Los 8 sentenciados

Robert Hamer, the director of "Kind Hearts and Coronets", one of the better comedies to come out of the Ealing studios in the late forties, created a memorable film that still keeps enchanting, no matter how many times one has seen it. This is a film that like a vintage wine gets better with age.

Of course, the right elements were put together in this venture under Mr. Hamer's direction, which is probably the best tribute one could say about the film.

Louis Mazzini, the young man who should have inherited a noble title that is lost as her mother elopes with an Italian tenor and she is disinherited. Louis is determined to regain what's due to him, by whatever means possible. Things go well for him, but he commits a mistake in entering an illicit romance with the calculating Sibella, while at the same time falling in love with the radiant Edith D'Ascoyne, the young widow.

Dennis Price gives a smart account of Louis Mazzini. He is a delight to watch as he keeps scratching off dead relatives from behind the picture frame. Alec Guinness portrays eight D'Ascoynes with an unusual panache. Best of all is Lady Agatha who encounters 'turbulence' while flying in a balloon. Valerie Hobson makes an impression with her Edith and Joan Greenwood is at her best as Sibella.

This is a film to treasure.

"Kind Hearts and Coronets" is really an essay in acting from one of Britain's greatest, Sir Alec Guinness, and what better way to remember him than the film which gave him eight roles to play? True, one or two are barely given time to register before Dennis Price dispatches them (Lady Agatha would have been interesting as a fully rounded character), but those which are developed - Henry, the photography enthusiast in particular, are cleverly played and memorable. Price also does well in his role. The ladies - Joan Greenwood and Valerie Hobson - are excellent. The great strength of this film is in its black humour, and of course in its delicious twist ending. I can't bear to think of it remade with a 2000's gloss.

At the time it was made, one of the aims behind Kind Hearts and Coronets was to showcase the English language. I know of no other film which does this so well. It is this plus the superb performances which make the film, like a good book, worth returning to again and again. It is one of my two favourite films (the other being the 1960 version of "Inherit the Wind" - which also features superb dialogue. It will remain required viewing for any student, not only of the cinema, but of all that was best of a vanished age of English gentility and refinement which had by no means disappeared at the time the film was made.

While Alec Guinness justly deserves rave reviews for his eight brilliant characterizations in "Kind Hearts," one must not overlook the brilliant performance of the lead, Dennis Price, one of the great character actors of the period. Price, a genuine war hero in World War II, had a career that lasted for nearly 30 years, during which he played comic and serious roles with consummate skill. No one could portray the arch, sophisticated rogue better than Price, as is evident not only in "Kind Hearts" but in another of my favorite comedies of the period "The Naked Truth" (1957, where he plays the elegant but sleazy tabloid editor/blackmailer, opposite the likes of Peter Sellers, Terry-Thomas, and Peggy Mount. He was very funny in a small role as the "gentleman con man" in Sellers' great hit of 1962, "The Wrong Arm of the Law." And for dramatic intensity one can point to his role of Major Charlie Scott in the gripping regimental drama, "The Tunes of Glory." (1960). So three cheers for Price as that charming rogue, "Louis Mazzini," in "Kind Hearts and Coronets."

I've seen this gem half a dozen times and look forward to seeing it a few times more. It's a masterpiece of unsentimental, yet genteel, humor, and features performances by some extraordinary actors. Sir Alec Guiness's eight different turns have been much commented on and deserve every superlative they've received. Dennis Price is too little recognized--in the US, at least--for his gifts, as his work here proves. Valerie Hobson is wonderful, and Joyce Greenwood is...I would happily buy a recording of her reading the OED, just to hear that astonishing voice. And, in a small but marvelous role, Miles Malleson is superb. If you have not seen this film, it's readily available. Give yourself a treat. I know that Hollywood seems to have forgotten that there's nothing to be gained by trying to remake a perfect film. If they ever dare to do it with this one--I don't give a damn who is in it, or who directs or writes--don't bother. See the original. None genuine without the Ealing Label.