To celebrate the release of Kind Hearts and Coronets released for the first time on Uhd on 22 April – we have a Uhd to give away to one lucky winner!
Kind Hearts and Coronets is the jewel in Ealing Studios’ crown, and arguably one of the finest British films ever made.
Hailing from the Golden-Age of Ealing Comedies and the same year as Passport to Pimlico and Whisky Galore!, Kind Hearts and Coronets stars Dennis Price as the debonair yet impoverished Louis Mazzini, the would-be Duke of Chalfont whose mother was disinherited by her noble family, the D’Ascoynes, for marrying beneath her. When her dying wish to be buried in the family crypt is refused, Louis vows to avenge his mother and work his way up the family tree, by engaging in the gentle art of murder. One by one he attempts to kill off the eight successors that stand...
Kind Hearts and Coronets is the jewel in Ealing Studios’ crown, and arguably one of the finest British films ever made.
Hailing from the Golden-Age of Ealing Comedies and the same year as Passport to Pimlico and Whisky Galore!, Kind Hearts and Coronets stars Dennis Price as the debonair yet impoverished Louis Mazzini, the would-be Duke of Chalfont whose mother was disinherited by her noble family, the D’Ascoynes, for marrying beneath her. When her dying wish to be buried in the family crypt is refused, Louis vows to avenge his mother and work his way up the family tree, by engaging in the gentle art of murder. One by one he attempts to kill off the eight successors that stand...
- 4/19/2024
- by Competitions
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
It’s been said that American women of the 1950s admired Marilyn Monroe, but they wanted to be Audrey Hepburn, who projected an entirely different appeal. Hepburn had talent, grace, a dazzling smile and the strength to overcome any obstacle. Paramount now rounds up their Audrey Hepburn holdings to release this seven-picture ode to the great actress, the sentimental favorite. Several are near-perfect entertainments, great films everybody should see. All are handsomely remastered in HD, in their proper aspect ratios. I’d consider this definite holiday gift-giving material.
Audrey Hepburn 7 – Movie Collection
Roman Holiday, Sabrina, War and Peace, Funny Face, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Paris When It Sizzles, My Fair Lady
Blu-ray
Paramount Home Entertainment
1952-1964 / Color + B&w / Street Date October 5, 2021
Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Gregory Peck, Humphrey Bogart, Mel Ferrer, Fred Astaire, George Peppard, William Holden, Rex Harrison.
Directed by William Wyler, Billy Wilder, King Vidor, Stanley Donen, Blake Edwards,...
Audrey Hepburn 7 – Movie Collection
Roman Holiday, Sabrina, War and Peace, Funny Face, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Paris When It Sizzles, My Fair Lady
Blu-ray
Paramount Home Entertainment
1952-1964 / Color + B&w / Street Date October 5, 2021
Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Gregory Peck, Humphrey Bogart, Mel Ferrer, Fred Astaire, George Peppard, William Holden, Rex Harrison.
Directed by William Wyler, Billy Wilder, King Vidor, Stanley Donen, Blake Edwards,...
- 10/19/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Perfection is a word used too frequently to describe a movie. But in the case of the 1953 romantic comedy “Roman Holiday,” perfection is not hyperbole. Directed by William Wyler and nominated for 10 Academy Awards, “Roman Holiday” is a gem of a fairy tale.
Audrey Hepburn plays Princess Ann, a young sheltered monarch from a European country bored to tears on a goodwill trip who decides to escape her guardians while in Rome. She ends up falling in love with a handsome American reporter (Gregory Peck). He recognizes the princess on the lam and initially befriends her to get her story only to fall for the winsome young woman. Eddie Albert plays Peck’s carefree, womanizing friend who is a photographer.
“Roman Holiday,” which just made its Blu-Ray debut, was a change of pace for Wyler, who was best known for his dramatic work, having already won Oscars for 1942’s “Mrs. Miniver...
Audrey Hepburn plays Princess Ann, a young sheltered monarch from a European country bored to tears on a goodwill trip who decides to escape her guardians while in Rome. She ends up falling in love with a handsome American reporter (Gregory Peck). He recognizes the princess on the lam and initially befriends her to get her story only to fall for the winsome young woman. Eddie Albert plays Peck’s carefree, womanizing friend who is a photographer.
“Roman Holiday,” which just made its Blu-Ray debut, was a change of pace for Wyler, who was best known for his dramatic work, having already won Oscars for 1942’s “Mrs. Miniver...
