Kind Hearts And Coronets

One of the most beloved Ealing Studios films starring Alec Guinness happens to be about a serial killer. It's a comedy. Kind Hearts and Coronets, released in 1949 and directed by Robert Hamer, is the very definition of droll humor, as an aggrieved man (Dennis Price) sets about killing everyone who stands in his way of becoming a duke. All of these people, eight, are played by Guinness.

The producer, Michael Balcon, was reluctant to make a comedy about murder, but of course that is now well-trod territory. The key to making this film the success that it is is Hamer's light touch, a wonderfully smooth performance by Price, and the delight of Guinness taking on all those parts, including a woman.

Price is the son of the daughter of the line of D'Ascoynes, heirs to the Duchy of Chalfont, but she marries an Italian opera singer and is disowned. When she dies and is denied burial in the family plot, Price is determined to avenge her memory and work his way up to the dukedom. He starts by killing an arrogant man by untying his boat and allowing him to go over a waterfall. Then he befriends a man about his age, sharing their interest in photography. He likes the man, and especially likes his wife (Valerie Hobson), but nonetheless blows him up in his darkroom.

Later he will poison another Guinness, a parson who is fond of drink, and sends caviar laden with explosives to a general. Some die without his help, such as an admiral who mixes up port and starboard and goes down with his ship. Lady Agatha, a suffragette, takes to a balloon to drop leaflets, but Price shoots her down, saying "I shot an arrow in the air, she fell to Earth in Berkeley Square."

Price has two love interests. He wants to marry Hobson, a figure of rectitude, but also dallies with his childhood sweetheart, who has married the dullest man in London. She is played by Jane Greenwood, and just a few moments to talk about her voice. It comes from some place deep in her sinuses, a bassoon-like purr that is oddly sexy. Price tells her that her her noise is too short and her mouth is too wide, but she is completely adorable. I feel the same way. Greenwood may be the most unlikely sex symbol to come out of England.

Eventually Price is arrested for a murder he did not commit, and faces this irony with gentlemanly aplomb. The ending is delicious, and won't be spoiled here. Suffice it to say one should be careful with one's memoirs.

Actors playing multiple parts seems to have died out--maybe it's a union thing--but for a while in Britain it was quite common, especially with Peter Sellers. When initially offered the script, Guinness was to play four characters. He said, "Why not eight?" He actually played nine.