We have started a Patreon page with the hopes that
some of our followers would be
willing to donate a small amount to keep DVDBeaver
alive. We are a tiny niche, so your
generosity is vital to our
existence.
We are talking about a minimum of
$0.10 - $0.15 a day, perhaps a
quarter (or more) to those who won't
miss it from their budget. It
equates to buying DVDBeaver a coffee
once, twice or a few times a month.
You can then participate in our
monthly
Silent
auctions,
and have exclusive access to many 'bonus' High Resolution screen captures - both
4K UHD
and
Blu-ray
(see
HERE). |
Search DVDBeaver |
S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r |
directed
by Robert Hamer
UK 1949
Director Robert Hamer’s fiendishly funny Kind Hearts and Coronets stands as one of Ealing Studios’ greatest triumphs, and one of the most wickedly black comedies ever made. Dennis Price is sublime as an embittered young commoner determined to avenge his mother’s unjust disinheritance by ascending to the dukedom. Unfortunately, eight family members—all played by the incomparable Alec Guinness—must be eliminated before he can do so. **** This is a very special film - one I remember very fondly viewing in my childhood. What with my Anglo background I was lucky enough to see many Guinness/Ealing comedies, of which Kind Hearts and Coronets was my favorite (although they are all very good!). We enter the plot to learn about Louis Mazzini's (Dennis Price plays with a perfect disconcerted fashion) mother (Audrey Fildes) who frequent tells tales of how her titled D'Ascoyn family shunned her after she eloped with an Italian commoner which caused a simmering resentment in her son. Louis has never forgotten his heritage nor his unjust shunning. He later blames his lack of social position on being spurned by his sweetheart Sibella (Joan Greenwood) and meticulously Louis decides to permanently remove all the D'Ascoyns standing between him and the Dukedom. He murders them one by one and the dark comedy is only emphasized by the brilliant acting of Alecx Guinness who plays... all of them - Duke Etherel/The Banker/Reverend Lord Henry d'Ascoyne/General Lord Rufus D'Ascoyne/Admiral Horatio d'Ascoyne/Young Henry d'Ascoyne/Lady Agatha d'Ascoyne/ and Lord Ascoyne d'Ascoyne. This is a brilliant comedy/suspense that remains consistently stayed till the films exciting conslusion. Easily one of my favorite films of all time. |
Posters
Theatrical Release: January 20th, 1950
Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews
Comparison:
Anchor Bay - Region 1- NTSC vs. Criterion - Region 1- NTSC vs. Optimum - Region 'B' - Blu-ray vs. Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
1) Anchor Bay - Region 1- NTSC LEFT 2) Criterion - Region 1- NTSC SECOND 3) Optimum - Region 'B'- Blu-ray THIRD 4) Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray RIGHT |
Box Covers |
|
Also as part of the Ealing Studios Blu-ray package Vol. 1: |
||
Distribution |
Anchor Bay Region 1 - NTSC |
Criterion Collection - Spine # 325 Region 1 - NTSC |
Optimum Region 'B' - Blu-ray |
Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray |
The Anchor Bay boxset contains The Ladykillers, Kind Hearts and Coronets, The Lavender Hill Mob, Kind Hearts and Coronets and The Captain's Paradise. These are considered Ealing Studio's greatest comedies. NOTE: The Captain's Paradise is not available individually but the other 4 are. |
||||
(click titles for DVDBeaver reviews) Criterion (without any extras) also available in The Essential Art House - 50 Years of Janus Films - a 50-disc celebration of international films collected under the auspices of the groundbreaking theatrical distributor. It contains Alexander Nevsky (1938), Ashes And Diamonds (1958), L'avventura (1960), Ballad Of A Soldier (1959), Beauty And The Beast (1946), Black Orpheus (1959), Brief Encounter (1945), The Fallen Idol (1948), Fires On The Plain (1959), Fists In The Pocket (1965), Floating Weeds (1959), Forbidden Games (1952), The 400 Blows (1959), Grand Illusion (1937), Häxan (1922), Ikiru (1952), The Importance Of Being Earnest (1952), Ivan The Terrible, Part II (1958), Le Jour Se Lève (1939), Jules And Jim (1962), Kind Hearts And Coronets (1949), Knife In The Water (1962), The Lady Vanishes (1938), The Life And Death Of Colonel Blimp (1943), Loves Of A Blonde (1965), M (1931), M. Hulot's Holiday (1953), Miss Julie (1951), Pandora's Box (1929), Pépé Le Moko (1937), Il Posto (1961), Pygmalion (1938), Rashomon (1950), Richard III (1955), The Rules Of The Game (1939), Seven Samurai (1954), The Seventh Seal (1957), The Spirit Of The Beehive (1973), La Strada (1954), Summertime (1955), The Third Man (1949), The 39 Steps (1935), Ugetsu (1953), Umberto D. (1952), The Virgin Spring (1960), Viridiana (1961), The Wages Of Fear (1953), The White Sheik (1952), Wild Strawberries (1957), Three Documentaries By Saul J. Turell plus the hardcover, full color 240-page book. |
