vistafjord I love this movie. Very dry wit. Very classically British. If you are looking for a film that can stand on its script instead of special effects, give this one a try. Guinness does a wonderful job of playing all the protagonists in this film. Plot, of course, has a very interesting twist at the end. I recommend you see this!

Takethispunch In Edwardian England, Louis D'Ascoyne Mazzini, 10th Duke of Chalfont awaits his hanging the following morning. As he writes his memoirs, the events of his life are shown in flashback.His mother, the youngest daughter of the 7th Duke of Chalfont, eloped with an Italian opera singer named Mazzini and was disowned by her family for marrying beneath her station. Even so, the Mazzinis were poor, but happy, until Mazzini died upon seeing Louis, his newborn son, for the first time.In the aftermath, Louis' widowed mother raises him on the history of her family and told him how, unlike other aristocratic titles, the dukedom of Chalfont, can descend through female heirs. Louis' only childhood friends are Sibella and her brother, a local doctor's children.

Rickting Dennis Price plays a young man who murders his way through his bloodline to become a duke. The brilliant Alec Guinness, who has given so many great performances outside of Star Wars, superbly plays 8 roles and dies 8 times. It's not like modern comedies at all, but Kind Hearts and Coronets doesn't feel dated. It's not your typical laugh out loud comedy. It's conveyed in a very dry, detached way, but it's very funny in an incredibly dark way. Admittedly, there are times when you don't know whether you're meant to laugh or not but it still has loads of genuinely funny moments. This is a film which actually manages to make murder funny, but what's most impressive about it, aside from the great performances, is the social commentary. The main character is pretty despicable, yet he is sympathetic and the moment where he confronts the last victim and explains his motives is actually very moving as well as blackly comic. This is an excellent mix of drama and humour, and it is easily one of the darkest comedies ever made. The fact that it manages to make such dark material so entertaining and do so in such a clever way solidifies the film's position as one of the definitive Ealing comedies.9/10

Prismark10 Kind Hearts and Coronets is a morality tale and social satire combined into one. Although it is well known for the eight roles played by Alec Guinness, you will discover that some of the roles he plays are rather brief.Louis Mazzini is played coldly and rather understated by Dennis Price. He is the grandson of the Duke of D'Ascoyne whose mother married beneath herself to a singer and was exiled by her rich family and died destitute.Louis is toiling in a shop and ends up losing his job thanks to a D'Ascoyne and wants to get revenge against the pompous family. So he brutally bumps them off one by one and gets nearer to the line of inheritance and at the same time his social and financial status elevates.This film is one of the well known Ealing comedies which has a dark heart. In fact the film opens in prison as Louis is facing the gallows which indicates that he might had not got away with his plans. Even then there are further twists to emerge as Louis complicated love live threatens to derail him.Although Guinness grabs the headlines this is Price's film and he is well supported by a sly, witty and literate script.