Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)

This British comedy is a royal gem.


Much is made of Alec Guinness playing seven different members of the same aristocratic family, including a woman.


But Kind Hearts and Coronets is also an absorbing look at revenge, greed, manipulation and unexpected fate.


Louis Mazzini (Dennis Price) vows revenge when his mother is shunned by her family, the d'Ascoynes, for marrying an Italian. He dies when Louis is born. She scrapes by, taking in a boarder to make ends meet, and meets an early death when she is struck by a bus.


Mazzini plots to kill the eight d'Ascoynes who stand between him and the dukedom. Fate helps with some of their demises. The admiral makes a not-too-bright navigational move to speed up his death. Poison, explosives, a bow and arrow and a gun are some of the ways Mazzini pops off his kin.


Kind Hearts and Coronets is a very funny comedy, but there's a definite dramatic element between Louis and his childhood love, Sibella Holland (Joan Greenwood). He wants to marry her. She opts for another childhood chum, Lionel Holland (John Penrose), who is coming into cash a lot sooner than Louis. It's Sibella, the woman he loves most who proves to be his toughest opponent. Louis is interested in Edith (Valerie Hobson), the widow of one of the d'Ascoynes he dispatched. Here's a woman with real character, but Louis is more interested in using her to advance his scheme.


The laughs in this great film are mostly subdued, with observations including "Even potential dukes have to eat," when Mama (Audrey Fields) rents out a room to earn money to Lionel noting his "impersonation of a man with sterling character."


Guinness is great fun to watch as he plays each d'Ascoyne, including Lady Agatha, a suffragette who assumes her leadership role with great gusto. For Star Wars fans, it's fun to hear Guinness' parson note, "The port's with you." George Lucas' landmark science-fiction film was nearly 30 years away.


Kind Hearts and Coronets ends with a great twist, a fantastic final touch on a very, very good film.


RATING: 9/10


FUN FACTS: Director Robert Hamer helmed The Haunted Mirror segment of the horror anthology, Dead of Night, released in 1945.

Greenwood was Guinness' love interest in The Man in the White Suit.

Dead of Night (1945)

Great title. So-so film.


British horror film from Ealing Studio unites directors Alberto Cavalcanti (The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby), Charles Crichton (The Lavender Hill Mob), Basil Dearden (The League of Gentlemen) and Robert Hamer (Kind Hearts and Coronets).


This 1945 release is a collection of shorts stitched together under a bigger narrative. There's five stories here (Christmas Party, The Ventriloquist's Dummy, Golfing Story, Hearse Driver and The Haunted Mirror) plus the overriding story.


Architect Walter Craig (Mervyn Jones) heads out to the country to do work on a home. There, he has an uneasy feeling he has ventured out to the property before and knows the residents, and guests, inside.


He shares his story and, by jove, just about everyone else has a creepy story to tell too.


Well, they're not all creepy.


KEEP THE REMOTE HANDY


Hearse Driver and The Haunted Mirror have all the subtlety of a cement block dropped on one's foot.


Golfing Story, based on a story by H.G. Wells, is a real hoot. Two long-tiem buddies love golf and the same girl. They decide they'll hit the links for a game to decide who gets their lady love. The loser talks a long walk in a deep pond, but comes back when he learns his buddy cheated during their round. When he forgets how to make himself disappear, frustrations mount.


The Ventriloquist's Dummy is a standout too. American ventriloquist catches hot British act in a French nightclub. Follow that? Dummy wants to work with the new guy. American talent is confused. Does the dummy talk on his own? Why's the British chap drinking so much and acting paranoid? This is a great effort.


BUT WHAT DOES IT MEAN, DOCTOR?


Still trying to make sense of the film's ending when all the stories come together to terrorize Craig. Is he mentally ill? Did he dream the whole episode? Is he doomed to repeat the country visit for the rest of his days?


My advice: Watch Golfing Story and The Ventriloquist's Dummy. Skip the rest.


RATING: 9/10 (for two recommended stories)
RATING: 7/10 (the entire film)


FUN FACTS: Actress Googie Withers died on July 15, 2011. She was 94. Withers' credits include The Lady Vanishes and Shine, her last role.