Kind Hearts and Coronets: Difference between revisions

[[File:Kind_Hearts_and_Coronets.jpg|frame]]

And simple faith than Norman blood.|Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Lady_Clara_Vere_de_Vere Lady Clara Vere de Vere]”}}

 

Based on the 1907 novel ''Israel Rank'' by Roy Horniman where the eponymous character is half-Jewish rather than half- Italian. The film changed Israel's name and heritage because the film had a Rank (J. Arthur) as its producer and a film about a half-Jewish serial-killer wouldn't have gone down very well so shortly after the fall of the Nazi Regime in Germany, though the book itself is not anti-Semitic.

{{tropelist}}

* [[Adaptation Distillation]]: Quite a few things are taken away (mostly relatives/victims) and a few things added; the twist ending being the biggest thing. But the book is over 400 pages long so some changes were bound to be made.

* [[Aristocrats Are Evil]]: Though some of the D'Ascoynes seem less bad than others and Lord Ascoyne D'Ascoyne the banker actually seems like a nice guy -- hence Louis's relief that he dies of natural causes and therefore doesn't have to be murdered. Then we have Louis...

* [[Asshole Victim]]: Many of the D'Ascoynes. Especially Young Ascoyne, who gets Louis fired from his job.

* [[Best Served Cold]]: Louis sleeps with his old rival's fiancee on the day before their wedding. As Louis remarks:

* [[Betty and Veronica]]: Or rather, Edith and Sibella.

* [[Chekhov's Skill]]: Louis practices archery with Edith D'Ascoyne. It comes in handy later.

* [[The Edwardian Era]]: The setting of the story.

* [[Fate Worse Than Death]]: Louis references the Victorian meaning (a woman who has been seduced) when he kills the younger D'Ascoyne and his mistress: "I was sorry about the girl, but found some relief in the reflection that she had presumably during the weekend already undergone a fate worse than death."

* [[First-Person Smartass]]: Louis.

* [[Gorgeous Period Dress]]: The actresses in this film, especially Valerie Hobson and Joan Greenwood, are often seen clad in the height of [[The Edwardian Era|Edwardian Era]] fashion.

* [[Hunting Accident]]: How Louis murders Ethelred.

* [[Literary Allusion Title]]: The title is a reference to a Tennyson poem, "Lady Clara Vere de Vere," which Edith quotes at one point during the film.

* [[Oh Crap]]: Louis' reaction when {{spoiler|he realizes just what they mean by his "memoirs"}}.

* [[Pretty in Mink]]: Sibella and Edith wear some furs, including a huge fox wrap Edith wears at Louis's trail.

* [[Public Domain Soundtrack]]: "''Il mio tesoro intanto''" from [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]]'s ''[[Don Giovanni]]'' serves both to introduce the film and as something of a [[Leitmotif]] for Louis' mother.

* [[Repetitive Name]]; Gascoyne D'Ascoyne.

* [[Running Gag]]: At one point in the movie, someone speaks to Louis about "a matter of some delicacy". Louis remarks in voiceover that whenever someone talks about a matter of some delicacy, they're usually euphemistically referring to a matter of extreme '''in'''delicacy. Throughout the rest of the movie, people talk about "matters of some delicacy".

* [[Uncanny Family Resemblance]]: You'd think the D'Ascoynes were all played by the same actor or something.

* [[Unexpected Successor]]: Louis is ''eighth'' in line for the dukedom.

* [[Villain Protagonist]]: Louis plans to murder eight people, most of whom he's quite friendly with -- and you ''want'' to see him do it.

* [[Wicked Cultured]]: Louis, who shows himself rather more cultivated than the wealthier members of the D'Ascoyne family.

[[Category:Films of the 1940s]]

[[Category:The Forties]]