Kind Hearts And Coronets (1949)

Oh, how embarrassing it is when the chance comes along to finally view a movie recommended by many, many others over the years and it turns out to be an easy favourite because, guess what, everyone has been recommending it with good reason. Kind Hearts And Coronets is that film for today and I am that person who put off viewing this masterpiece for far too long. Shame on me.

Dennis Price stars as Louis Mazzini, the child of a woman who was deemed by her family to have married beneath her. Due to the judgment made by the rest of the family, Louis and his mother are left to make their own way in life and when his mother dies with no display of remorse or warmth from her estranged family, Louis decides to take matters into his own hands. He sets out to take his rightful place in the family tree and to pull himself up to the higher strata of society. This will involve killing every one of his main relatives (all played by Alec Guinness) until he is left, the sole heir to the family fortune and title.

I'd heard SO much about Kind Hearts And Coronets over the years that I must admit to being a little worried when I didn't love it from the very opening second. People had praised it sky high and I may have been expecting too much.

Balderdash.

Within minutes I was relishing each and every perfectly formed line of dialogue (written for the screen by director Robert Hamer and John Dighton, from the book by Roy Horniman) and dying to find out just what would happen to each character populating the movie.

Dennis Price is superb in the lead role and he's able to play off two very different women, one being the ambitious and manipulative Sibella Holland, played by Joan Greenwood, and the other being the beautiful and gracious Edith D'Ascoyne, played by Valerie Hobson. Audrey Fildes, Clive Morton, Miles Malleson and John Penrose all do fine work in their roles, small or large, but everyone on-screen plays second fiddle to the versatile and hilarious Alec Guinness. Whether he's playing an arrogant cad, a priest with a love for an occasional tipple or even a female heavily involved in the suffragette movement, Guinness is never less than absolutely brilliant.

Hamer, in his directorial role, keeps everything mixed just perfectly. Most importantly, he manages to keep the black comedy throughout without it ever feeling too mean-spirited or just downright grim. This is helped by the casting - despite Guinness doing such sterling work, let's not deny how likable Price is in the lead role - but it's really the result of every single component being put together perfectly.

If you haven't seen Kind Hearts And Coronets then reschedule whatever you had planned and watch it right now. Don't make the same mistake of leaving it as long as I did.

10/10

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The Ladykillers (1955)

When, years ago, I was eagerly trying to communicate to someone just why I loved The Ladykillers so much I said the following: "imagine if the Reservoir Dogs were stuck in a house with a little old lady and they kept trying to get her out of their way, but failing." Now, that was perhaps a silly and flippant way to describe it, but I was trying to do two things. First, I was trying to describe the plot in one sentence while highlighting what a brilliant blend it was. Second, I was trying to show how truly timeless it was. I may have failed to do either of those things, but at least I tried.

The great Alec Guinness gets, arguably, his best ever role as Professor Marcus, a criminal mastermind with a new scheme that seems so stupid it could be a stroke of genius. He rents a room in the household of kindly Mrs. Wilberforce (Katie Johnson) and then invites his gang along to join him, only they're masquerading as a musical quintet. Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom, Peter Sellers and Danny Green play his cohorts and not one of them puts a foot wrong. Unbeknownst to Mrs. Wilberforce, she is crucial to the whole plan. Will everything go smoothly? Well, that wouldn't be any fun now, would it?

It's hard for me to know where to begin in my praise for The Ladykillers. I want to mention every actor, every scene and every great line of dialogue, but I don't want to be some rambling bore (for anyone who rolled their eyes and thought that I'd already made that my specialty . . . . . . . . how dare you). For the sake of brevity, let's just assume that I've already heaped enough praise upon Guinness,  Johnson, Parker, Lom, Sellers, Green, Jack Warner (who plays a superintendent), Philip Stainton (who plays the sergeant) and Kenneth Connor and Frankie Howerd, who both have small, but memorable, roles. And let's assume that I mentioned the many wonderful scenes and the many wonderful exchanges in the script and then repeated myself for hours on end. There. I think that should do it.

The screenplay by William Rose really zips along from start to finish and the direction by Alexander Mackendrick takes each separate element and puts them together perfectly, but it's the cast that makes the movie the timeless classic that it is. If you don't believe me then just watch the remake by the Coen brothers. Actually, don't. I'd never forgive myself for recommending it to anyone, even as a joke.

People who know my taste know that I enjoy movies across a very, VERY broad spectrum, but watching a film like The Ladykillers serves as a wonderful reminder of why I have, and always hope to have, a passion for film. It's easy to pick a number of worthy films that people should see and enjoy for a variety of reasons (technical accomplishments, acting prowess, etc. etc.), but it's also just as easy to pick a number of films that people should see just to be provided with flawless entertainment from start to finish. Films like this one.

If you haven't seen it yet then rectify that oversight ASAP.

10/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Ladykillers-Blu-ray/dp/B0042FPSLA/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1361640680&sr=8-4

The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)

A classic caper from the much-loved Ealing Studios, The Lavender Hill Mob holds up today as a charming, amusing film full of great characters and a few fantastic set-pieces. It's overshadowed by a few other movies from the studio (does it get any better than The Ladykillers? I think not), but remains as watchable as ever thanks to uniformly perfect performances from everyone involved.

Alec Guinness is the leading man, he plays a mild-mannered bank employee named Holland. Holland oversees the transport of gold bullion from the refinery to the bank. He is as predictable as he is punctilious, but that hasn't stopped him from coming up with a plan to rob the gold and give himself a lifestyle he could never otherwise afford. He needs the help of an artist named Pendelbury (Stanley Holloway), who spends most of his days making souvenirs out of lead, and two men with experience in criminal activities - Lackery (Sid James, here billed as Sidney James) and Shorty (Alfie Bass). The robbery should be easy, getting the gold out of the country and keeping hold of it might be the hard part.

Directed by Charles Crichton and based on a screenplay by T. E. B. Clarke, The Lavender Hill Mob starts off in an exotic locale with a character about to tell his tale before jumping back into the past to become a low-key character piece. The beauty of the movie is that, for most of its run time, it remains a low-key character piece. You want these criminals to succeed because, well, they're just a good group of blokes aiming to commit a crime without hurting anyone besides the bank. And considering how the banks have failed people in recent years, the whole thing feels much more satisfying.

Alec Guinness gives yet another wonderful performance, Stanley Holloway is a great partner for him and both Sid James and Alfie Bass bring a roguish charm to their roles. Marjorie Fielding and Edie Martin are good as two women who live in the same block/house as the men, the former has a couple of fun scenes while the latter has a lot less to work with. John Salew and Ronald Adam are also enjoyable in their respective roles and there's even the teeny tiniest of roles for one Audrey Hepburn (don't let your attention stray for a moment or you will miss her).

If you're unfamiliar with the output of Ealing Studios then I urge you to change that as soon as possible and you could do a lot worse than starting your exploration of their movies with The Lavender Hill Mob (although there is a risk that it will spoil you when it comes to viewing many of the others).

8/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lavender-Hill-Mob-60th-Anniversary/dp/B00525QHM8/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1361404550&sr=1-1