||||
Runtime | 1:35:45 (4% PAL speedup) | 1:40:03 | 1:46:10.072 | 1:46:22.000 |
Video |
1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio
16X9 enhanced |
1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio
16X9 enhanced |
1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 36,107,331,752 bytesFeature: 24,128,704,512 bytes Video Bitrate: 24.79 MbpsCodec: MPEG-4 AVC Video |
1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size:41,312,819,104 bytes Feature: 30,022,637,568 bytesVideo Bitrate: 33.92 MbpsCodec: MPEG-4 AVC Video |
NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
||||
Bitrate: Optimum |
|
|||
Bitrate: Criterion |
|
|||
Bitrate Optimum Blu-ray |
|
|||
Bitrate Kino Blu-ray |
|
|||
Audio | English - 2.0 Dolby Digital | English - 1.0 Dolby Digital Mono |
LPCM Audio English 2304 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz /
2304 kbps / 24-bit Commentary: LPCM Audio English 1536 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 16-bit |
DTS-HD Master Audio English 1554 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1554 kbps / 16-bit
(DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit) Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps |
Subtitles | None | English, None | English, None | English, None |
Features |
Release Information: Studio: Anchor Bay Aspect Ratio:
Edition Details:
• Guinness Bio (text) Chapters 28 |
Release Information: Studio: Criterion Aspect Ratio:
Edition Details: Chapters 19 |
Release Information: Studio: Optimum Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 36,107,331,752 bytesFeature: 24,128,704,512 bytes Video Bitrate: 24.79 MbpsCodec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Edition Details: • John Landis Introduction (2:50) • Dennis Price: Those British Faces (25:52) • BBC Radio Essay (14:26) • Alternative American Ending (2:41) • Restoration Comparison (5:48)
Blu-ray
Release Date: September 5th,
2011 Chapters 12 |
Release Information: Studio: Kino
1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size:41,312,819,104 bytes Feature: 30,022,637,568 bytesVideo Bitrate: 33.92 MbpsCodec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Edition Details: • Audio Commentary by Film Historian Kat Ellinger• Introduction by Filmmaker John Landis (2:58) • Those British Faces: Dennis Price – Featurette (26:59) • Interview with Cinematographer Douglas Slocombe (28:17 - audio only) • Alternate American Ending (2:49) • Theatrical Trailer (2:59)
Standard Blu-ray Case Chapters 9 |
Comments |
NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were obtained directly from the Blu-ray disc.
ADDITION: Kino
Blu-ray
(August 2019): "Kind Hearts and Coronets" has finally
surfaced on Region 'A'
Blu-ray
thanks to Kino Lorber. This, oft considered
best, Ealing comedy is
housed
on a dual layered
Blu-ray
with a high bitrate - 40% higher than the Optimum. It looks to be from
the same source as the image is very close - with the Kino advancing the
10780P presentation in-motion. The improvements is there, but, for most
viewers, it will be minute. Kino add their own audio commentary by the delightful Kat Ellinger who, again, makes salient points about the production and book (and deviations from) as well as stars Price, Hobson, Greenwood, Guinness, director Hamer and cinematographer Douglas Slocombe. She is upbeat and, always, a pleasure to indulge in to garner further appreciation. Kino also include a 1/2 hour audio-only interview with Slocombe als including the same John Landis introduction, Alternate American Ending and Those British Faces: Dennis Price featurette. Kino do have a theatrical trailer. "Kind Hearts and Coronets" is in the top tier of the Ealing Studios comedies. It seems it has been far too long for Region 'A'ers to have waited for it to arrive on their shores. Bravo Kino. This is a most-rewatchable film an d the Blu-ray is a prime way to revisit this beloved British comedy poking fun at the obsession with class and titles.
