The comedy of sinister, impeccable manners, as Louis d'Ascoygne (Dennis Price) fulfills in his own way his late mother's wish that he inherit the family fortune, enacting indiscriminate and caculated revenge upon a half-dozen family members, all of whom stand between himself and the inheritance. That Alec Guinness portrays the parts of eight of the victims is remarkable enough but is one of the lesser delights. Price himself is impeccable in character in his psychotic obsession and Joan Greenwood (also wonderful in Oscar Wilde's 'The Importance of Being Earnest', 1952) teaches all comediennes a thing or two about playing the role of the seductive blackmailing adulteress who also happens to be the object of Louis' desire (that's right). Wilde, as well as Chesterton and Woodehouse, knew that British comedy is nothing if not the collusion of characters, eccentric and batty. 