- 9/23/2020
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Can a war movie be reassuring in a time of crisis? Each of the films in this excellent collection stress people working together: to repel invaders, escape from or attack the enemy, and just to survive in sticky situations. All are inspirational in that they see cooperation, organization and leadership doing good work. See: the ‘other’ great escape picture, the original account of Dunkirk, and the aerial bombing movie that inspired the final battle in Star Wars. Plus a tense ‘what if?’ invasion tale, and a desert trek suspense ordeal that’s one of the best war films ever. The most relevant dialogue in the set? Seeing the total screw-up at Dunkirk, Bernard Lee determines that England will have to re-organize with new people in key leadership positions, people who know what they’re doing. I’m all for that Here and Now, fella.
Their Finest Hour 5 British WWII Classics
Went The Day Well,...
Their Finest Hour 5 British WWII Classics
Went The Day Well,...
- 4/4/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
File this great comedy under social science fiction, subheading ‘H’ for hilarious. Alec Guinness’s comic boffin hero is both a bringer of miracles and one of the most dangerous men alive. The story of Sidney Stratton, brilliant chemist and inadvertent industrial terrorist, is a consistent laugh riot. Call the jokes droll, understated, dry, and reserved, but they certainly aren’t stupid — Ealing’s high-class comedy is slapstick heaven, yet hides a lesson about modern economics that most people still haven’t learned. And Guinness’s romantic foil is the woman with the velvet-gravel voice, Joan Greenwood.
The Man in the White Suit
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1951 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 85 min. / Street Date September 3, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood, Cecil Parker, Michael Gough, Ernest Thesiger, Howard Marion-Crawford, Henry Mollison, Vida Hope.
Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe
Art Direction: Jim Morahan
Film Editor: Bernard Gribble
Original Music:...
The Man in the White Suit
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1951 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 85 min. / Street Date September 3, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood, Cecil Parker, Michael Gough, Ernest Thesiger, Howard Marion-Crawford, Henry Mollison, Vida Hope.
Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe
Art Direction: Jim Morahan
Film Editor: Bernard Gribble
Original Music:...
- 8/24/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Stars: Will Hay, Charles Hawtrey, Peter Croft, Barry Morse, Peter Ustinov, Anne Firth, Frank Pettingell, Leslie Harcourt, Julien Mitchell, Jeremy Hawk, Raymond Lovell | Written by Angus MacPhail, John Dighton | Directed by Basil Dearden, Will Hay
I always enjoy reviewing re-releases of old films, they remind us – and in some cases introduce us to – some classics. One such release is The Goose Steps Out which is getting a special 75th Anniversary release, and is a comedy great from the 1940s…
Will Hay plays William Pots, a bumbling teacher who turns out to be the double of a German general. Sent to Germany to impersonate the general and steal a new bomb the Nazis are working on, he finds himself having to teach a group of students how to spy on the British.
Watching The Goose Steps Out it is easy to see this was a piece of propaganda used to...
I always enjoy reviewing re-releases of old films, they remind us – and in some cases introduce us to – some classics. One such release is The Goose Steps Out which is getting a special 75th Anniversary release, and is a comedy great from the 1940s…
Will Hay plays William Pots, a bumbling teacher who turns out to be the double of a German general. Sent to Germany to impersonate the general and steal a new bomb the Nazis are working on, he finds himself having to teach a group of students how to spy on the British.
Watching The Goose Steps Out it is easy to see this was a piece of propaganda used to...
- 5/19/2017
- by Paul Metcalf
- Nerdly
facebook
twitter
google+
As Trumbo arrives on DVD and Blu-ray, we look back at the Oscar-winning screenwriter who couldn't get his award...
This article originally appeared in 2014. It has been reposted to blatantly attempt to cash in on the disc release of Trumbo in the UK, and to hope more people read it this time around. We figured the honest approach was worth a shot...
Back in 1953, Roman Holiday was a raging success. The Audrey Hepburn-headlined romantic comedy picked up seven Oscar nominations, and its box office run brought in $12m off a $1.5m budget (if you go by inflation-adjusted totals, that'd be receipts of well over $150m). Furthermore, come the night of the Academy Awards, further riches were to be bestowed on the film. Audrey Hepburn took home Oscar gold for Best Actress, whilst the costume designer, Edith Head, was rewarded for her work.
The film collected a third Oscar too,...
google+
As Trumbo arrives on DVD and Blu-ray, we look back at the Oscar-winning screenwriter who couldn't get his award...