***
ADDITION: Optimum - Region 'B'
Blu-ray - March 2014 -
Optimum describe this restoration process as Audio is linear PCM 2.0 channel at 2304 kbps. It's more of a handful than you might anticipate - easily handling the film's sound with impressive depth exported. Ernest Irving (Whiskey Galore!) did the score and it's perfect aside Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Don Giovanni with Irving's conducting The Philharmonic Orchestra. No complaints at all and Optimum gratefully add optional subtitles as the dialogue can seem prosaic in its high culture and not always easy to decipher. The Blu-ray disc is region 'B'-locked. All-around pleasing audio commentary with Peter Bradshaw, Terence Davies and Matthew Guinness (son of Alec!) is included, as well as a short John Landis Introduction, a 1993 TV documentary entitled Dennis Price: Those British Faces running 26-minutes focusing on the English actor best remembered for his role Louis Mazzini in Kind Hearts and Coronets. There is also a BBC Radio Essay lasting almost 15-minutes, the inferior-quality, 2 3/4 minute Alternative American Ending and a split-screen Restoration Comparison shy of 6-minutes.
I recommend, despite my minor reservations on the
Blu-ray
image (perhaps I am too picky), simply because this is
probably my favorite Ealing comedy - I've seen it almost
a dozen times. The
Blu-ray
and its bountiful extras (including appreciated
commentary) is well in advance of the other digital
edition presentations. Another film with multiple
revisitation strength. Recommended!
***
ON THE DVDs: I'm afraid there is much to discuss
about this particular comparison. As with the
Forbidden Games,
The Virgin Spring
and
La bête humaine releases by
Criterion (as well as
Nanook of
the North) the image has been 'pictureboxed' to overcome
'overscan' on commercially made tube television sets (can be up to a 15%
loss of image and this is significant!). Pictureboxing leaves a black border around the edge of the
image and most players automatically zoom-in to fill the screen - it limits resolution making the image
slightly less detailed than it might
be able to achieve. The benefit of pictureboxing is that it adds more
visible viewing area so that the majority of DVD purchasers (most people
own and watch through tubes) can see even more of
what is on the negative - the way the film was meant to be viewed.
DVDBeaver feels that equipment invariably improves at a much lower price
and much faster these days and catering to people with inferior equipment
can easily come back and haunt you when the hardware climate advances (it
is doing so monthly). I'll wager that tube TV's are selling at at much
lower rate than other viewing systems these days. We feel you will own your DVDs (especially
your Criterion DVDs) much longer than you will own your current viewing
system - I say this is true for myself having just purchased a plasma TV
today! (I will still own my Criterion DVDs long after this brand new
television is
in the trashcan). The overscan problem associated with tube TVs can be corrected
relatively inexpensively (incremental zoom DVD players, HTPC viewing, even
some TVs now can zoom out to compensate etc.). In the early days of DVD,
Criterion justified issuing non-anamorphic DVD editions feeling that
player down-conversion was poor. DVDBeaver also feel this was an error on
their part although this new issue has many sides - it is still up for
debate and
we welcome
opinions.
Okay, on to this
comparison - firstly this Criterion is a fairly expensive
DVD - in the upper tier and hence it is stacked. I also
like the Anchor Bay edition which came out in 2002.
Criterion have done their magic with removing some minor
debris and scratches from the negative and the
black-levels have been slightly boosted creating a
marginally sharper appearance. This gives the Criterion
deep penetrating blacks. Overall the images look fairly
similar but Criterion is the obvious better. Expectantly,
the Criterion extras (2nd disc too) are superior - I
particularly liked the Guinness interview from 1970 and
the liner notes essay. The Criterion has well-appointed
removable English subtitles - the Anchor Bay has none - if
this is an issue for you. So our opinion is:
1) If you are prone to overscan with
your system - and it is an issue for you - or you wish to
own the best version of this marvelous film - or you
enjoy extra features (although no commentary) - or you
want subtitles - or price is not a strong consideration
when it comes to your cinema on DVD - then the Criterion
is for you. 2)
If you are familiar with the quality of Guinness/Ealing
comedies - or interested in discovering them - have a
system to correct overscan (or will eventually get one) -
make DVD purchasing decisions of a relatively financially
sound nature - then we suggest the Anchor Bay boxset.
In fact, I am very glad I own the
Criterion but I personally suggest the Anchor Bay boxset
at this stage. It is less than 1 lower tier Criterion more
than their Kind Hearts DVD and you can get 4 more biting,
sometimes dark, yet always refreshingly elegant Ealing studio comedies.
NOTE: I really like the Anchor Bay menus
that move around a family tree listing comparative to the
D'Ascoyn mapping that Louis uses. Nice touch! |
Menus
(Anchor Bay - Region 1- NTSC LEFT vs.
