Search - Kind Hearts and Coronets on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Mild Violence, Questionable for Children Movie Release: 1949 DVD Release: 09/10/2002 Format: DVD - Black and White - Closed Captioned Edition: Special Collection Audio Tracks: English, French SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 46 mins Studio: Anchor Bay Members Wishing: 4 Genres: Comedy, Black Comedy, Crime Comedy See Also: Kind Hearts and Coronets [Criterion Collection]

Alec Guinness gets to die eight times, playing a line of successors to a dukedom, in the Ealing black comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets. Louis Mazzini (Dennis Price) is ninth in line to inherit the dukedom from the aristocratic D'Ascoyne family. Louis vows to kill all eight people who stand between him and the duke's title. Aside from two cases of natural causes, Louis works through the list, eliminating rivals (all played by Guinness). Along the way he romances Sibella (Joan Greenwood), a childhood friend who ends up marrying a dullard, and Edith (Valerie Hobson), the beautiful widow of one of his victims with whom he plans to share his title. But just when Louis is ready to assume the D'Ascoyne mantle, a bizarre irony strikes. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Dennis Price - Louis Mazzini
Alec Guinness - Lord d'Ascoyne
Alec Guinness - Lady Agatha d'Ascoyne
Alec Guinness - Henry d'Ascoyne
Alec Guinness - Gen. d'Ascoyne
Alec Guinness - Duke of Chalfont
Alec Guinness - Canon d'Ascoyne
Alec Guinness - Ascoyne d'Ascoyne
Alec Guinness - Admiral d'Ascoyne
Valerie Hobson - Edith D'Ascoyne
Joan Greenwood - Sibella

Kind Hearts and Coronets, produced by Ealing Studios, was the movie that put Alec Guinness on the map, at least for American audiences, as an extraordinary new talent (he had done a star turn as Fagin in David Lean's Oliver Twist the previous year, but that movie was unable to get distribution in America until 1951, due -- ironically -- to Guinness's portrayal of Fagin). The movie has been given respectful treatment that occasionally slides over into the sublimely clever, specifically in the design of its menu. Opening automatically on start-up, the latter is built on visuals from the opening credits and manages to have great fun with them, as one wanders around the menu (which is worth the "walk"). The transfer itself is a significant improvement over any other edition of the movie that that this reviewer can recall, certainly from television and also the short-lived laserdisc version from the 1980's. It isn't perfect, but it does capture some of the luster and depth of a proper theatrical showing, with some interior shots that glitter. Additionally, the audio is mastered at a reasonably high level, and offers a richness that shows off the subtle nuances of Dennis Price's wryly comical narration. The movie has been given a generous and well-chosen 28 chapters and comes appended with the original trailer as well as a bio of Alec Guinness (identical to the bio on the other discs in this series from Anchor Bay). The disc comes with an extensive and well-detailed production history of the movie, authored by Rand Vossler. The release of this title also points up one of the virtues of some aspects of advancing technology, where high-end video is concerned -- Anchor Bay was able to release the DVD, with superior video and good audio, for about half the cost of the laserdisc edition from 15 years earlier. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide