Kind Hearts and Coronets

Kind Hearts and Coronets is a 1949 Ealing comedy film.

Related Topics:
1949 - Ealing - Comedy film

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The script was written by John Dighton and Robert Hamer and was very loosely based on a book, Israel Rank, by Roy Horniman. The title is a quotation from Tennyson's 1842 poem "Lady Clara Vere de Vere", which proclaims that "Kind hearts are more than coronets, And simple faith than Norman blood."

Related Topics:
John Dighton - Robert Hamer - Roy Horniman - Tennyson - Norman

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It starred Alec Guinness playing eight different members of the D'Ascoyne family, but there are also notable performances from Dennis Price as the leading character and Joan Greenwood as a femme fatale.

Related Topics:
Alec Guinness - Dennis Price - Joan Greenwood

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In 2004 the magazine Total Film named Kind Hearts and Coronets the 7th greatest British film of all time.

Related Topics:
2004 - Magazine - Total Film

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Dennis Price plays "Louis Mazzini" whose mother, having blackened the D'Ascoyne name by eloping with an Italian opera singer, was consequently ostracised by the family. On her death, Louis seeks revenge on the D'Ascoynes, aiming to succeed to the Dukedom of Chalfont. The obstacles in his path ? his eight relatives ahead of him in line for the title ? are all played by Alec Guinness; and Louis sets out to murder them all.

Related Topics:
Dennis Price - Italian - Opera

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Only two relatives die before Mazzini has an opportunity to kill them, the Admiral D'Ascoyne, and the eldest of the group, who was Mazzini's employer before his death of a stroke. In a scene which was a satire of the sinking of HMS Victoria in 1893, the pompous and stupid Admiral D'Ascoyne causes his ship to collide with another one and stands saluting on the bridge whilst it sinks beneath his feet.

Related Topics:
HMS ''Victoria'' - 1893

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http://www.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/conWebDoc.17870

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The film is especially memorable for its witty one-liners, two of which are quoted below.

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• Sibella: Oh Louis! I don't want to marry Lionel!
• Louis Mazzini: Why not?
• Sibella: He's so dull.
• Louis Mazzini: I must admit he exhibits the most extraordinary capacity for middle age that I've ever encountered in a young man of twenty-four.