This article originally appeared in 2014. It has been reposted to blatantly attempt to cash in on the disc release of Trumbo in the UK, and to hope more people read it this time around. We figured the honest approach was worth a shot...
Back in 1953, Roman Holiday was a raging success. The Audrey Hepburn-headlined romantic comedy picked up seven Oscar nominations, and its box office run brought in $12m off a $1.5m budget (if you go by inflation-adjusted totals, that'd be receipts of well over $150m). Furthermore, come the night of the Academy Awards, further riches were to be bestowed on the film. Audrey Hepburn took home Oscar gold for Best Actress, whilst the costume designer, Edith Head, was rewarded for her work.
The film collected a third Oscar too,...
- 9/22/2014
- Den of Geek
★★★★☆ Now celebrating its 60th anniversary, director William Wyler's Roman Holiday (1953) - the romantic comedy starring the elfin Audrey Hepburn and debonair Gregory Peck - perfectly captures an innocent era sadly long forgotten. Anne (Hepburn, in the role that first brought her into the public eye), the princess of an obscure European country, is undertaking a highly publicised tour of the capitals of Europe. Frustrated by the strict protocol ruling her life Anne gives her courtiers the slip one night whilst in Rome. Hiding her identity she embarks on a tour of the city where she soon meets American journalist Joe Bradley (Peck).
Realising who Anne is, but saying nothing of his true intentions, Joe accompanies her around Rome in the hope that he can land an exclusive interview. William Wyler had a knack for spinning dramatic tension around strong female roles, as when he directed Greer Garson in Mrs. Miniver...
Realising who Anne is, but saying nothing of his true intentions, Joe accompanies her around Rome in the hope that he can land an exclusive interview. William Wyler had a knack for spinning dramatic tension around strong female roles, as when he directed Greer Garson in Mrs. Miniver...
- 7/23/2013
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
(Alexander Mackendrick, 1951, Studiocanal, U)
Last September marked the centenary of the birth of Alexander Mackendrick (1912-93). Born in the States, raised in Scotland, he was, with Richard Hamer, one of the two truly great products of Ealing Studios. Their output was small (each made made five movies under Michael Balcon's aegis), but distinguished and distinctive and always digging beneath Ealing's cosy Little England ethos. Oscar-nominated for its screenplay (by Mackendrick, his brother-in-law the playwright Roger MacDougall and John Dighton, Hamer's collaborator on Kind Hearts and Coronets), The Man in the White Suit is arguably Mackendrick's most trenchant comedy.
It stars Alec Guinness as Sidney Stratton, a dreamily eccentric inventor who develops an artificial fibre that's indestructible and resistant to dirt. Apparently a boon to humanity, this fabric spreads alarm in a Lancashire mill town whose prosperity the invention threatens. Management and workers unite against the starry-eyed idealist Stratton, who...
Last September marked the centenary of the birth of Alexander Mackendrick (1912-93). Born in the States, raised in Scotland, he was, with Richard Hamer, one of the two truly great products of Ealing Studios. Their output was small (each made made five movies under Michael Balcon's aegis), but distinguished and distinctive and always digging beneath Ealing's cosy Little England ethos. Oscar-nominated for its screenplay (by Mackendrick, his brother-in-law the playwright Roger MacDougall and John Dighton, Hamer's collaborator on Kind Hearts and Coronets), The Man in the White Suit is arguably Mackendrick's most trenchant comedy.
It stars Alec Guinness as Sidney Stratton, a dreamily eccentric inventor who develops an artificial fibre that's indestructible and resistant to dirt. Apparently a boon to humanity, this fabric spreads alarm in a Lancashire mill town whose prosperity the invention threatens. Management and workers unite against the starry-eyed idealist Stratton, who...
- 12/16/2012
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
In the latest addition to our ongoing writers' favourite film series, Liese Spencer shares her love for the dark, whip-smart Ealing comedy that blew away her teenage funk
Was this review murder most foul? Add your own verdict here or join in the comments below
Sat in front of the gas fire one Sunday afternoon during my neverending adolescence, I didn't pay much attention to the black and white film starting on BBC2. As its lace-trimmed credits rolled I knew exactly what was coming: a comfortably dull period drama. A couple of hours later, as its neat ending was undercut by a final, fiendishly clever twist, my 14-year-old funk of know-it-all boredom had been blown away. How exhilarating to see a bunch of well-dressed, well-spoken grown-ups behaving despicably – and getting away with it. For a cosy Ealing comedy it was incredibly black. Unlikely as it seemed, apparently there were adults...
