[FelicityR]

I have to admit a few afternoons ago I watched once again the wonderfully dark and humorous Ealing comedy, Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) where the excellent Sir Alec Guinness plays no fewer than eight different roles (members of the aristocratic D'Ascoyne family.)

The film rates 8 out of 10 on the Internet Movie Database, and 100% on the Rotten Tomatoes movie database, with an audience rating of 94%.

It is wonderfully stylish British black and white movie about class, manners, revenge, murder and societal adultery. Darky funny in places, utterly charming in others, I doubt if any actor will better Sir Alec's varied character acting here. Are there any other movies where one actor has played eight separate roles, including one female, with such aplomb? I doubt it. Just enjoy

[kenberg]

FelicityR, on 2020-August-27, 11:33, said:

I have to admit a few afternoons ago I watched once again the wonderfully dark and humorous Ealing comedy, Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) where the excellent Sir Alec Guinness plays no fewer than eight different roles (members of the aristocratic D'Ascoyne family.)

The film rates 8 out of 10 on the Internet Movie Database, and 100% on the Rotten Tomatoes movie database, with an audience rating of 94%.

It is wonderfully stylish British black and white movie about class, manners, revenge, murder and societal adultery. Darky funny in places, utterly charming in others, I doubt if any actor will better Sir Alec's varied character acting here. Are there any other movies where one actor has played eight separate roles, including one female, with such aplomb? I doubt it. Just enjoy

I believe I saw it as a youngster. I definitely saw Lavender Hill Mob and The Man in the White Suit. I was born in 1939 so this would put me in early, ore maybe pre, adolescence I get a kick out of thinking back to films of that era.

I went to the Wikipedia for a summary and yep, I remember it. It sounded a bid bawdy for the times and then I got to the bottom of the Wik article and found it had been edited for American audiences. Don't want to be corrupting eleven year old Kenny.


A quick story about how cautious media were back then. When I was 14 there was a local disk jockey I listened to. You could send in a telegram and he would play the requested song. Two friends, Janet and Rick, were dating, something went wrong, and Janet sent in a telegram to play I Hate Men, dedicating it to Rick. The DJ said he couldn't do that, the song was banned. I had recently seen the movie Kiss Me Kate and could not recall any reason for banning any of the songs. But then I heard the Broadway recording and I understood. Movie version "Of course I 'm awfully glad that mother deigned to marry father". Broadway version: "Of course I'm awfully glad that mother had to marry father".


We were very protected back then.


Anyway, I'll see if I can find a copy of Kind Hearts to watch. And maybe seek out the original version, I think I am old enough now to handle it.

[FelicityR]

kenberg, on 2020-August-27, 14:58, said:

I believe I saw it as a youngster. I definitely saw Lavender Hill Mob and The Man in the White Suit. I was born in 1939 so this would put me in early, ore maybe pre, adolescence I get a kick out of thinking back to films of that era.

Another Ealing comedy with Alec Guinness (and Peter Sellers) that you should seek out, Ken, is The Ladykillers (1955). It was remade with Tom Hanks in 2004 by the Coen brothers, and whilst the American version is funny in places, it does not match the dark humour of the original (just my opinion.)

[kenberg]

FelicityR, on 2020-August-27, 22:03, said:

Another Ealing comedy with Alec Guinness (and Peter Sellers) that you should seek out, Ken, is The Ladykillers (1955). It was remade with Tom Hanks in 2004 by the Coen brothers, and whilst the American version is funny in places, it does not match the dark humour of the original (just my opinion.)

I agree. And yes, Ihad also seen The Lady Killers when it first came out.

[Elianna]

FelicityR, on 2020-August-27, 11:33, said:

I have to admit a few afternoons ago I watched once again the wonderfully dark and humorous Ealing comedy, Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) where the excellent Sir Alec Guinness plays no fewer than eight different roles (members of the aristocratic D'Ascoyne family.)

The film rates 8 out of 10 on the Internet Movie Database, and 100% on the Rotten Tomatoes movie database, with an audience rating of 94%.

It is wonderfully stylish British black and white movie about class, manners, revenge, murder and societal adultery. Darky funny in places, utterly charming in others, I doubt if any actor will better Sir Alec's varied character acting here. Are there any other movies where one actor has played eight separate roles, including one female, with such aplomb? I doubt it. Just enjoy

I saw a musical version of this on Broadway (from the same source material) called "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder". It was really quite entertaining. Jefferson Mays played all the D'Ysquith family (the musical version of the D'Ascoyne family in the film) and he was really good in it, too. I wish that they had recorded it so it could be rewatched in these times, but here's a segment from the Tonys that year, that showcased the musical (which won the Tony that year for best musical): https://www.youtube....h?v=VtlcEvPDkfM

[y66]

FelicityR, on 2020-August-27, 11:33, said:

I have to admit a few afternoons ago I watched once again the wonderfully dark and humorous Ealing comedy, Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) where the excellent Sir Alec Guinness plays no fewer than eight different roles (members of the aristocratic D'Ascoyne family.)

The film rates 8 out of 10 on the Internet Movie Database, and 100% on the Rotten Tomatoes movie database, with an audience rating of 94%.

It is wonderfully stylish British black and white movie about class, manners, revenge, murder and societal adultery. Darky funny in places, utterly charming in others, I doubt if any actor will better Sir Alec's varied character acting here. Are there any other movies where one actor has played eight separate roles, including one female, with such aplomb? I doubt it. Just enjoy

I hadn't seen it until last week after reading your post. Good idea to have Guinness play all those roles. He was hilarious. I suspect Peter Sellers could have pulled it off too after watching Guinness in this movie and learning how it is done.

[FelicityR]

Whatever you personally think about Roman Polanski there is absolutely no doubt that he is a brilliant director. A few days ago we watched Rosemary's Baby and although it is now a bit dated it was in 1968 a seminal horror film, however tonight we watched The Tenant (1976) in which Polanski not only directed but played the leading role, Trelkovsky, a mild-mannered bureaucrat who moves into a dilapidated apartment where the previous resident 'had mental health issues' (I'm not going to spoil the plot) and then starts to go paranoid himself as various things happen.

I actually enjoyed The Tenant more because there were echoes of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho in the way Polanski builds the tension, whilst slowly unravelling himself in the lead role. The one thing that I didn't know about the film until the opening credits started to roll was the lead cameraman was Sven Nykvist, the leading cameraman for many of Ingmar Bergman films.

I noticed, too, that there are other 'nods' to other Alfred Hitchcock films, notably Rear Window and Vertigo.

The last in the three film box set is Chinatown, which we will probably watch at the weekend, but The Tenant, which I had not seen before, certainly impressed me. Not for the faint-hearted though.