Kind Hearts and Coronets

1949 film directed by Robert Hamer

Kind Hearts and Coronets is a 1949 film about a distant 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.

Directed by Robert Hamer. Written by Robert Hamer and John Dighton based on Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal by Roy Horniman.
A hilarious study in the gentle art of murder.

Louis Mazzini

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  • The D’Ascoynes certainly appeared to have accorded with the tradition of the landed gentry and sent the fool of the family into the Church
  • [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 next morning I went out shooting with Ethelred—or rather, to watch Ethelred shooting; for my principles will not allow me to take a direct part in blood sports.

The Parson

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  • I always say that my west window has all the exuberance of Chaucer without, happily, any of the concomitant crudities of his period.

Dialogue

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Mr. Elliot: Even my lamented master, the great Mr. Berry 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 this 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

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