Arsenic and Old Lace

Media:	DVD
Directed by:	Frank Capra
Starring:	Cary Grant
Release date:	01 June, 2004
List price:	~~$19.97~~
Our price:	$14.98 that is 25% off!

Arsenic and Old Lace

Average rating: Stars

"Insanity runs in my family. It practically gallops."

Cary Grant plays Mortimer Brewster, nephew to Abby and Martha Brewster (Josephine Hill and Jean Adair), two old lovable but crazy spinsters who poison male callers with their homebrew elderberry wine to put them out of their misery. Grant is about to marry Ellaine Harper (played by Priscilla Lane), his next-door neighbor, but he's postponed it because he thinks he might have inherited insanity from his nutty aunts. Soon Raymond Massey and Peter Lorre enter the scene, only adding to the craziness. A wonderful slapstick comedy that holds up perfectly after all the years. Worth a watch.

Arsenic and Old Lace - Cary Grant

"This is Developing Into a Very Bad Habit!"

Grab a big cauldron, add two sweet little old ladies with a hobby of helping lonely old men to their grave and burying them in their cellar, mix in a nephew who's a sadistic killer, sprinkle in another nephew who thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt, add yet one more nephew who's normal, and heading to Niagra Falls for a honeymoon with his very pretty bride, stir it all together on a crisp Halloween morning, and what you have is the most unlikely screwball comedy ever made!

Frank Capra of all people, famous for his blend of comedy and social commentary, was dying to do this picture after seeing the stage play by Joseph Kesselring. Julias J. and Philip G. Epstein wrote the very dark and very funny screenplay and once Cary Grant and pretty Priscilla Lane signed on, a screen classic was born. Grant's takes and double-takes in this film are hilarious, and the reason everyone loves Cary Grant.

Mortimer Brewster (Grant) is the successful playwright of "The Bachelor's Bible" so is trying to marry his lovely sweetheart Elaine Harper (Priscilla Lane) in secret, before the press gets wind of it and have a field day. But when the couple stops by after the wedding on their way to Niagra Falls, he discovers something that turns his day upside down!

Grant's reactions are hilarious when he discovers by accident his aunt Martha (Jean Adair) and aunt Abby (Josephine Hull) are hiding a body in the window seat. His reactions are even more hilarious when they admit to having several bodies buried in the cellar! It seems his crazy brother who thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt has been giving the lonely old men a proper burial in what he believes to be the Panama Canal. He thinks they've all died from yellow fever, you see, not the elderberry wine with poison in it!

Elaine has been next door at her Reverand father's house (James Gleason) and can't understand why Mortimer is acting so strange suddenly and trying to get rid of her! While Mortimer is trying to get "Teddy" institutionalized his long-lost and quite diabolical brother Jonathan (Raymond Massey) shows up with his crazy little plastic surgeon (Peter Lorre) in tow and a very hot stiff of their own on their hands. And oh yes, the nervous little surgeon has cut Jonathan to look like Boris Karloff!

Friendly cop on the beat O'Hara (Jack Carson) stops by but Mortimer is all tied up at the time! A wild ending somehow manages to work everything out for everyone, even Mortimer, who has told his young wife: "Insanity runs in my family. It gallops!" Elaine may not believe him, but a trip to the cellar this Halloween night near the end of this film might just convince her! Garry Owen has a nice bit as the cab driver whose meter has been running outside the house all day!

Grant is terrific here and more than makes up for a couple of slow spots and Priscilla Lane has always been a favorite of mine, acquitting herself nicely, and quite attractively as always. If you want to see a darkly hilarious screwball comedy from a director who practically invented the genre of screwball, this is your film right here. One of Grant's finest and most frantic performances. A must see film for Grant fans.

Cary Grant - Arsenic and Old Lace

This Is A Funny Movie

It's a dark comedy, but Cary Grant makes it light and hysterical. A must for anyone who enjoys laughing and older movies.