Kind Hearts and Coronets is regarded as one of the best Golden-Age Ealing comedies and is included on the British Film Institute’s list of the 100 Best British Films of the 20th Century.

Alec Guinness hilariously features in eight different roles as the unsuspecting members of the aristocratic D’Ascoyne family - murdered one by one by the scheming, outcast cousin Louis Mazzini (Dennis Price). Mazzini's mother was a D'Ascoyne by birth, but when she ran away with an opera singer she was ostracised by her family as a result. When her dying wish to be buried in the family crypt is refused, Louis vows to get his revenge in this black comedy classic.

Cast In Alphabetical Order

Alec Guinness as The D'Ascoyne Family: The Duke / The Banker / The Parson / The General / The Admiral /
Young Ascoyne / Young Henry / Lady Agatha
Arthur Lowe as The Reporter Audrey Fildes as Mama Barbara Leake as The Schoolmistress Cecil Ramage as Crown Counsel Clive Morton as The Prison Governor Dennis Price as Louis Eric Messiter as Burgoyne Hugh Griffith as Lord High Steward Joan Greenwood as Sibella John Penrose as Lionel John Salew as Mr. Perkins Laurence Naismith as Jail Warder Lyn Evans as The Farmer Miles Malleson as The Hangman Peggy Ann Clifford as Maud Richard Wattis as Defence Counsel Valerie Hobson as Edith

Crew

Produced by Michael Balcon & Michael Relph Directed by Robert Hamer Screenplay by Robert Hamer & John Dighton Original novel by Roy Horniman Running Time 102 minutes. Theatrical Release 1949