Screen Icons: Alec Guinness [DVD]

Classic collection of the early films of Alec Guinness. In the classic Ealing comedy, 'Kind Hearts and Coronets' (1949), young Louis Mazzini (Dennis Price) vows to take revenge on his family, the D'Ascoynes, when he learns how they disinherited his mother. Working his way into their trust, Louis begins to bump off his distant relatives (all played by Alec Guinness) one by one, but complications set in when Edith D'Ascoyne (Valerie Hobson), the widow of his first victim, falls in love with him. In 'Last Holiday' (1950), Guiness plays an agricultural salesman who finds out he has a short time to live. Taking a final holiday, he realises that he was actually a more interesting person than he allowed himself to be. In 'The Man In The White Suit' (1951), eccentric Sidney Stratton (Alec Guiness) is a laboratory cleaner in a textile factory, who invents a material that will neither wear out nor become dirty. Initially hailed as a great discovery, Sidney's astonishing invention is suffocated by the management when they realise that if it never wears out, people will only ever have to purchase one suit of clothing. In 'The Captain's Paradise' (1953), Guinness stars as Mediterranean ferryboat Captain Henry St. James, who believes in the notion of 'a girl in every port'. For Henry has a wife on both sides of the water. There is Maude (Celia Johnson) in Gibraltar and Nita (Yvonne DeCarlo) in Tangiers. Everything is perfect as long as neither woman decides to visit the other port. In 'Barnacle Bill' (1957), Guiness plays retired Navy Captain Ambrose, who buys a decrepit amusement pier in 'Sandcastle-On-Sea' planning to turn it into a going concern. But when the local council object to the idea, planning to close the pier down, Ambrose has to use some lateral thinking to save the day.

United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: LANGUAGES: English ( Mono ), SPECIAL FEATURES: Black & White, Box Set, Interactive Menu, Multi-DVD Set, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: Last Holiday (1950) Set at a British holiday resort, a bright young deckchair attendant cons the local entertainments manager and the mayor into running a film festival, then persuades an ambitious young French actress to be the star of the proceedings.

Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) A distant poor relative of the Duke of D'Ascoyne plots to inherit the title by murdering the eight other heirs who stand ahead of him in the line of succession.

The Man in the White Suit (1951) An altruistic chemist invents a fabric that resists wear and stain as boon to humanity but both capital and labor realize it must be suppressed for economic reasons.

The Captain's Paradise (1953) The bigamist captain of a ferry boat between the restricted British colony in Gibralter and Spanish Morocco has a woman of differing appeal and temperament in each port.

Barnacle Bill (1957) Comedy about a Naval officer who buys a seaside pier and registers it as a ship to defeat local bumbledom and chicanery. SCREENED/AWARDED AT: BAFTA Awards, Oscar Academy Awards, Venice Film Festival, ...Alec Guinness Collection - 5-DVD Set ( Last Holiday / Kind Hearts and Coronets / The Man in the White Suit / The Captain's Paradise / Barnacle Bill )