Tag: Alec Guinness

Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) Film Review

He chopped down the family tree…

Rating PG
Length 1h46
Release 05.06.1998
Director Robert Hammer
About When Louis D’Ascoyne Mazzini, who hails from a royal family, is denied dukedom, he plans to kill all the potential threats in his way.
Moon: no moon sighting
Where to Watch: Channel 4
Trailer:

The Good

The story is brilliant in a deliciously dark and comedic way. Yes, it uses the typical bookend narration to frame the story but in this case it works quite well first seeing the protagonist imprisoned, to then see the story of how he found himself there unfold. It also provides a wonderful sting to the end of the film.

The technical skill of having all of the D’Ascoyne family played by Alec Guinness. Today audiences are familiar with the table scene within the Nutty Professor in which Eddie Murphy does fat suits and plays most of the Klump family through use of CGI. However, in Kind Hearts, this will have been completed through camera trickery and it really works.

This film truly gives an idea of the acting range Alec Guinness has. Each character of the D’Ascoyne family is distinctly crafted and performed. My favourite has to be the priest.

The Bad

It’s rather slow to get going, given that it goes right back to the start of Louis’ life. I wonder if there was a quicker way to cover this. Not that it wasn’t interesting, but more because I really would have loved to have spent more time with the individual D’Ascoynes.

The Ugly

The women in this film are not very nice. Edith is rather brash and overbearing, while Sibella truly should have been one of Louis’ targets. Yes, it makes for a compelling story, but by god I disliked her.

Final Thoughts

A film I will most definitely put into rotation.

Oliver Twist (1948)

A Screen Event To Be Remembered For All Time !

Rating U
Length 1h56
Release 28.06.1948
Director David Lean
About The famed orphan gets caught up in Fagin’s criminal band while searching for familial love.
Moon: no moon sighting
Where to Watch: ITVX and Youtube
Trailer:

The Good

Once again, David Lean nails the opening. The sound, the intimacy and the heartbreak. So many foundational plot points are set up here and I don’t think I’ve noticed before.

John Howard Davies as the titular Oliver is incredible considering he is the one carrying the film. Davies is able to balance the innocence and vulnerability with a tenacity with no hesitation to defend himself when necessary.

The Bad

Where’s the songs?! I’m not a musical gal, but I do love the 1968 adaptation and the songs by Lionel Bart. I found myself humming ‘Food Glorious Food’, ‘I’d do Anything’ and ‘Consider Yourself’ during the appropriate parts. I’d say I love every single song of that musical, except for ‘Where is love?’. I hadn’t actually realised how much the music added to the film until watching this one without.

Perhaps I watched this a little too close to Great Expectations, but Dickens had a format and a habit of weaving his story with a twist ending or reveal. In the case of these two stories; they both reveal paternal connections to younger characters. In this case, it’s not as smooth though and all feels a little too contrived.

The Ugly

This is one Alec Guinness performance I cannot gush about and is largely to do with the prosthetics used in order to portray the character of Fagin as Jewish. Recently, Bradley Cooper faced criticism for his use of prosthetics to his nose in order to portray composer, Leonard Bernstein. All reasoned arguments were made for both sides and the argument the film made was that it was because Cooper was portraying a real life figure and the facial changes were simply done to allow Cooper to look more like the person he was playing. I’m still not certain where I stand with Maestro, but I do know there is a history of anti-semitic imagery within movies: even Harry Potter has the Goblin Bankers coded as Jewish in such a underhanded way.


It was quite upsetting to see that a villainous fictional character was given what I can only describe as a cartoonish ‘Jewish’ nose; almost too big for Alec Guinness’ face. It’s an overwhelming feeling watching it from 2024, but when you then consider the time in which this film was made, you have to wonder what was going through the film maker’s mind.
In a film that is as well made as Great Expectations, this artistic choice ruins the film and prevents an audience from really taking in Alec Guinness’ performance.

Final Thoughts

Never thought I’d say this, but the Musical is better.