Was this review murder most foul? Add your own verdict here or join in the comments below
Sat in front of the gas fire one Sunday afternoon during my neverending adolescence, I didn't pay much attention to the black and white film starting on BBC2. As its lace-trimmed credits rolled I knew exactly what was coming: a comfortably dull period drama. A couple of hours later, as its neat ending was undercut by a final, fiendishly clever twist, my 14-year-old funk of know-it-all boredom had been blown away. How exhilarating to see a bunch of well-dressed, well-spoken grown-ups behaving despicably – and getting away with it. For a cosy Ealing comedy it was incredibly black. Unlikely as it seemed, apparently there were adults...
- 12/22/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
Writers Guild of America has posthumously given Dalton Trumbo official recognition for writing the Oscar-winning screenplay for the Audrey Hepburn classic
The blacklisted Oscar-winning screenwriter Dalton Trumbo has finally received posthumous credit from the Us's most powerful screenwriters' body for the 1953 Audrey Hepburn classic Roman Holiday, 58 years after the film hit cinemas.
Trumbo, one of the original "Hollywood Ten" of blacklisted film industry workers, wrote the screenplay while living in exile in Mexico. He had been labelled an "unfriendly witness" by the anti-communist House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947. His friend Ian McLellan Hunter, who was later blacklisted himself, took credit for the work under an agreement between the two men, with Hunter later sending his fee for the film on to Trumbo.
The Writers Guild of America agreed to officially acknowledge Trumbo as the screenwriter of the film following a deposition from his son Christopher, who died earlier this year,...
The blacklisted Oscar-winning screenwriter Dalton Trumbo has finally received posthumous credit from the Us's most powerful screenwriters' body for the 1953 Audrey Hepburn classic Roman Holiday, 58 years after the film hit cinemas.
Trumbo, one of the original "Hollywood Ten" of blacklisted film industry workers, wrote the screenplay while living in exile in Mexico. He had been labelled an "unfriendly witness" by the anti-communist House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947. His friend Ian McLellan Hunter, who was later blacklisted himself, took credit for the work under an agreement between the two men, with Hunter later sending his fee for the film on to Trumbo.
The Writers Guild of America agreed to officially acknowledge Trumbo as the screenwriter of the film following a deposition from his son Christopher, who died earlier this year,...
- 12/21/2011
- by Ben Child
- The Guardian - Film News
The Writer’s Guild of America announced today that it has officially restored the late blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo’s credit to the 1953 movie Roman Holiday. He now shares a “screenplay by” credit with the other two writers; the “Story By” credit belongs to him.
In 1947, Trumbo was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee to testify about Communist influence in Hollywood. He refused to name names, was convicted for contempt of Congress, served 11 months in a federal penitentiary, and was blacklisted from working in Hollywood. He spent a decade living in Mexico with his family, writing screenplays under fake...
In 1947, Trumbo was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee to testify about Communist influence in Hollywood. He refused to name names, was convicted for contempt of Congress, served 11 months in a federal penitentiary, and was blacklisted from working in Hollywood. He spent a decade living in Mexico with his family, writing screenplays under fake...
- 12/19/2011
- by Darren Franich
- EW - Inside Movies
This is one of the finest comedies ever – and it's all thanks to the man who plays its well-bred villain
There are four great voiceovers in cinema: William Holden in Sunset Boulevard; Joanne Woodward in The Age of Innocence; Joan Fontaine in Letter from an Unknown Woman; and, to my mind the greatest of them all, Dennis Price in Kind Hearts and Coronets. It's utterly perfect; there isn't a flaw in it. The way Price delivers it is quite extraordinary. The truth is, without Dennis Price there wouldn't be a film. He holds it all together with the most elegant diction. It's quite wonderful, even just to listen to.
The starting point of Kind Hearts and Coronets is a 1907 novel called Israel Rank, by Roy Horniman. It was originally a somewhat laboured Edwardian satire on antisemitism; I tried to read it, and frankly it's impossible to get through. Robert Hamer,...
There are four great voiceovers in cinema: William Holden in Sunset Boulevard; Joanne Woodward in The Age of Innocence; Joan Fontaine in Letter from an Unknown Woman; and, to my mind the greatest of them all, Dennis Price in Kind Hearts and Coronets. It's utterly perfect; there isn't a flaw in it. The way Price delivers it is quite extraordinary. The truth is, without Dennis Price there wouldn't be a film. He holds it all together with the most elegant diction. It's quite wonderful, even just to listen to.
