That was an excellent one.

I'll tell you why so serious

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS is very tasty and satirical film. I will not be so much heed to the black humor, which is certainly present. I will describe as mentioned skilled British satire. Well, the film's main protagonist is a murderer. The secondary protagonist is each of the eight victims.Alec Guinness as eight members of the D'Ascoyne family: Ethelred "the Duke", Lord Ascoyne "the Banker", Reverend Lord Henry "the Parson", General Lord Rufus "the General", Admiral Lord Horatio "the Admiral", Young Ascoyne, Young Henry and Lady Agatha D'Ascoyne. He also plays the seventh duke in brief flashback sequences to Mama's youth. I do not want all the credit rewrite to him. Performance is unusual. Some roles are short, but they are quite impressive.The dialogues are perfect, in every moment you expect a gruesome joke. Impoverished and humiliated young man kills all your relatives (almost all), so that inherited wealth and the ducal title. There is a reason. However, the killings are so clumsy and humorous, and therefore the reason it sounds frivolous. This film for general wonder lack inspiration. I'll explain. I do not think anything bad. This movie can serve as an inspiration with with anything. After the film, remains a void in which extinguishes a slight smile. The narrative is a constant, monotonous and reminiscent of the confession.It is interesting how everything works with elegantly and flawlessly. Often you can fall into the trap and think that all of this is true.Dennis Price as Louis Mazzini is a young man, who made a entertains scheme of his own kills. Dennis Price in this role seems quite skillfully. His play with women is much more interesting. After all, can continue indefinitely.The story can be seen as a kind of contempt for the society in which they are pranks, lies and kills some kind of justification. However, great humor and satirical performances give the film a completely different picture.

Dennis Price plays a young man who murders his way through his bloodline to become a duke. The brilliant Alec Guinness, who has given so many great performances outside of Star Wars, superbly plays 8 roles and dies 8 times. It's not like modern comedies at all, but Kind Hearts and Coronets doesn't feel dated. It's not your typical laugh out loud comedy. It's conveyed in a very dry, detached way, but it's very funny in an incredibly dark way. Admittedly, there are times when you don't know whether you're meant to laugh or not but it still has loads of genuinely funny moments. This is a film which actually manages to make murder funny, but what's most impressive about it, aside from the great performances, is the social commentary. The main character is pretty despicable, yet he is sympathetic and the moment where he confronts the last victim and explains his motives is actually very moving as well as blackly comic. This is an excellent mix of drama and humour, and it is easily one of the darkest comedies ever made. The fact that it manages to make such dark material so entertaining and do so in such a clever way solidifies the film's position as one of the definitive Ealing comedies.9/10

Instead of the usual warm comedy, contemporary setting and familiar cast of lower-middle class worthies, 'Kind Hearts and Coronets' is set in the 1860s and shot through with pitch black humor and biting satire on both the moribund upper class and the grasping venality of the suburban middle class.A waspishly poised Dennis Price plays Louis Mazzini whose mother was cast out from the aristocratic D'Ascoyne family for marrying an Italian opera singer. After her death and a series of provocations from his estranged relatives - mainly their refusal to let her be buried at Chalfont in the D'Ascoyne family crypt, Louis embarks on a plan to murder his way into his inheritance, knocking off eight D'Ascoyne heirs (all played with great relish by Alec Guinness) one by one, in a series of wonderfully absurd set pieces - even polishing off one of his kinsmen, a windy general, by putting dynamite in his caviar. Louis only finds his match in his childhood sweetheart from the suburbs, the vulgar and scheming Sibella. Matters get complicated when he falls in love with Hobson, the widow of one of his victims. But after Price ascends to the dukedom and marries Hobson, fate catches up and something startling ensues.In this delicious little satire on Edwardian manners and morals, the sly and adroit Mr. Guinness plays eight Edwardian fuddy-duds with such devastating wit and variety that he naturally dominates the film. He scores an eightfold tour de force as every member – young, old, male, female – of the D'Ascoyne clan, adding an additional masterstroke to the ruthlessly pitched satire about British imperialism backfiring on itself. He's aptly matched by Dennis Price as the Byronic anti-hero, who coolly undertakes a monstrous scheme of killing off all his kinfolk in order to succeed to the family coronet.But don't let this obvious admiration for the leads obscure the fact that the picture itself is a sparkling, devilishly cutting jest. Robert Hamer's poised direction chimes perfectly with his Edwardian setting. He directs the script as a story being narrated as the recollections of a candid scoundrel - the Wildean wit of Price's voice-over an unfailing delight - and the whole development of the scoundrel's calculated career - in this case, of civilized murder - is described in the finest spirit of Gallic wit. Such a story of unmitigated contempt for the fundamental laws or society could only be tolerable when played as a spoof - a spoof on the highest level of cultivated humor and device.The result, Kind Hearts and Coronets, is one of those films that can be seen repeatedly and still offer surprises. As a combination of rollicking black humor and satirical pokes at the English upper crust, nothing else comes close.

***While both reviews have spoilers, I recommend Felix-28 ("One of the Very Best", Felix-28 from Melbourne, Australia, 5 February 2006). Also, ackstasis ("It is so difficult to make a neat job of killing people with whom one is not on friendly terms", ackstasis from Australia, 27 March 2008).***"Kind Hearts and Coronets" (1949, Robert Hamer) is a masterpiece of black comedy. Set during the nineteenth century (i.e., the 1860s), it is one of the best acted, written and filmed comedies about murder and class relations ever made. This quintessentially British film is an exquisite pleasure, and make sure you watch it on the big screen.A poor but ambitious cousin of a family of royals takes on the project of removing all the obstacles preventing him from becoming the Duke. He is sentenced to hang only after being convicted of a murder he did not commit. While not (for me) laugh-out-loud funny, there is a great deal of dry wit on hand. Each cast member is superb. Joan Greenwood embellishes the vamp Sibella with her much-envied voice, which has been often compared to a cat's purring. Valerie Hobson (Edith), adds beauty, grace and poise. (I've become a real fan of hers, having also seen her as the Countess in "The Card", three weeks ago.) Miles Malleson, as the agreeable and respectful hangman, has his own cult following. However, the two male leads are amazing. Alec Guinness famously plays the entire royal D'Ascoyne family comprised of eight (!) members. While each is doomed, Guinness portrays them all differently. Even though some of the D'Ascoynes have few lines and limited screen time, this is still an astonishing feat. Guinness (then 35 and largely unknown to the public) finds so many details with each character representing a wide spectrum of ages (i.e., 35-80) and both genders (Lady Agatha is the sole female) that thespians everywhere should be inspired. It has been said of Guinness that every role he has ever played is different than any other, and here he puts on an acting master class.In most movies, this would be enough. However, Dennis Price as Louis, the smooth-talking, serial killer with aristocratic ambition is another character not soon forgotten. In his career performance, Price inhabits the role of Louis and is just as interesting as Guinness throughout. Price also portrays Louis's opera-singing father. I assume that Price is actually the tenor singing early. This fragment sounds great to my ears. The title is inspired by a poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The screenplay is (by Robert Hamer and John Dighton) and is loosely-based on Roy Horniman's novel. The dialogue is very precise. The story has some unusual plot turns. I like how each murder is off-screen and accomplished in a different way. Visually, Hamer's direction is excellent. He uses the entire frame; and it is always interesting to see the background details. It is impossible to appreciate the skill with which "Coronets" is made without seeing it in a movie theater."Kind Hearts and Coronets" is a crowd-pleasing screen gem with legendary qualities. Once the concept of "comic serial killing" can be explained, it is kid-friendly, too.