Kind Hearts and Coronets -- What Makes This Movie Great? (Episode 178)
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- Опубликовано: 25 сен 2023
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Disclaimer: All reasonable comments are welcome, including reasoned disagreements. You will be banned for foolish talk, harassment, and hate speech on sight; it's a tremendous waste of life. I believe in freedom of association and, by extension, freedom of dissociation from you. 
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My favourite quote is where Louis says to Sibella "I must admit he exhibits the most extraordinary capacity for middle age that I've ever encountered!"....brilliant😅😅
I shot an arrow in the air. She fell to work in Berkeley Square. Brilliantly dark comedy line
The script is packed so full of dark humour and wordplay. E.g. the line "by way of the post, I sent the caviar to the General". 'Caviar to the general' is an old-fashioned (and somewhat snobby) British expression meaning 'to give something expensive to someone who doesn't deserve/appreciate it' ('general' here being short for 'the general public'). Essentially he's saying that his victim doesn't even deserve to have such a nice container for the bomb!
Wow, I did not know that. Thank you! (So, it's a bit like 'Pearls before swine'?). It makes sense of a slightly awkwardly phrased line.
One of the best ending lines ever. So deliciously dark and witty.
8 things make this great. Alec Guinness.
I recently heard that Alaistair Sim was originally supposed to be the lead in The Ladykillers, but dropped out, so Guinness played the role as he imagined Sim, who he admired, would’ve done. Watching that one knowing this entirely changed my perception of it.
Genius film by Robert Hamer. Check out his 1960 School For Scoundrels. Excellent too.
I first saw this movie in the late 80s or early 90s (mostly to see Alec Guinness playing 8 parts) and found the story quite enjoyable. Over the years and many more viewings I came to love the dark humor of it in addition to the story. I know I will watch it many more times in the coming years
Truly one my favourite films. I revisit it every couple of years or so with great pleasure. It just works. And it's got Joan Greenwood who is... well.... Joan Greenwood. Unbeatable. Thinking of British comedies with a serious touch, have you covered "Tom Jones" on this channel? Another gem (and also featuring Joan Greenwood - what a pity she was never given anything truly meaty in film. Apparently she was wonderful on stage as Hedda Gabler)
Have not covered Tom Jones. I haven't seen it since I was a kid! The book is great, so perhaps I should try it again. Thanks for this prompting.
Aaaw but she was brilliant in this and The Man in the White Suit ❤️❤️❤️❤️
@@darrenhoskins8382 I completely agree, but I would nonetheless love to have seen her in a more dramatic role.
Love it! Saw Kind Hearts and Coronets in spring 2021 as part of my IMDb top 250 project. So great! Peak British dark comedy. Recommended this film so many times since then. Haven’t found anything else like it.
Good stuff. The film speaks of the time it was made. The British aristocracy survived and prospered despite attempts to destroy it. Great film from a really golden age of British cinema. Keep it up Josh.
thank you
I am indebted to Pat McCormick, host of the Dialing for Dollars movies on KTVU in Oakland, for introducing me to many classic movies in the early 1970s, including those from Ealing Studios. By far, my favorite was, and remains, Kind Hearts and Coronets. Joan Greenwood gives one of the most sinfully sexy performances ever, all the while completely concealed beneath Victorian clothing. Dennis Price's performance epitomizes upper class prejudices and snobbery on top of being a serial killer - why are we all rooting for him? And, of course, Alec Guinness. Even though he had a long and illustrious career, nothing he did tops his Ealing comedies.
great comment, thank you.
Great review! Can’t wait to see it.
“I always say my West window has all the *exuberance* of Chaucer without, happily, any of the concomitant crudities of his period ...”
One of my favorites.
The tone of this film reminds me of Machado de Assis. One of the most underrated canonical greats. Kinda of paradoxical being underrated and in the canon, but you see the point.
My parents loved the Ealing comedies so I saw them all at an early age and several times at that. I remember the first time I noticed the line: "You're a lucky man -take my word for it" (said to the bridegroom after his wedding to Joan Greenwood's character) and thought "Whooah! - That's sly! Old films like this relied on their audiences paying attention and picking up references and jokes which dodged the censors.
another Guinness movie brought to my attention - yesterday I was watching a sci-fi list which mentioned Man in the White Suit, hadn't heard of that one either. the kind of tone and amoral/light touch immoral nature, with a dry comedy reflecting on events kind of reminds me obliquely of Lubitsch's Heaven Can Wait.
Man in the White Suit is pretty okay. I've seen it a couple of times; it doesn't hum all the way through, but like the other Ealing comedies it is watchable. You also might check out "The Captain's Paradise" with Guinness, one I liked better.