Criterion - Region 1- NTSC RIGHT)
Criterion (Disc 2)
Optimum - Region 'B'- Blu-ray
Kino - Region 'A'- Blu-ray
CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Subtitle Sample (Anchor Bay DVD does not offer subtitles)
1) Criterion - Region 1- NTSC TOP 2) Optimum - Region 'B'- Blu-ray MIDDLE 3) Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM |
Screen Captures
1) Anchor Bay - Region 1- NTSC TOP 2) Criterion - Region 1- NTSC SECOND 3) Optimum - Region 'B'- Blu-ray THIRD 4) Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM |
|
1) Anchor Bay - Region 1- NTSC TOP 2) Criterion - Region 1- NTSC SECOND 3) Optimum - Region 'B'- Blu-ray THIRD 4) Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM |
|
1) Anchor Bay - Region 1- NTSC TOP 2) Criterion - Region 1- NTSC SECOND 3) Optimum - Region 'B'- Blu-ray THIRD 4) Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM |
|
|
1) Anchor Bay - Region 1- NTSC TOP 2) Criterion - Region 1- NTSC SECOND 3) Optimum - Region 'B'- Blu-ray THIRD 4) Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM |
|
1) Anchor Bay - Region 1- NTSC TOP 2) Criterion - Region 1- NTSC SECOND 3) Optimum - Region 'B'- Blu-ray THIRD 4) Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM |
|
1) Anchor Bay - Region 1- NTSC TOP 2) Criterion - Region 1- NTSC SECOND 3) Optimum - Region 'B'- Blu-ray THIRD 4) Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM |
|
1) Anchor Bay - Region 1- NTSC TOP 2) Criterion - Region 1- NTSC SECOND 3) Optimum - Region 'B'- Blu-ray THIRD 4) Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM |
|
|
1) Anchor Bay - Region 1- NTSC TOP 2) Criterion - Region 1- NTSC SECOND 3) Optimum - Region 'B'- Blu-ray THIRD 4) Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM |
|
Report Card:
Image: |
Kino Blu-ray |
Sound: |
Optimum Blu-ray |
Extras: | Blu-rays |
Box Covers |
|
Also as part of the Ealing Studios Blu-ray package Vol. 1: |
||
Distribution |
Anchor Bay Region 1 - NTSC |
Criterion Collection - Spine # 325 Region 1 - NTSC |
Optimum Region 'B' - Blu-ray |
Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray |
The Anchor Bay boxset contains The Ladykillers, Kind Hearts and Coronets, The Lavender Hill Mob, Kind Hearts and Coronets and The Captain's Paradise. These are considered Ealing Studio's greatest comedies. NOTE: The Captain's Paradise is not available individually but the other 4 are. |
||||
(click titles for DVDBeaver reviews) Criterion (without any extras) also available in The Essential Art House - 50 Years of Janus Films - a 50-disc celebration of international films collected under the auspices of the groundbreaking theatrical distributor. It contains Alexander Nevsky (1938), Ashes And Diamonds (1958), L'avventura (1960), Ballad Of A Soldier (1959), Beauty And The Beast (1946), Black Orpheus (1959), Brief Encounter (1945), The Fallen Idol (1948), Fires On The Plain (1959), Fists In The Pocket (1965), Floating Weeds (1959), Forbidden Games (1952), The 400 Blows (1959), Grand Illusion (1937), Häxan (1922), Ikiru (1952), The Importance Of Being Earnest (1952), Ivan The Terrible, Part II (1958), Le Jour Se Lève (1939), Jules And Jim (1962), Kind Hearts And Coronets (1949), Knife In The Water (1962), The Lady Vanishes (1938), The Life And Death Of Colonel Blimp (1943), Loves Of A Blonde (1965), M (1931), M. Hulot's Holiday (1953), Miss Julie (1951), Pandora's Box (1929), Pépé Le Moko (1937), Il Posto (1961), Pygmalion (1938), Rashomon (1950), Richard III (1955), The Rules Of The Game (1939), Seven Samurai (1954), The Seventh Seal (1957), The Spirit Of The Beehive (1973), La Strada (1954), Summertime (1955), The Third Man (1949), The 39 Steps (1935), Ugetsu (1953), Umberto D. (1952), The Virgin Spring (1960), Viridiana (1961), The Wages Of Fear (1953), The White Sheik (1952), Wild Strawberries (1957), Three Documentaries By Saul J. Turell plus the hardcover, full color 240-page book. |