The starting point of Kind Hearts and Coronets is a 1907 novel called Israel Rank, by Roy Horniman. It was originally a somewhat laboured Edwardian satire on antisemitism; I tried to read it, and frankly it's impossible to get through. Robert Hamer,...
- 9/14/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
Re-released into the nation’s cinemas last Friday Kind Hearts and Coronets is perhaps the most famous of Ealing’s celebrated comedies, detailing the retribution and enforced inheritance of a Dukedom via the macabre fate of the various ill-natured and intemperate members of the D’Ascoyne family.
It’s a beautifully pitched comedy of terrors, leading us through an increasingly dark labyrinth of revenge, double crossing love matches and murder in the most polite fashion.
Dennis Price leads us as the outcast Louis Mazzini, who seeks to avenge his Mother’s rebuff from her rich family but pruning the family tree to allow for his succession to the position of Duke of Chalfont. Stir into the mix a childhood sweetheart spurning the poor Louis’ proposal in favour of a ridiculous, but rich, man and the universe conspires for the diabolical plan to unfold.
Every time I watch this film I...
It’s a beautifully pitched comedy of terrors, leading us through an increasingly dark labyrinth of revenge, double crossing love matches and murder in the most polite fashion.
Dennis Price leads us as the outcast Louis Mazzini, who seeks to avenge his Mother’s rebuff from her rich family but pruning the family tree to allow for his succession to the position of Duke of Chalfont. Stir into the mix a childhood sweetheart spurning the poor Louis’ proposal in favour of a ridiculous, but rich, man and the universe conspires for the diabolical plan to unfold.
Every time I watch this film I...
- 8/22/2011
- by Jon Lyus
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
The Ealing genre reached utter perfection with this superb black comedy of manners about the most elegant serial killer in history
The Ealing genre reached utter perfection with this superb black comedy of manners, made in 1949, directed by Robert Hamer and adapted by Hamer with accomplished farceur John Dighton from the 1907 novel Israel Rank, by Roy Horniman. Dennis Price gave a performance which he was, sadly, never again to equal as Louis Mazzini, the suburban draper's assistant who becomes the most elegant serial killer in history. Finding himself by a quirk of fate distantly in line to a dukedom, and infuriated by this aristocratic family's cruel treatment of his mother, he sets out to murder everyone ahead of him in line to the ermine. Alec Guinness gives a miraculously subtle and differentiated multi-performance as all eight members of the noble clan. Joan Greenwood is in her element as the honey-voiced siren Sibella,...
The Ealing genre reached utter perfection with this superb black comedy of manners, made in 1949, directed by Robert Hamer and adapted by Hamer with accomplished farceur John Dighton from the 1907 novel Israel Rank, by Roy Horniman. Dennis Price gave a performance which he was, sadly, never again to equal as Louis Mazzini, the suburban draper's assistant who becomes the most elegant serial killer in history. Finding himself by a quirk of fate distantly in line to a dukedom, and infuriated by this aristocratic family's cruel treatment of his mother, he sets out to murder everyone ahead of him in line to the ermine. Alec Guinness gives a miraculously subtle and differentiated multi-performance as all eight members of the noble clan. Joan Greenwood is in her element as the honey-voiced siren Sibella,...
- 8/18/2011
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
Directed by Robert Hamer
Written by Robert Hamer
UK – 1949
If you’ve never seen Kind Hearts and Coronets, I feel a little envious. I’m not so resentful that, like the film’s antihero Louis Mazzini, I’d actually go out and commit multiple murders. But first-time viewers are definitely in for a treat this year, with the UK cinematic re-release on 19 August and a new DVD and Blu-ray edition from Optimum to follow on 5 September.
The phrase “blackly comic” has been done to death by unimaginative critics. Too often these days it seems to be synonymous with bad taste, a fistful of “F” words and a total lack of restraint. But Robert Hamer’s film, originally released by Ealing Studios in 1949, is a reminder that dastardly behaviour can take place in the most genteel of surroundings, without so much as a hint of blood.
Set in Edwardian London,...
Directed by Robert Hamer
Written by Robert Hamer
UK – 1949
If you’ve never seen Kind Hearts and Coronets, I feel a little envious. I’m not so resentful that, like the film’s antihero Louis Mazzini, I’d actually go out and commit multiple murders. But first-time viewers are definitely in for a treat this year, with the UK cinematic re-release on 19 August and a new DVD and Blu-ray edition from Optimum to follow on 5 September.
