Year: 1949
Director: Robert Hamer
Country: UK
Language: English
Robert Hamer’s Kind Hearts and Coronets is a brilliant Poe-like dark comedy about greed and dark
ambition. It is about a poor man who plots to inherit the title of Duke of D’Ascoyne by murdering the eight other heirs that stand ahead of him in line. Starring Dennis Price as Louis Mazzini and Alec Guiness as the eight heirs Louis must kill in order to become duke Kind Hearts and Coronets has many elements that comprise an Edgar Allen Poe Story yet it is very comical at times.
I found myself laughing when Louis attempts to kill Lady Agatha (Alec Guinness in drag) by shooting the hot air balloon that she/he is in with an over sized bow and arrow. I noticed elements of Stanley Kubrick’s Lolita in this film. The narration and dark ambitions remind me of the character Humbert Humbert, however where Louis kills to inherit a throne, Humbert kills to keep a young woman to himself. One would argue that even though they do the same action, Louis is still the more humane person.
The makeup in this film is rather brilliant; Guiness has to portray an age range of 30-90 as well as woman. He had to look completely different for each of the eight relatives he portrayed, this .would seem hard because of lack of CGI in this era but Guiness pulls it off and he pulls it off well. It somewhat reminds me of Peter Sellers’ roie in Lolita as Claire Quilty. However there is a slight difference as Peter Sellers’ is one character in Lolita who pretends to be many other characters and Alec Guiness plays many characters.
This film could be viewed as a social commentary on post WWII Britain. It could be seen as a social commentary about how not everything is right in Royalty, that dark ambitions have guided society into a dark path of anarchy and disorder. That even the highest of class are disorganized and capable of self destruction. I’ve noticed that every character Guiness plays is a lot older than Louise. Perhaps this is a commentary about how younger generation will overthrow the older generation that robbed them of their luxury.
It’s strange to sympathize with such a character who would murder his family members in order to inherit a great throne. It’s also somewhat strange to laugh at the misfortune bestowed on his family members. Should I be laughing at this? The writing is clever and witty, and the social commentary is stunning. The acting, the makeup and everything else is quite great. Indeed I am a younger generation and I know what it’s like to feel that the older generation has screwed you over (global warming ect.) So I will laugh, because of the truth within the film. Praise it! 4/5
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