Back home

Kind Hearts and Coronets

587 votes

When his mother eloped with an Italian opera singer, Louis Mazzini was cut off from her aristocratic family. After the family refuses to let her be buried in the family mausoleum, Louis avenges his mother's death by attempting to murder every family member who stands between himself and the family fortune. But when he finds himself torn between his longtime love and the widow of one of his victims, his plans go awry.

Status: Released

Released Date: 1949-06-21

Runtime: 104 mins

Director: Robert Hamer

Spoken language: English

Genres: Comedy, Crime

Original title: Kind Hearts and Coronets

Production Companies: Ealing Studios, J. Arthur Rank Organisation

Production Countries: United Kingdom

Cast

Louis Mazzini / His Father

Dennis Price

The D'Ascoyne Family: The Duke / The Banker / The Parson / The General / The Admiral / Young Ascoyne / Young Henry / Lady Agatha

Alec Guinness

Joan Greenwood

Valerie Hobson

Audrey Fildes

Miles Malleson

Clive Morton

John Penrose

Cecil Ramage

Hugh Griffith

John Salew

Eric Messiter

Lyn Evans

Barbara Leake

Reviews

Juno78

For everything that I'd heard about this film, I was left underwhelmed. I'd always heard that Alec Guinness was superb, playing multiple characters, but most of them were on screen for just a moment. Yes, the makeup artist did a good job making them all visually distinct, but only a couple really have a role to play in the story. There is one shot, clever for the time, which brings them all "together" which you can admire on a technical level. It does nothing to raise the piece. Honestly, all of that is a side-show to the actual story and had it been six different actors the film would be unaffected. The humour is that of a gentle farce and personally it caused little more than a wry smile for me. I realise it's "of it's time", but even for the late '40s I think it's pedestrian.

2024-09-19

Geronimo1967

The best, I think, of the Ealing Comedies features a wonderful Dennis Price as the hard-done-by aristocrat who sets out to exact the most spectacular series of acts of vengeance on those whom he blames for the plights of his childhood. Alec Guinness plays the entire (somewhat doomed) "D'Ascoyne" family outstandingly (especially, I thought, the vicar) and both Valerie Hobson and Joan Greenwood complete this excellent casting of this very enjoyable dark comedy that has the odd extra twist to complicate things nicely. It is one of those films you can watch over and over again and it just doesn't get wearisome.

2022-07-09

nutshell

This is hands down my favorite Ealing Studios comedy, as I'm sure it is for many others. A most exquisite and brilliantly dark comic showcase, most especially for Dennis Price who is outstanding here in the lead role of Louis, and for some young actor named Alec Guinness who plays a whopping 8 roles in this film! In those early days the young Mr. Guinness was constantly challenging both himself, and his directors, in order to prove his capabilities. He had done just that the year before with his fabulous portrayal of Fagin in Oliver Twist, and that was only his 2nd movie! With this phenomenal 3rd piece of work, he silenced any critics that might still be left, going on to enjoy a tremendous career that would last nearly the rest of his life.

2020-05-24

Recommendations

3.4

Presumed Innocent

1990-07-27

Rusty Sabich is a deputy prosecutor engaged in an obsessive affair with a coworker who is murdered.

3.1

Pete's Dragon

1977-11-03

Pete, a young orphan, runs away to a Maine fishing town with his best friend a lovable, sometimes in

3.5

National Lampoon's Vacation

1983-07-29

Clark Griswold is on a quest to take his family to the Walley World theme park for a vacation, but t

2.9

Mother's Elling

2003-10-10

Elling has lived with his mother all his life. Mom is the practical one, while Elling ponders the mo

3.3

Nonstop Trouble with the Family

1985-02-08

A series of murders eliminates the poverty-stricken heirs to a 10 million-dollar fortune while Didi

3.3

Public Enemies

2009-07-01

Depression-era bank robber John Dillinger's charm and audacity endear him to much of America's downt

3.7

Midnight Express

1978-08-31

Billy Hayes is caught attempting to smuggle drugs out of Turkey. The Turkish courts decide to make a

3.6

Pusher II

2004-12-25

Tonny is released from prison - again. This time he has his mind set on changing his broken down lif

The Lair of the White Worm

1988-09-21

When an archaeologist uncovers a strange skull in a foreign land, the residents of a nearby town beg

3.6

The Olsen Gang on the Track

1975-09-26

Egon and his two cronies managed to sneak a fortune with them to Spain. Here they live a life in a w

3.7

The Olsen Gang Sees Red

1976-10-01

Egon and the gang are hired to stage a robbery of an antique Chinese vase for an economically challe

2.9

The Art of War

2000-08-25

Neil Shaw is both agent and weapon - a critical line of defense for the Secretary General of the Uni

3.2

The Belles of St. Trinian's

1954-09-28

The unruly schoolgirls of St Trinian's are more interested in men and mischief than homework and hoc

3.3

The Long Kiss Goodnight

1996-10-11

Samantha Caine is a small-town schoolteacher and mom with no memory of her life before washing up on

3.6

The Defiant Ones

1958-08-14

Two convicts—one white, one black—escape while chained to each other.

3.1

National Lampoon's European Vacation

1985-07-25

The Griswolds win a vacation to Europe on a game show, and so pack their bags for the continent. The

Charlie Says

2019-05-10

Three young women were sentenced to death in the infamous Manson murder case, but when the death pen

Three on a Spree

1961-06-28

A young man will inherit a huge fortune--8 million pounds--but to qualify, he must spend a million p

2.6

Warkop DKI Reborn: Jangkrik Boss! Part 2

2017-08-31

Dono, Kasino, and Indro's adventure continues. They have to search for the treasure to pay their deb

Thierry Le Luron, l'humour de ma vie

2016-11-14