The phrase “blackly comic” has been done to death by unimaginative critics. Too often these days it seems to be synonymous with bad taste, a fistful of “F” words and a total lack of restraint. But Robert Hamer’s film, originally released by Ealing Studios in 1949, is a reminder that dastardly behaviour can take place in the most genteel of surroundings, without so much as a hint of blood.
Set in Edwardian London,...
- 8/13/2011
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Went the Day Well? (1942)
Director: Alberto Cavalcanti
Based on Graham Greene’s short story The Lieutenant Died Last
Screenplay by John Dighton
UK , 1942
How many films and TV shows have left you quaking at the thought of your quiet home town being overrun by flesh-eating zombies or sex-crazed vampires? When Ealing Studios released Went the Day Well? in 1942, anxieties were focused on equally fiendish invaders from across the English Channel. You never know, that polite British officer sipping tea in your drawing room, might turn out to be part of the advance party from the Third Reich.
Based on a short story by Graham Greene, Alberto Cavalcanti’s film is set in the idyllic English village of Bramley End (in reality, Turville in Buckinghamshire). A framing device introduces us first to the church warder (played by Mervyn Johns), who sets the scene for the extraordinary events of Whitsun weekend 1942. The...
Director: Alberto Cavalcanti
Based on Graham Greene’s short story The Lieutenant Died Last
Screenplay by John Dighton
UK , 1942
How many films and TV shows have left you quaking at the thought of your quiet home town being overrun by flesh-eating zombies or sex-crazed vampires? When Ealing Studios released Went the Day Well? in 1942, anxieties were focused on equally fiendish invaders from across the English Channel. You never know, that polite British officer sipping tea in your drawing room, might turn out to be part of the advance party from the Third Reich.
Based on a short story by Graham Greene, Alberto Cavalcanti’s film is set in the idyllic English village of Bramley End (in reality, Turville in Buckinghamshire). A framing device introduces us first to the church warder (played by Mervyn Johns), who sets the scene for the extraordinary events of Whitsun weekend 1942. The...
- 7/13/2011
- by Susannah
- SoundOnSight
The 60th anniversary of Robert Hamer's Ealing classic Kind Hearts and Coronets is the perfect time to get acquainted with the witty, provocative book on which it is based
This week, I spoke at the Film Nite discussion group in London on the 60th anniversary of Robert Hamer's Ealing classic Kind Hearts and Coronets. It was a chance to revisit that old chestnut: is it true that you can only make great films from terrible books, and that conversely, great books always get turned into terrible films?
Kind Hearts and Coronets is the elegant black comedy about a suburban draper's assistant, Louis Mazzini, played by Dennis Price, who by a quirk of fate is distantly in line to a dukedom and sets out to murder every single nobleman and noblewoman ahead of him in the succession so that he can get his hands on the ermine. All the...
This week, I spoke at the Film Nite discussion group in London on the 60th anniversary of Robert Hamer's Ealing classic Kind Hearts and Coronets. It was a chance to revisit that old chestnut: is it true that you can only make great films from terrible books, and that conversely, great books always get turned into terrible films?
Kind Hearts and Coronets is the elegant black comedy about a suburban draper's assistant, Louis Mazzini, played by Dennis Price, who by a quirk of fate is distantly in line to a dukedom and sets out to murder every single nobleman and noblewoman ahead of him in the succession so that he can get his hands on the ermine. All the...
- 11/12/2009
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
I'm a big fan of French filmmaker François Ozon (http://www.francois-ozon.com/). It started when I saw his movie Melvil Poupaud (http://themovie-fanatic.com/spotlights/stars/melvil_poupaud/). After that, I began to search for his other films (Swimming Pool, 5x2, Criminal Lovers and Under The Sand, among others) and I had the most exciting times watching them. His movies are never predictable, never the same. One of his latest is Angel (http://www.francois-ozon.com/english/bio-filmo/ozon-movies.html). I'll post my review of the film via the tMF French Films Blog-a-Thon! very soon! Searching @google for Ozon's Angel , [ see the trailer after the jump ] I chanced upon this article from the Guardian, and it says a lot about the book and its transformation into the big screen. Says Peter Bradshaw (http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/film/2008/08/will_ozons_angel_fly.html): Who could film such a book? My own feeling is that,...
- 8/21/2008
- The Movie Fanatic
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.