Film: Kind Hearts and Coronets in the Irish Film Institute (Captioned Screenings)

Kind Hearts and Coronets is a 1949 British black comedy film. It features Dennis Price, Joan Greenwood, Valerie Hobson and Alec Guinness; Guinness plays nine characters.

Although they represented just a fraction of its output, Ealing Studios is indelibly associated with a small number of comedies it produced in the space of roughly a decade, such as The Lavender Hill Mob (1951, featuring one of Audrey Hepburn’s first appearances), The Man In The White Suit (1951), and, of course, The Ladykillers (1955). Along with this last, Kind Hearts and Coronets represents arguably the jewel in Ealing’s crown.

In this deliciously black and subversive comedy, poor-born Louis D’Ascoyne Mazzini (a wonderfully haughty Dennis Price) decides to murder the eight D’Ascoynes (all played by the chameleonic Alec Guinness) standing between him and the dukedom he feels is rightfully his, denied to him because his mother married for love rather than social standing. The film remains an unalloyed pleasure, with its sparkling and sophisticated dialogue brilliantly performed.

There will be Open Captioned screenings at 18.10 on June 10th and 13.40 on June 12th.

Tickets for all films can be booked at the IFI box office in person, online or by phone 01 679 3477.