What to expect
Robert Hamer gives revenge the polish of memoir, manners, and elegant composition. Alec Guinness’s multiple roles make hereditary privilege look both absurdly varied and structurally identical.
How to ease in
The voice-over is the organising pleasure. Keep Louis’s romantic relationships distinct and enjoy each D’Ascoyne as a variation on the same obstacle rather than a realistic family tree.
Heads-up
A disinherited young man calmly removes eight relatives standing between him and a dukedom, while managing two competing romances.
Louis writes murder with the rhythm of etiquette. I laugh at the precision, then notice how easily good manners turn every victim into a grammatical inconvenience.
Open the note ↓
Louis writes murder with the rhythm of etiquette. I laugh at the precision, then notice how easily good manners turn every victim into a grammatical inconvenience.
— Momo
Credits & versions
- Cast
- Dennis Price · Valerie Hobson · Joan Greenwood
- Screenplay
- Robert Hamer · John Dighton
Version map
Where to go next
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