Arsenic and Old Lace
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Movie Reviews of Arsenic and Old Lace
Movie Review: Arsenic & Old Lace
Summary: 5 Stars
Plot: Mortimer, a drama critic, has just got married and is about to go on his honeymoon when he discovers insanity runs in his family. His sweet maiden aunts poison lonely old men and have a number of corpses buried in the cellar.....A film adaptation of the popular stage play, Arsenic and Old Lace is a hilarious movie perfect for people of all ages. The story of Mortimer Brewster (Cary Grant), the youngest of three brothers who were raised by two dear, but eccentric, spinster aunts, who have a nasty little habit of "putting poor souls" out of their misery with a little arsenic-laced elderberry wine.
It is delightful to watch Mortimer go from a nice, normal, newlywed to a nervous, neurotic mess as he tries to figure a way out of the predicament his well-meaning aunts have placed them all in. Throw in one brother who thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt, another who is a psychopathic killer fashioned after Boris Karloff, and Peter Lorre as Dr. Einstein, a slightly intoxicated make-shift plastic surgeon, and you'll be laughing the entire way through.
All of the performances were wonderful, but Cary Grant's facial expressions, double takes, and hilarious body language are a joy to watch. A truly classic, funny movie.
"No, I'm not drunk, madame.......but you've given me an idea!" - Mortimer, seething in frustration as he tries to get past the operator, so that he can get his family committed into the HappyDale Sanitarium.
"Insanity runs in my family. It practically gallops!" - Mortimer, trying to explain to his new bride why it would be best for her to leave him and never look back.
Movie Review: "I'm the son of a sea cook!"
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie, directed by Frank Capra and starring Cary Grant and Priscilla Lane, is a riot. It is littered with hilarious black comedy and ironic words. The acting and casting are both superb.
The dialogue is wonderful, mind-blowing. The story is well done. Even the supporting actors performed wonderfully-Peter Lorre, as the doctor, "stole" the show, according to some critics. (Not that I necessarily agree.) Grant is hilarious.
The movie opens with a couple at a marriage license office. Two newspaper reporters (one the 100 year old guy from I Love Lucy) notice that the man seems to be Mortimer Bruster, a well known bachelor who has written extensively on the follies of marriage. As the story moves on, we get to know his two elderly aunts (who were simply awesome as actresses) and his two brothers, along with several family secrets.
Interestingly, the movie is based on a Broadway play. The two actresses who played the elderly aunts and the guy who played Teddy were from the play. Boris Karloff actually played the brother Jonathan in the play. Capra wanted Karloff for the movie, but because the play was still running, the producers wouldn't let him have Karloff because they felt he was the main attraction.
And, while the movie was filmed in 1941, it wasn't released until 1944 (1943 for military audiences), because the agreement was to not release the movie until the play stopped going.
All in all a five star comedy with just the right amount of dash of romance.
Movie Review: The Original Hollywood Black Comedy (1944)
Summary: 5 Stars
"Arsenic and Old Lace" was originally a Broadway play that was so successful that it delayed the release of this classic film version for three years as it completed it's record stage run of 1,444 performances. This was director Frank Capra's last film before he enlisted for duty after Pearl Harbor.
Set on Halloween night, the movie parodies various Hollywood horror films of the previous decade as it tells the story of the eccentic and deadly Brewster family. Ironically, horror icon Boris Karloff was committed to the stage version and was unavailable to reprise his role of Jonathan Brewster for the film.
The talent pool assembled for the film is astounding. Besides three-time Oscar winner Capra, Julius and Philip Epstein (Oscar winners for "Casablanca") adapted the screenplay for an all-star cast of Cary Grant (already nominated for "None But the Lonely Heart" that year), Josephine Hull (an Oscar winner in 1950 for another screwball comedy movie based on a play, "Harvey"), Raymond Massey (who inherited the Karloff role) and Peter Lorrie among other performers.
The acting is way over the top and that is part of its charms. "Arsenic and Old Lace" is so fast-paced with its one-liners, sight gags and outrageous situations that the two hours fly by. Look for the inside joke in the cemetery scene where Mr. Grant sits in front of a tombstone for "Archie Leach" -- his birth name. For the reader desiring more information, try Marc Elliot's recent biography of Cary Grant (2004).
Movie Review: Nothing like a classic comedy to pull real laughs from you
Summary: 5 Stars
I was introduced to this movie as a small child, since this was one of my mother's favorite movies. I have grown up watching this movie and laughing. After I bought this from Amazon and wathed it, I realized something that I have never noticed before. This movie was directed by Frank Capra, the same man who made arguably the best Christmas movie ever made, It's a Wonderful Life [Blu-ray].
This movie is about the consumet bachelor, Mortimer Brewster, played by Cary Grant, who is getting married. He and his new bride decide to stop by their homes, which happen to be next door to each other, before going on a honeymoon. When Cary Grant gets to his home he finds out that his elderly aunts who raised him and take care of his crazy brother, who thinks he is Theodore Roosevelt, are murderers. They have a habit of taking in elderly men with no family and poisoning them and buring them in the cellar. There is also another brother, Jonathan, who stops by bringing a friend and a dead body of his own.
Take all these elements and through them into the pot, along with a pair of cops that visit frequently to get the mixture only Frank Capra could bring to the screen. I thas plenty of laughs and even some light hearted tension. Sixty-six years old and the movie still holds up. Not to mention this is a film the whole family can sit down and watch, without concern of covering eyes or ears.
Movie Review: A Comedy Classic
Summary: 5 Stars
Would you believe that Cary Grant did not like ARSENIC AND OLD LACE?
That's right! Many years ago, I had the privilege of interviewing this charming movie icon, and during our conversation, I made the mistake of telling him how much I liked the 1944 film. I don't recall his reasons, but I do remember that he suddenly got very irritable and told me how much he hated the picture.
Despite what Cary Grant might have thought, most people think that this adaptation of Joseph Kesselring's hit Broadway play is one of the funniest films ever made.
Directed by Frank Capra, the farcical plot tells of the oddball Brewster family of Brooklyn. The only sane member of the clan is Grant, a drama critic, but he's quickly being driven mad by one brother (John Alexander), who thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt, a homicidal brother (Raymond Massey), who looks like Boris Karloff, and a pair of dotty old aunts (Josephine Hull, Jean Adair), whose favorite pastime is poisoning lonely old men. Currently, there's an even dozen buried in their basement.
Aside from Priscilla Lane, who plays Grant's confused new bride, the choice cast also includes Peter Lorre as a doctor with dubious credentials, Jack Carson as the neighborhood cop, James Gleason as his flustered boss and Edward Everett Horton as the head of the Happy Dale Sanitarium.
BTW: In this film, Grant does what is possibly the funniest double-take in movie history.
© Michael B. Druxman