Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)

Director: Robert Hamer
Starring: Dennis Price, Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood, Valerie Hobson
Certificate: U
Genre: Comedy, Crime
Awards: None

Louis Mazzini (Price) and his mother were cast out of their rich family when his mother married someone below her status. After the death of his mother, Louis is set on avenging himself on the family by killing the eight heirs to the dukedom. All eight and the duke are played by Alec Guinness.

Kind Hearts and Coronets show how good an actor Guinness is. The film is definitely his show although Dennis Price makes a good dark protagonist. Although the story was clever and had a good imagination it was not as funny as I expected it to be. It's a dark comedy so it is more subliminal humour, but compared to another ealing comedy -The Lady Killers- it's really just not funny.

However, The story was good and it had a clever ending. If you're a fan of Alec Guinness this is absolutely essential watching material.

****Good