Ostracized after a marriage of inconvenience, the now widowed Mrs. Mazzini (Mama) and son Louis continue to be dismissed by their titled family--the D'Ascoynes; an act ultimately leaving them both miserably poor and solely reliant on kind-hearted strangers. Percieving his lot as intolerable, Louis' resentment toward his cousins climaxes at their refusal of Mama's deathbed request: a burial in the family plot. Vowing revenge, he methodically enacts his long-pondered masterplan to eliminate each--8 in all--D'Ascoyne heir until the family dukedom is lawfully bequeathed to himself. Elegant is the only way to describe Louis as he deftly 'cancels out' each relative, craftily infiltrating each victim without a whiff of foul play. As each successor is neatly removed, little stands in place of his 'legitimate' ascendence. But family members aren't all he infiltrates. On the side he maintains an affair with Sibella, a lifelong love who'd spurned his earlier marriage proposal in light of his 'low place'. Now unhappy with her current beau, she's desperate for Louis' attentions and ever curious of his goings-on.
Legendary leading man Alec Guiness (Star Wars original Obi-One) does the full-circle as all 8 D'Ascoynes, equally pompous and condescending at each turn. But its Price with his unaffected poise who steals the show as a remorseless Louis, never waivering from his genteel cordiality and self-assurance. 'Kind Hearts' is comedy, but not quite a dark comedy. The mood, like Louis, never once falters from its 'good form' and pretention, evincing nothing but a lighthearted romp through Victorian gentility.
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