A total classic.
Ooh I'll check it out. I love The Lavender Hill Mob
Not sure I'd call it a serial killer movie. Yes: Louis kills quite a lot of people over the course of the story, but unlike, say, Patrick Bateman, he has a motivation for all his actions/kills that we immediately understand and that we might even sympathize with. He's not just killing folks randomly or out of lunacy or for the "fun" of it - he has a clear goal and murder is the only way to achieve it.
The family had treated both him and his mother like dirt, and he wasn't "just" out to claim the dukedom for himself but to get revenge on those who wronged him and his parents. He does comment on the revenge/punishment-thing in his narration multiple times and he even sums it up during the last kill when he tells Ethelred that the family had condemned his mother to a life of hardship she hadn't been prepared for - just because she had dared to marry out of love. And yet: I never *really* thought he came across as a hypocrite - he does regret having to kill those in the family that proved to be pleasant or "harmless" (the photographer comes to mind) and expresses relief over the fact that he didn't have to kill his boss at the bank when he dies of natural causes.
What I find fascinating about the film is the characterization of both Louis and his future victims. Hardly any of the "real" noblemen/-women in the family seem worthy of of the title, most of them being either buffoons, world-class snobs, rude a$$holes, idle rich with no ambition whatsoever, etc - or a combination of those traits. I'm excluding some of the victims here like the two military men and the suffragette, simply because they hardly get a characterization worthy of the term. Louis OTOH, while technically not an aristocrat, is pretty much portrayed as a poster-boy for an English nobleman: Extremely well-spoken, always impeccably groomed and dressed, displaying a great deal of empathy at times and keeping a stiff upper lip even while his own execution is a mere hours away. So, in a sense, this is a pretty subversive film, I'd say. Plus it does contain quite a lot of subtle and not-so-subtle sexual undertones - especially considering the era it was made in.
Best English comedy ever made .
Fantastic Movie. Introduced me to my dark comedy and sir alec guinness. The orgional Lady Killers is good if you guys like this sort of movie also with sir alec guinness
What a coincidence, a national TV channel of my country which shows a lot of classic cinema just aired this. Need to get on this asap 👍
I've got the 70th Anniversary edition Blu-ray from Studiocanal (how the French got control of Ealing I have no idea). Kind Hearts is one of my favourite films as it shows the English upper class as essentially dolts (speaking as an Australian, mind you.) Definitely one of Alec Guinness' best films, and very highly recommended.
Ealing Studios needed money desperately.
A great film
I saw this movie years ago. I always assumed Louis gets caught when he forgets his memoir in his cell after being acquitted for killing Lionel.
After just watching it again it's become somewhat ambiguous to me as to whether he does in fact get found out.
I would like to believe that he promptly goes back and retrieves said memoir before it can expose him.
The movie leaves that to the imagination.
Does anyone know if that is the case?
@@genevievel5309 lol. Yes he's rather likeable figure. The family he "illuminated" did insult his mother so I sympathize with the character. ✌️
@@genevievel5309 I actually did some sleuthing on the matter. Apparently they did shoot a scene for the American version that shows a guard finding Louis's memoir. The original version doesn't show scene. I prefer that version myself.
He wouldn't get away with everything. Even if he can get back his manuscript before anyone else can read it, there is still the problem with both woman waiting outside...
If he goes to Sibella, the duchess will get suspicious. If he goes to Edith, Sibella might fear, that he will try to kill her instead of the duchess. Then she maybe will go to the police and tell them that he has murdered many members of his family to inherit the dukedom.
I think the real victim here is the hangman. He wanted to retire with a grand finale. But now he can't do this. He either has to retire without the merit of hanging a duke - or he has to go on with his hard work and has to hope that Louis will be convicted for murder again or another criminal duke comes along.
This film is as British as fish and chips and in so being is delightful and jolly good fun. So what if eight people had to die. They are all played by the same actor, so we are allowed to laugh and the movie is great fun.
Going thru a decades-late super crush on Alec Guiness, thank you.
My favorite musical is based on this movie.
Its a truly great film, Guinness does a wonderful job, but it is Price's film except where Joan Greenwood is stealing scenes, their interactions are its finest moments for me. I suppose it could be scene as an attack on aristocracy, but I'm not so sure; the none aristocrats are hardly sympathetic charecters, and Louis is as big a snob as his family. He wants revenge and what he sees as his rightful place. I think the style is very influenced by Oscar Wild, the time period is similar to his plays. Incidentally the trial in front of the House of Lords was topical at the time as the right of its members to be tried there had just been repealed.
What makes it great? In film industry jargon: "I has hair"