Film: Kind Hearts & Coronets
Director: Robert Hamer
Country: UK
Released: June 1949
Runtime: 106 minutes
Genre: Comedy
Studio: Ealing Studios
Influenced: Tony Richardson, Mike Nichols, John Landis, Robert Altman, Simon Farnaby
Ealing Studios produced an array of films in diverse genres, including "docufictions" like Hue & Cry, set in the ruins of post-WWII Britain, and dramas such as The Blue Lamp, but the studios will remain forever famous for its comedies. 1949 marked the arrival of three classics – Passport to Pimlico, Whisky Galore! and Kind Hearts & Coronets – which set the house style for Ealing Comedies to follow, and in turn shaped the nature and the perception of British humour at home and abroad for decades.
Robert Hamer's film is based on the novel Israel Rank by Roy Horniman, which was a satire of upwardly mobile people and a commentary on issues of class and race in Britain. The key change Hamer and the screenwriters made was to portray the main character as half-Italian instead of half-Jewish. Nancy Mitford was an uncredited scriptwriter for the film. The writing is first class, not a line is wasted. Another of the film's strengths is that you get the incomparable Alec Guinness eight times over. When Guinness was sent the script, he was proposed four roles, but Guinness sent a telegram back saying why don't I do all 8? There's also a ninth D'Ascoyne if you count the picture of one of the ancestors on the wall.
The movie's first act does so well at getting the audience on the side of the main character, Louis Mazzini (played by the sublime Dennis Price), because of the snobbery of the D'Ascoyne family, that by the second act we almost want Louis to get away with murder. Like Guinness, Price plays several different roles, including Louis' opera singing father and Louis himself in disguise, and his performance does perhaps sometimes get overlooked in all the acclaim for Guinness. And then there's Joan Greenwood as Sibella too, as the perfectly cast female lead with her incredibly sexy, husky voice.
When Sibella says to Louis that she'll only marry him if he becomes a duke, his plan to kill all the D'Ascoynes takes shape. As Louis says, "If there was a precise moment at which my insubstantial dreaming took on solid purpose, that was it. The d'Ascoynes had not only wronged my mother, they were the obstacle between me and all that I wanted." Iconic moments include suffragette Lady Agatha being given a secret hot air balloon trip to celebrate her release from Holloway prison, allowing Louis the opportunity to show off his archery skills ("I shot an arrow in the air; she fell to earth in Berkeley Square") and Admiral Lord Horatio d'Ascoyne saluting as his ship goes down and the sea consumes him. The special effects budget for the scene of the two boats colliding must have been lacking – it looks like two toy ships in a bath tub!
That and an unfortunate use of the "eeny, meeny, miny, mo" rhyme aside, the film is close to perfect and Hamer's clever use of flashbacks, voiceovers and montages add to its stylistics, while the stunning black and white cinematography and the perfect sets and costumes capture the opulence and decadence of a bygone era. All in all, Kind Hearts & Coronets is a masterpiece and would go on to influence many films with its unique blend of black comedy, stellar acting and a sublime script. It's perhaps the most polite and elegant serial killer movie ever made.
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