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Louis (Dennis Price) is an aristocrat by birth & a possible heir to
the title of Duke D'Ascoyne, however, since his mother (Audrey Fildes) has
married a poor opera singer (also Dennis Price), she - & subsequently
her son - was cast out of the family. However, his mother wouldn't tire to
tell Louis about his birthright, until he is convinced that he is by all
means entitled to become the Duke of D'Ascoyne - & by all means can
mean pretty much, but more on that later.
At first, however, Louis, after his uncle Ascoyne (Alec Guiness) turned
down a job application for his bank, sees himself in the very unflattering
shop of a draper, & even his sweetheart Sibella (Joan Greenwood) turns
down his marriage proposal in favour of rich Lionel Holland (John
Penrose), even though she continues to be in love with him, & has a
long-running affair with him.
Louis soon finds waiting for his birthright a bit frustrating since
there are about 9 people before him, & the first one of them who dies
is of all people his own mother ...
Soon, Louis figures that he might give his fortunes a helping hand, so
he follows his cousin who doesn't even know him, Ascoyne jr (again Alec
Guiness), around a little, until he ses an opportunity to help Ascoyne
jr's rowboat floating towards a waterfall, then down the waterfall, with
Ascoyne jr in it of course ...
Ascoyne jr out of the way, Louis makes friends with Henry D'Ascoyne jr
(Alec Guiness again), whom he really starts to like - & he starts to
like his wife Edith (Valerie Hobson), too -, but that doesn't keep him
from lending a helping hand so that Henry jr, a devoted photographer,
burns to death in his darkroom.
Next on Louis' list is the reverend Henry (once again, Alec Guiness),
who usually babbles about in church, but away from his job likes to drink
quite a bit ... surprisingly, when Louis comes for a visit disguised as a
fellow reverend, there just happens to be poison in one of reverend
Henry's wine bottles ...
Dame Agatha (Alec Guiness in drag) is a suffragette, fighting for
women's rights, & she divides her time between campaigning &
spending time in jail for causing public uproar. Presently though, she's
out campaigning, & her latest campaign involves throwing pamphlets
from a hot.-air balloon flying over London. & someone has the idea of
shooting down the balloon - well, not someone, Louis.
Admiral D'Ascoyne (Alec Guiness in uniform) seems to be a tough cookie,
as he spends most of his time on high sea, but then again occasionally
ships do collide.
General D'Ascoyne (wouldn't you know it, Alec Guiness again) is much
easier to come by, since he drabbles on endlessly about the Krimean war,
so what could be easier than to send him a glass of caviar ... only the
caviar is indeed a dangerous explosive - boom !
With the D'Ascoyne family diminished at such an alarming rate, banker
Ascoyne now not only gives Louis the job he has wanted long ago, but even
takes him in as partner. & edith, once Henry jr's wife, now accepts
Louis' marriage proposal. That however doesn't keep Louis from continuing
his affair with Sibella. & he feels some satisfaction that he is now
the man who grants her husband Lionel, once the rich kid, bank loans. He
could even refuse them, but he is araid that he has to support Sibella
then.
Eventually, Louis, once the cast-out of the D'Ascoyne family, is
invited to the Duke's (& one more time, Alec Guiness) mansion, &
to go hunting with him ... only during this hunting excursion, the Duke is
met with a tragic accident (courtesy of Louis), & Ascoyne, when
he hears about that, dies from a heart attack ... & all of a sudden,
Louis is the Duke D'Ascoyne ...
& now he feels himself in a position to refuse Lionel a further
bank loan, & he even rejects one of Sibella's blackmail attempts.
Instead he has himself & Edith celebrated as the last of the
D'Ascoynes ... until Louis is arrested for murder, surprisingly enough for
the murder of Lionel, one of the few people in the film he didn't kill.
But in court, it is Sibella's testimony that makes him look like a
murderer & sends him to the gallows.
In his death cell, Louis calmly awaits the hangman (Miles Malleson)
& writes his memoirs, confessing to all the murders he has committed,
when suddenly he receives a visit from, of all people, Sibella. Sibella
tells him that she might find her husband's suicide note that would
clear Louis, but in exchange, she wants to become the Duchess of D'Ascoyne
... after all, Edith could meet with an accident, like all the
other D'Ascoynes did ...
Only minutes before his actual execution is Louis' name cleared in
court, & coming out of jail, he is expected by two women, Edith &
Sibella, & he hasn't decided yet which one to murder ... thing is, he
has forgotten his memoirs/confession in his cell ...
Too often, this film is refused to its gimmick, Alec Guiness playing
all the murder victims, which totally overlooks the fact that this is in
fact a great, very British comedy, lightly spinning the very dark tale of
a serial killer whom one just has to love - well, not love, but in a
twisted way understand. In a way, this film is a superior forerunner to
later British (but often American co-produced) serialkiller comedies fromt
he early 1970's, like The
Abominable Dr.Phibes & Theatre
of Blood (in which Dennis Price also had a role), which in their
way were still great.
Not only in my view, one of the top British comedies ever, highest
recommendation.
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find Kind Hearts and Coronets at adultvideouniverse.com
