its own delicious attention.

The real delight in this movie is the eight roles played by Alec Guinness. All eight of the D’Ascoyne family victims, including suffragette Lady Agatha, are done to perfection. At times, I had to watch closely to realize it was indeed Guinness. The complete list is The Duke, The Banker, The Parson, The General, The Admiral, Young Ascoyne, Young Henry, and Lady Agatha. The assignment came with more obvious challenges, like remembering how each character spoke. He didn’t want to be playing the General and sound like Lady A. There were also some dangers to the role. The Admiral goes down with his ship (saving Louis the effort of murdering him). But during filming, the crew nearly forgot to release the actor from his safety harness! Fortunately, Guinness prided himself on how long he could hold his breath and was rescued in time. I wonder if the Parson, a clergyman given to rambling, nonsensical sermons, might have served as the partial inspiration for the bishop in “The Princess Bride”.

What the movie delivers is a crafted piece of black comedy, told with wit and intelligence. Some bits will feel dated, as the characters maneuver through the strict social code of Edwardian England. The source of all the trouble is the D’Ascoynes disowning Louis’ mother for marrying beneath her station. They will rebuff several attempts to recognize Louis as a member of the family. It is the refusal to allow his mother to be buried in the family tomb that sets Mazzini on his way to the gallows. Along the way, Louis will make several cold calculations to achieve his ends. That includes playing on the emotions of a grieving father and playing on the affections of the widow of one of his victims. That twisted series of decisions will return to bite him in the end.

There’s a lovely twist at the ending, at least in the version shown in the United States. The original end was seen as ambivalent on the subject of “getting away with murder”, and a final ten seconds was added. My honest reaction is that the addition improves the movie. Without it, there’s a HUGE unresolved issue in the movie.

The movie made several lists of the greatest British movies of all time. It’s finished as high as 6^th on one list. Seventy-plus years later, it still shows its quality.

You can stream “Kind Hearts and Coronets” on Tubi, The Roku Channel, Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple TV, and Fandango at Home.

Rating – **** Recommended