Kind Hearts and Coronets
Kind Hearts and Coronets is a 1949 film about an heir to a Dukedom who plots to murder those members of his estranged family who stand in his way, thereby avenging his mother's death and winning the heart of a young gentlewoman.
A hilarious study in the gentle art of murder.
- Directed by Robert Hamer. Written by Roy Horniman, Robert Hamer and John Dighton.
Louis Mazzini
- [Lady Agatha D'Ascoyne has been killed while sailing a hot-air balloon over London.]
I shot an arrow in the air; she fell to earth in Berkeley Square.
- While I never admired Edith as much as when I was with Sibella, I never longed for Sibella as much as when I was with Edith.
- The Reverend Lord Henry was not one of those newfangled parsons who carry the principles of their vocation uncomfortably into private life.
- It is so difficult to make a neat job of killing people with whom one is not on friendly terms.
The Parson
- The Parson: I always say that my west window has all the exuberance of Chaucer without, happily, any of the concomitant crudities of his period.
Dialogue
- Mr Elliot: Even my lamented master, the great Mr. Benny himself, never had the privilege of hanging a duke. What a finale to a lifetime in the public service!
- Prison Governor: Finale?
- Mr Elliot: Yes, I intend to retire. After using the silken rope, never again be content with hemp.
- Sibella Holland: Oh, Louis! I don't want to marry Lionel!
- Louis: Why not?
- Sibella: He's so dull.
- Louis: I must admit he exhibits the most extraordinary capacity for middle age that I've ever encountered in a young man of twenty-four.
- Sibella: He says he wants to go to Europe to expand his mind.
- Louis: He certainly has room to do so.
Cast
- Dennis Price — Louis Mazzini
- Alec Guinness — The Duke/The Parson
- Joan Greenwood — Sibella Holland
- Miles Malleson — Mr Elliot The Hangman