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It’s Halloween night, and you’ve just gotten married. You return home for a brief moment to receive congratulations from your sweet, unassuming aunts, only to find a corpse in the window bench. What do you do? Your brand new spouse is calling for you to come back, but you can’t very well leave your house now that you’ve found the dead body. Come to find out, your aunt knows about the dead body! You’re shocked to find that she is the reason it’s there! She explains that she and your other aunt have been “helping” elderly men who are lonely, looking for solace, by gently poisoning them. Your aunts find nothing wrong with what they’ve been doing, and further, you find out that your innocent, mentally unstable brother has been helping them! You see, he thinks he’s Theodore Roosevelt, and that for each corpse, he’s digging a lock in the Panama Canal for yellow fever patients. You think about what to do, and decide on getting your brother committed to an insane asylum, but a good one that treats him well, and hopefully you can convince the head of the hospital to allow your aunts to be committed as well. Whilst getting papers signed by doctors and judges before sending your family away, your serial killer brother returns home, much to everyone’s dismay. You face innumerable odds in just one night that essentially drive you to insanity! You think why not! Everyone else in my family is bonkers! Should you fight it, or should you embrace it?
Arsenic and Old Lace is a slapstick comedy by Frank Capra in 1944. It stars Cary Grant, Peter Lorre, and Raymond Massey. There is no shortage of laughs in this film, as its crime-filled adventures are put in such a light that you can’t help but laugh. The storyline itself is incredibly rich in comedy and thrills, as it encircles a family prone to insanity and murder. The only issue is, most of the family doesn’t believe they’re doing anything wrong!
Cary Grant truly perfected his comedic acting in Arsenic and Old Lace. His character Mortimer Brewster is known as a famed drama critic, and staunch believer in bachelorhood. Only, Mortimer has just gotten married to the daughter of a minister! Grant’s performance in this slapstick is one of his all-time greatest, though he himself thought it was one of his worst, and his character was far too over-the-top. The audience sees him as an exasperated and bewildered man who has just experienced the unexpected. Cary Grant adds just what the movie needs with his wonderful skill and hilarious sarcastic comedy.
Arsenic and Old Lace has long been a family favourite among myself, my mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. In the opening scenes, the audience is aware of the unlikely romance of Mortimer Brewster and his bride Elaine. You are then transported almost immediately to the Brewster sisters, who poison lonely old men with elderberry wine. The classic Capra-style film showcases a variety of stories all rolled into one. This picture combines romance, comedy, horror, and suspense, which would be unachievable by anyone other than Frank Capra. I have been a longtime fan of this movie and would consider it one of my personal favourites, due to the picture itself, and sentimental reasons.
I hope everyone would like Arsenic and Old Lace, as it gives the audience everything they’d ever need with its multi-themed story. There is no doubt this film is a great comedic classic, not to mention it stars Cary Grant! If you’ve seen this film, leave a comment below and tell me what you thought of it. If you haven’t seen it yet, you’ve got to check it out! As always, if you have any general comments or questions, just let me know in the comment section, and please, share these posts with friends and family!
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