Thursday, August 22, 2013

Kind Hearts And Coronets - 1949 - 4 Stars

Actors:  Alec Guinness, Dennis Price
Director:  Robert Hamer

Old films can sometimes feel like cinematic vegetables - necessary to consume, sure, boring and bland, without question. One of the joys of a director like Hitchcock that so many of his films traffic in dark humor as well as thrills - they're fun, they look like fun to write, direct, and act in.  Kind Hearts And Coronets is a film in this tradition.  It's a slow starter that relies heavily on narration, but as it gathers momentum it becomes darkly funny, featuring many twists and turns - it's more like a high-class British noir film (noir in theme, not in style).  I hadn't even realized that Alec Guinness plays eight different roles, which is good, because that would've been distracting.

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