Kind Hearts and Coronets (film)
"Kind Hearts and Coronets" is a British black-and-white comedy film released in 1949, known for its dark humor and considered one of the best examples of this genre in British cinema. The film stars Alec Guinness, who impressively portrays eight different characters, all of whom are heirs to a dukedom. The narrative revolves around Louis D'Ascoyne Mazzini, who seeks revenge against his aristocratic family for the social rejection of his mother and embarks on a series of murders to eliminate those ahead of him in the line of succession.
Set against the backdrop of early 20th-century England, the film addresses themes of social class and revenge while blending comedic elements with a macabre storyline. Mazzini's cold, methodical approach to murder contrasts with his romantic entanglements with two women, Sibella and Edith, adding complexity to his character. The film's critical reception highlighted its unique storytelling and cinematographic techniques, particularly during scenes involving multiple roles played by Guinness. "Kind Hearts and Coronets" reflects the post-war era's desire for humor amid the hardships of life, and it remains a significant work in the canon of Ealing comedies.
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Kind Hearts and Coronets (film)
- Release Date: 1949
- Director(s): Robert Hamer
- Writer(s): John Dighton; Robert Hamer
- Principal Actors and Roles: Joan Greenwood (Sibella); Alec Guinness (The D'Ascoyne Family: The Duke/ The Banker / The Parson / The General / The Admiral / young Ascoyne / young Henry / Lady Ascoyne); Valerie Hobson (Edith); Dennis Price (Louis D'Ascoyne Mazzini and his father)
- Book / Story Film Based On: Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal by Roy Horniman
Kind Hearts and Coronets is a black-and-white British comedy film that was highly regarded after its release and is considered among the best dark humor British films ever. Some consider it among the best overall British films.
In this 106-minute film, Alec Guinness plays eight different characters—both male and female and a variety of ages—in the film, all of which are heirs to a dukedom. Guinness won the American National Board Review Award for Best Actor for his role in the film. He also gained international recognition for his role.
Plot
The story takes place around the turn of the twentieth century. The audience is introduced to Louis D’Ascoyne Mazzini, tenth Duke of Chalfont right before he is about to be hanged for his crime. We learn about his life—and how he arrived at this point—through his memoirs. Essentially, Mazzini became a duke in his family, the D’Ascoynes, mostly by killing off those who were in line ahead of him, and the memoirs detail those events. To begin, Mazzini is furious that his mother, who had recently passed away, cannot be buried in the D’Ascoyne family crypt because she married someone who is not of the same social class. (His mother was the daughter of the Duke of Chalfont.)
To seek his revenge against his family for not allowing his mother to be buried in the family crypt and for the impoverished life that he and his mother were forced to live because the family rejected them, Mazzini goes on to murder nine other heirs to the dukedom. He also hopes to fulfill a dream that his mother always had for him—to become a duke.
After his mother dies, Mazzini goes to live in a boarding house where he meets Sibella. They fall in love but Sibella is more interested in another man, Lionel, who has money. She leaves Mazzini for Lionel, but as Mazzini slowly moves up the social ladder and his economic situation improves, she becomes interested in him again.
One by one, Mazzini kills off the family members who stand in the way of inheriting the dukedom. He uses a different method of killing for each one. Many of the methods are quite creative, and in some instances, the deed is done for him. Mazzini is delighted when a few of the family members face their own fate and a death not by his hand. Mazzini also falls for Edith, a widow of one of his victims.
Mazzini is eventually charged with and tried for the death of Sibella’s husband, a crime he did not commit. His sentence is death by hanging. Sibella tells Mazzini she will produce a suicide note so he will be pardoned and he can marry her, now she is a widow. While in prison and waiting for the note to be found, Mazzini marries Edith. Finally, the note is produced and Mazzini is pardoned. After his release from prison he walks out to find both Edith and Sibella waiting for him. Mazzini leaves his incriminating memoirs behind in his prison cell.
Significance
Britain was victorious in 1945 but had bore the brunt of the war in Europe. Millions had perished in the war, and devastation was widespread. Comedy became one solution to bringing back some humor, some normalcy to everyday life. Film was one medium in which humor cured the masses.
London’s Ealing Studios became well known for producing what came to be called "Ealing comedies" in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Alec Guinness starred in many of these films. They often were cynical and dark, had unique characters, and were comedies. Like other Ealing Studio films during this time period, Kind Hearts and Coronets relies on voiceovers for the story narration and deals with killing and murder. Yet Kind Hearts and Coronets showed a cruel side that other Ealing films did not. Some critics called it one of the blacker Ealing comedies. Mazzini, a cold-blooded killer, methodically plans the murders and is detached and unaffected by them. His vengefulness drives him, and the interaction with two women whom he loves perhaps distracts him from the cold-blooded acts he is committing. In the end, the audience does not know which love he chooses—Edith or Sibella.
The film’s story line addresses social class in England at the turn of the century through the roles of Mazzini, Edith, and Sibella, as well as those whom Mazzini murders. Mazzini struggles to reach the upper class so that he can become a duke and successful (and get revenge on his family), yet it is exactly the upper class that caused so much damage to his life and to that of his mother.
Alec Guinness was generally applauded and recognized for his grand performances in this film. He was originally cast in four of the family member roles, but director Hamer changed it to all eight family members. This caused one difficult challenge when shooting the funeral scene because six members of the D’Ascoyne family were present. Special cinematographic techniques and camera shots were needed to make this scene work.
An interesting note is that before the film was released in the United States (1950), Kind Hearts and Coronets was modified to show the police holding Mazzini’s memoirs in their hands after finding it in his prison cell. Even with an altered ending, the film was equally as popular in the United States as it was in Great Britain.
Bibliography
Boyce, Michael W. The Lasting Influence of the War on Postwar British Film. New York: Palgrave, 2012. Print.
Drazin, Charles. The Finest Years: British Cinema of the 1940s. New York: Tauris, 2007. Print.
Mayer, Geoff. Guide to British Cinema. Westport: Greenwood, 2003. Print.
McFarlane, Brian, ed. The Cinema of Britain and Ireland. London: Wallflower, 2005. Print.
Muir, Stephanie. Studying Ealing Studios. New York: Columbia UP, 2010. Print.
Newton, Michael. Kind Hearts and Coronets. London: BFI Film Classics, 2008. Print.
Slide, Anthony. Fifty Classic British Films, 1932–1982. Toronto: General Pub., 2013. Print.