Arsenic and Old Lace

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1 hr. 58 min.

Comedy

List

86%

35 Reviews

Tomatometer

92%

25,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Writer and notorious marriage detractor Mortimer Brewster (Cary Grant) falls for girl-next-door Elaine Harper (Priscilla Lane), and they tie the knot on Halloween. When the newlyweds return to their respective family homes to deliver the news, Brewster finds a corpse hidden in a window seat. With his eccentric aunts (Josephine Hull, Jean Adair), disturbed uncle (John Alexander), and homicidal brother (Raymond Massey), he starts to realize that his family is even crazier than he thought.

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Dillan T

Incredible, this is a story that was written as if frugal science was applied. Everything you need in a story, no trite, perfect!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/17/24

Full Review

Blu B

What was that...This is a mess that makes no sense. The setup of him being a author, him being newly married, all that could be cut out and nothing is lost. The pacing is terrible this and everything else is subpar. This barely has any music in it and is very dry. Why they don't make use of Max Steiner's score is beyond me. The biggest thing is the jokes just aren't that funny. Some are clever here and there but for the most part they lack context or a good setup, and that's the big problem here. Pacing wise it feels like they left out all the setups plot and joke wise and what is here has almost nothing to do with the actual story. Cary Grant is half decent in this and probably the best thing. It defintely is the least wooden performance I've ever seen from him and am suprised he can do comedy/slapsick quite well at times. There is also quite a bit of dark humor in this as well. The problem is it's all nonsense that enver stops or sets anything up. Once he discovers the bodies after the first 20 minutes or so which is actually good it feels like this flies off the rails and stuff just happens. The convict who is his brother who looks like Karloff, more bodies, the dumb corny Teddy Roosevelt subplot, and a ton more just feel completely pointless. It feels like the story just flies off the rails and completely forgets what is even going on. I have to say this is terribly overrated. Skip This.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

12/16/23

Full Review

Jack B

This is a must see movie for any fan of the movies. Cary Grant is at his best in Frank Capra's screwball comedy. He manages to be as handsome as ever and as impeccably dressed as we are used to. And be hilarious reacting to the insanity he is surrounded by. Cary is directly responsible for numerous laugh out loud moments in the film. Watch and enjoy the results of many professionals making a timeless film comedy.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12/07/23

Full Review

Alec B

Its a great adaptation of the play, and Capra finds lots of interesting visual choices without loosing the madcap theatricality that makes the source material so enduring. Grant's facial expressions are hilarious.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

11/10/23

Full Review

Mingo F

One of the best theatre plays on screen.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/05/23

Full Review

Shadowman4710

A wonderful murder/comedy starring the great Carey Grant and and excellent supporting cast. It still holds up after all these decades.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

11/03/23

Full Review

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Frank Capra

Director

Cary Grant

Mortimer Brewster

Raymond Massey

Jonathan Brewster

Priscilla Lane

Elaine Harper

Peter Lorre

Dr. Einstein

Jack Carson

Officer Patrick "Pat" O'Hara

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Derek Smith

Slant Magazine

Arsenic and Old Lace trenchantly lays bare the hypocrisies and prejudices of the upper-middle class that often remained concealed beneath the façade of good manners.

Oct 11, 2022

Full Review

David Parkinson

Empire Magazine

Cary Grant et al are on sparkling form in this classic darkly twisted comedy.

Rated: 4/5

Oct 22, 2013

Full Review

Variety Staff

Variety

Despite the fact that picture runs 118 minutes, Frank Capra has expanded on the original play [by Joseph Kesselring] to a sufficient extent to maintain a steady, consistent pace.

Aug 13, 2007

Full Review

Michael Calleri

Niagara Gazette

Director Frank Capra, one of Hollywood’s great filmmakers and a man whose films appreciated the serious troubles society can inflict on people, clearly wanted to make a no-holds-barred comedy that thrives on lunacy. He succeeded.

Apr 30, 2023

Full Review

Brian Susbielles

InSession Film

It is full of wicked humor that keeps the macabre tone throughout the movie and was yet another notch on Frank Capra’s belt of hit comedies.

Feb 14, 2023

Full Review

Michael Barrett

PopMatters

One of the film’s rewards is that, upon rewatching and rethinking, there’s all that subconscious evidence buried in the story’s basement, and much of the audience’s satisfaction rests in the desire to keep it concealed.

Oct 31, 2022

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Synopsis

Writer and notorious marriage detractor Mortimer Brewster (Cary Grant) falls for girl-next-door Elaine Harper (Priscilla Lane), and they tie the knot on Halloween. When the newlyweds return to their respective family homes to deliver the news, Brewster finds a corpse hidden in a window seat. With his eccentric aunts (Josephine Hull, Jean Adair), disturbed uncle (John Alexander), and homicidal brother (Raymond Massey), he starts to realize that his family is even crazier than he thought.

Director: Frank Capra
Executive Producer: Jack L. Warner
Screenwriter: Joseph Kesselring, Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein
Distributor: Warner Bros., Criterion Collection, Warner Bros. Pictures
Production Co: Warner Brothers
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 23, 1944, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 4, 2008
Sound Mix: Mono
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.37:1), 35mm

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