Kind Hearts and Coronets

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

 * 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

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

Dialogue

 * 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

 * Dennis Price — Louis Mazzini
 * Alec Guinness — The D'Ascoynes
 * Joan Greenwood — Sibella Holland
 * Miles Malleson — Mr. Elliot The Hangman