Review for Kind Hearts and Coronets

Only Ealing (and possibly the Boulting Brothers) could possibly get away with making such a charming film about a serial killer. I'd forgotten just how good thif film was and found myself enjoying every delicious moment of it.


I also found myself re-assessing the film and realising that the real star of the film isn't necessarily Alec Guniess (who does a charming if hammy selection of eight different roles) but rather the grossly under-rated Denis Price whose performance is utterly spell-binding. (There's a rather nice tribute to the man in the extra features as well …but more on that later).


It was released in 1949, a bumper year for Ealing Studios who had also taken a huge gamble with a new Director on 'Whisky Galore' which had paid off - and then some.

Based on a novel by Roy Horniman, it was swiftly re-written to remove hints of anti-semitism in the original and to become a British theatrical comedy, not to be taken too seriously but with deliciously dark undertones.


The film is neatly set up to enable us to sympathise (at least to begin with) with its murderous star. Like so much post-war comedy of the period, no opportunity to knock the absurdities of a dying class system were lost, and most the gentry in the film are portrayed as pompous asses whom the world wouldn't particularly miss.

Louis Mazzini's (Price's) mum was a D'Ascoyne but she saw fit to run off with a poor but earnest opera singer and was promptly disowned by the rest of the family. When she is taken ill she is even denied her dying wish - to be buried in the family crypt. Louis vows to take revenge.


Further cruelties are wreaked upon poor Louis before he starts his killing spree in earnest. He is in love with a childhood friend, Sibella (played to perfection by Joan Greenwood) though she sees him as below her class. He is also insulted by one of the D'Ascoyne family when serving in a department store.

So he sets about be-ridding himself of the entire family, with a clear goal in mind. To inherit the entire estate.


As he climbs the social ladder, often befriending the D'Ascoyne he is about to dispose of, he strikes up an affair with the wicked Sibella, as well as courting the wife of one of his victims, the terribly prim and proper Edith D'Ascoyne (Valerie Hobson).

It's all superbly played out and perfectly cast. Even minor characters like the executioner (Miles Malleson) are sublime. Guinness is predictably good as the eight victims, including one lady where he takes it so hammily close to music hall that it almost tilts to the absurd, but not quite. Price holds it all together beautifully as the confident charmer, never phased and singularly determined. His refined manners are even retained throughout the course of his 'last meal'.


The plots twists and turns and the slightly longer length of the film (1 hour 40 minutes) compared to standard Ealing fayre (80 minutes) whistles by.

Naturally there is a superb twist at the end of the tale which leaves the audience wondering whether he got away with it - though in the states such lack of resolution was not on, and an alternate ending was cut to make the point that he most certainly did not.

The anoraks amongst us will revel at spotting a very youthful Arthur Lowe in the last few moments of the film as a cub reporter. It's a one line blink and you'll miss it role so keep 'em peeled.

The transfer is fantastic. Deep blacks, high contrast and plenty of detail with very little sign of print wear. And this is the DVD version. I would suggest that this transfer really deserves the HD treatment and I would pay the extra couple of quid for that (I ordered my copy online tonight).

Audio is acceptable mono 2.0, absolutely in line with what you would expect.



Extra features are plentiful and very worthwhile. The audio commentary is a delight with Ealing aficionados Peter Bradshaw and Terence Davies being joined by Matthew Guiness, son of Alec.

There is also a brief optional introduction to the film by a John Landis, clearly a huge fan.

A really great unexpected bonus was a documentary tracing the life and film career of Dennis Price. Strangely I recall him most strongly in his role as one of the two persuasive car salesman in 'A School for Scoundrels', though he had quite a glittering career before that. Unfortunately it was a life plagued by gambling debts and relationships going bad, though his work was great right up to the end of his days.


There's another of those terribly formal and clearly 'read' Radio 3 essays about British cinema - really informative and a great listen.

Also included is that alternative American ending - nowhere near as good as the UK version but you can't tell 'em!

There's a restoration comparison in case you can't see the difference for yourself. I had bought this film on two occasions previously -once on a disappointingly bad VHS transfer and then on a reasonable DVD. This copy is a huge leap from the DVD.

Finally there is a stills gallery, as well as a slightly creaky, badly recorded BECTU interview (oh - the irony!) with Douglas Slocombe, the brilliant cinematographer that we should thank for filming such a masterpiece on so little budget.

All in all this an absolute no brainer. You simply have to buy it.