Sunday, 12 May 2013

Alec VIII


Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)

Directed by Robert Hamer this film based on a novel by Roy Horniman stars Dennis Price, Valerie Hobson, Joan Greenwood and Alec Guinness. The disowned son of a noble family attempts to claim a dukedom by murdering those ahead of him in the line of succession.

The plot of this film serves as a satire for the morals of the Edwardian period and does a good job of highlighting various hypocritical attitudes. While the film is clever it is not overly funny throughout and does well to include a fair amount of material that would never have got past the censors in America. While the film is well made the highlights are the performance of Price as the protagonist and Guinness who plays eight members of the family in the line of succession with great variety.

4/5

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