The other observation I have with “KHAC” is in regards to laughs. You’ve heard the descriptive words: “Guffaw,” “Chortle,” “Snicker.” These are your onnomanapea (sic?) words. Words that are written as they sound.

The story is a black comedy about the revenge of a gentleman who is not getting his rightful “Dukeness” in the lineage of his family. Brought up by a single mother who has been abandoned by her family, he slowly exacts revenge on all the members of the family – finally achieving his rightful place in the family lineage.

Along the way he falls in love with a gal named Sibella, who marries the “boringest man in the world” and “Lady something-or-other” – the wife of one of the man he dispatches.

Told in flashbacks as he is awaiting his hanging, the Duke lets it all out in his memoirs about how he has systematically killed them all. We then see, in sort of an “Ealing Studios” version of “Kill Bill” his murderous rampage (well, rampage if you consider pushing a boat over some falls, placing a bomb in a container of cavaiar, poisoning an elderly priest who already was suffering from a weak heart…etc).

The film is very funny in a “chortle” sort of way. I did not find many guffaws and there certainly weren’t many (to me at least) “laugh out loud moments” but I must say I was grinning from ear-to-ear as he took out his revenge.

And, I must say, this was a film that I would also deem as “clever.” As much as “Importance of Being Earnest” tried so damn hard to be clever (and came out annoying as hell) – I felt the writers and the situations of both the overall silly plot and deaths were very clever.

But back to Alec Guinness. I knew going in to the film that he was in the film and then, finally, I said: “Oh, there he is.” And then, after that relative was sent to his death thought: “Boy, he wasn’t in the film long.” Then he was in the next scene as a DIFFERENT relative. I had not realized that this was Alec Guinness doing his best Peter Sellars and playing multiple roles (8 in fact). He was spot on perfect in each one. So good in fact that there were moments when I didn’t realize it was him until half-way through the scene.

I found this film to be very fun indeed, certainly not a waste of time but also not a film that’s going to stick with you much after you’re done watching it.

What I liked:

Alec Guinness x 8.

The cleverness of the dialogue and the way the people were “dispatched.”

The way the main character (name escapes me) continues to have you root for him even while he’s getting more and more enjoyment out of each killer.

What I didn’t like:

There wasn’t much to dislike about the film, other than that there’s really no subtext or “deep meaning” or any other thing like that. It’s a black comedy in the truest sense of the word (or words).

I do agree with Jason on the rhyme at the end which I, too, found a bit disturbing in its time and place and frankness.

Bottom line:

Enjoyable film. Don’t look for depth or reasoning or lasting impressions. Not a lot of “guffaws” but certainly a lot of “chortles” and “snickers.”