Cinema
Kind Hearts and Coronets
Robert Hamer · 1949
Synopsis
Louis Mazzini is the son of a duke's daughter whom the D'Ascoynes disowned for marrying an Italian opera singer. His mother having died in poverty, he swears to avenge her, and does the sums: eight heirs stand between him and the title. The first, a banker's son, drowns with his mistress in a boating accident that Louis has arranged; the second, a young photographer he rather liked, dies all the same. Louis tells all this in a cell, awaiting his hanging.
Context
The film is based on a novel by Roy Horniman published in 1907 and reissued in 1946. The head of the studio, at first reluctant, told his director that he was trying to sell the English the most unsaleable commodity there is, irony. Alec Guinness, who was offered four of the family roles, read the screenplay and asked to play all eight. In the United States, the distributors refused the ending as it stood, and the profession's code, which forbade a crime from paying, required an addition.
Who it is for
One hundred and six minutes, in English with subtitles or in a French-language version. The story is carried by the voice of Louis, who reads from his memoirs.
Prizes and reception
Sixth in the ranking of the hundred best British films drawn up in London in 1999.
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