DVDpedia : Library : Title : K

Theatrical: 1950

Studio: Republic Pictures

Genre: Art House & International

Duration: 110

Summary: Alec Guinness, best known for the serious dramatic roles and authoritative presence of his later films, made his mark early as a versatile character actor and a gifted comic performer. These talents are shown to their best in this bewitchingly black-hearted 1949 comedy of a poor cousin murdering his way up the inheritance ladder of a titled, old-money family. Guinness, in only his third film, becomes practically the entire family tree, starring in no less than eight hilarious roles. Handsome Dennis Price is the scheming relative, the progeny of an unfortunate marriage that turned his mother into a family pariah. Determined to earn the title he believes is rightfully his, he ingratiates himself back into the family and plots his ascension through a succession of Guinness-created social dinosaurs, joyfully killing off his kin in a series of inventive assassinations. It's class warfare in action, and Price is winning the war. The delectable Joan Greenwood costars as the married object of Price's affections, whose own venomous nature becomes apparent when Price falls for Valerie Hobson, the cultured widow of one of his victims. Robert Hamer directs with a light touch and dry wit, marrying the understated Ealing Studios comic style with the dark, satirical edge of John Dighton's sharp screenplay. The wiliest of all Ealing comedies, right down to its splendidly sardonic conclusion. "--Sean Axmaker"