He chopped down the family tree...
1949-06-21
N/A
104 min
When his mother eloped with an Italian opera singer, Louis Mazzini was cut off from her aristocratic family. After the family refuses to let her be buried in the family mausoleum, Louis avenges his mother's death by attempting to murder every family member who stands between himself and the family fortune. But when he finds himself torn between his longtime love and the widow of one of his victims, his plans go awry.
This is hands down my favorite Ealing Studios comedy, as I'm sure it is for many others. A most exquisite and brilliantly dark comic showcase, most especially for Dennis Price who is outstanding here in the lead role of Louis, and for some young actor named Alec Guinness who plays a whopping 8 roles in this film! In those early days the young Mr. Guinness was constantly challenging both himself, and his directors, in order to prove his capabilities. He had done just that the year before with his fabulous portrayal of Fagin in Oliver Twist, and that was only his 2nd movie! With this phenomenal 3rd piece of work, he silenced any critics that might still be left, going on to enjoy a tremendous career that would last nearly the rest of his life.
The best, I think, of the Ealing Comedies features a wonderful Dennis Price as the hard-done-by aristocrat who sets out to exact the most spectacular series of acts of vengeance on those whom he blames for the plights of his childhood. Alec Guinness plays the entire (somewhat doomed) "D'Ascoyne" family outstandingly (especially, I thought, the vicar) and both Valerie Hobson and Joan Greenwood complete this excellent casting of this very enjoyable dark comedy that has the odd extra twist to complicate things nicely. It is one of those films you can watch over and over again and it just doesn't get wearisome.
For everything that I'd heard about this film, I was left underwhelmed. I'd always heard that Alec Guinness was superb, playing multiple characters, but most of them were on screen for just a moment. Yes, the makeup artist did a good job making them all visually distinct, but only a couple really have a role to play in the story. There is one shot, clever for the time, which brings them all "together" which you can admire on a technical level. It does nothing to raise the piece.
Honestly, all of that is a side-show to the actual story and had it been six different actors the film would be unaffected.
The humour is that of a gentle farce and personally it caused little more than a wry smile for me. I realise it's "of it's time", but even for the late '40s I think it's pedestrian.