Lavender Hill Mob (1951) Film Review

He stole $3,000,000 in gold and that’s a lot of BULLion!

Rating U
Length 1h21
Release 15.06.1951
Director Charles Crichton
About Henry, a shy bank clerk in charge of gold bullions, dreams of leading an opulent life. Soon, he comes in contact with a foundry owner, Alfred. Both plan to smuggle gold out of the bank.
Moon: no moon sighting
Where to Watch: 4OD
Trailer:

The Good

Alec Guinness once again showing his comedic skills as by-the-book banker who comes up with what he believes to be the perfect plan to steal the gold he’s spent the last 20 years protecting.
Just wait for the robbery to get going and how Holland paints himself as the victim; it’s physical comedy that you can clearly see influenced both Rowan Atkinson and John Cleese.

The plot is solid and the theft has the approval of the Bank of England; they are the ones who came up with it after all. There’s clear cause and effect in play and it makes for a satisfying story.
The use of the bookend narrative doesn’t seem to work as well at first, however it does pay off when the credits begin to role.

Sid James in a pre-Carry On role shows exactly why he became the lead of that franchise. His comic timing and course accents it the perfect balance to Guinness’ upper-middle class stiff upper lip.

The Bad

The work based discussions we overhear and the opinions based on Holland do not fit within the narrative and one scene contradicts the other.
Firstly, Holland wasn’t present to be able to talk about these conversations and therefore it makes the storytelling device of the book ended narration stupid.
Secondly, the first scene tells us Holland will never be promoted and not well liked. The scene right before the robbery Holland is fighting a promotion we’ve been told he’d never get.

The Ugly

The latter part of the film is rather clunky. Almost as if the mob had not thought past the stealing of the gold. Which is ridiculous as Holland clearly says it was getting it out of the country that was the sticking point.
However, the robbery was so precise to the point that even the arrest of Pendlebury seemed planned and it’s a stark contrast to the comedy of errors that happen from Paris onwards.

Final Thoughts

It was a fair and harmless watch for a week-day afternoon, but it wasn’t the great film I was expecting it to be.

Barnacle Bill (1957)

The captain preferred the merry times on land to the mermaids at sea!

Rating U
Length 1h27
Release 17.12.1957
Director Charles Freed
About Captain William Ambrose purchases a devastated amusement pier after retirement. He comes up with various business ideas, but in vain. Soon, he must deal with a man who wants to demolish the pier.
Moon: full moon seen
Where to Watch: 4OD
Trailer:

No trailer for Barnacle Bill

The Good

Alec Guinness is a delight, as always. There’s just something so endearingly charming about him, even when he is playing someone with the quirks of Captain Ambrose.

The bookend storytelling device, one that I mostly associate with Hammer Horror, works well here. I adore the opening in which the pub closes much, MUCH, earlier than we would expect and Ambrose takes the reporter to the bank over the road.

It’s funny, charming and full to the brim of everything that makes Ealing Comedy great. In fact, this film reads like a Carry On… film, without the over zealous and salacious double entendre.

The Bad

This film has a most excellent ‘bad guy’ in which Ambrose and his associates go up against. It makes for a wonderful underdog story that you will want to see out to the end.
Partly I think because nothing has changed and this local council is much more representative of our government today. It’s nigh impossible for us to get a win and our government have done way more egregious things as embezzlement. However, there’s something cathartic about the underdog getting a win.

The Ugly

Poor Mrs Barrington. She’s a force to be reckoned with and there’s even a hint of a romance with Captain Ambrose. However it all falls by the wayside for the second half of the movie and she becomes a mere ornament for the final act.
I wish they had her as strong throughout; giving her something to do or achieve that wasn’t directly linked to Ambrose.

The opening, and some of the scenes in Ambrose’s cabin, didn’t half make me sea sick. I guess that’s one way to have you empathise with the main character, but I would have preferred a less interactive and visceral way.

Final Thoughts

A charming snapshot of years long past. I do wonder if a remake could be made around the currently closed, and condemned, Southport Pier. It would be a novel way to raise the funds for its reparations.