“Kind Hearts and Coronets: a hilarious study in the gentle art of murder”: a brief review

Запощу, пожалуй, свою английскую попытку мини-рецензии на чудесный иронический британский детектив-черную комедию, вышедшую в 1949 г., на показе которой мы были сегодня в нашем авторском кинотеатре Arts Picturehouse.

(Вообще, надо попытаться превратить блог в билингвальный: кажется, пора)

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I am profoundly happy that L. and I caught a chance to see the one and only screening of a 1949 black comedy, “Kind Hearts and Coronets: a hilarious study in the gentle art of murder” at our local Arts Picturehouse (we’ve been members of the AP community for a while, but almost never do we execute our rights to watch a film—mostly, because the vast majority of them are meh). 

“Kind Hearts and Coronets” is loosely based on the Edwardian detective drama “Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal” (1907) written by Roy Horniman, a forgotten writer of the era, and somehow was brought back to life after the success of the Broadway show “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder”. Since we both thoroughly dislike musicales as a genre, seeing an original and restored copy of a 40s movie looked like a good idea, and so we did.

Boy, oh boy, was it entertaining. The story of a male version of Becky Sharpe, Louis D’Ascoyne Mazzini, 10th Duke of Chalfont, a murderer and also a galant seducer with plenty of aficionados, who made his way to become the Duke of Chalfant removing (let us put it this way) all possible (and impossible) contenders, is hilarious, witty, and light-hearted, despite a slightly bleak subject. All portrayed dialogues are pure bliss and should be taught at school (presumably, that is what they actually do at Eton/Harrow/Charterhouse) as a cross-examination of the most sophisticated mannerisms:

“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.”

If you are craving for something refined, ironic, and eccentric, and searching for a certain mixture of Agatha Christie and Oscar Wilde, then, this film (and the book for that matter) is for you.

And not to mention the brilliance of a pleiad of English actors of the era, casting in the film—the incredible Dennis Price (Louis Mazzini) and, of course, the absolutely fantastic Sir Alec Guinness, who played all (!) the D'Ascoynes, including Lady Agatha D'Ascoyne (she was killed while riding in a hot-air balloon over London: looked quite civilised).