Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)

Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane, Raymond Massey, Jack Carson, Peter Lorre, Edward Everett Horton, Jean Adair, Josephine Hull

Directed by Frank Capra

Available to stream on Prime Video

Next up in "Spooky, Scary, and Other-Worldly" is "A Hallowe'en tale of Brooklyn" -- Arsenic and Old Lace. The film is a slightly frantic black comedy, in which Cary Grant discovers his sweet old aunts are actually serial killers with twelve victims buried in their basement.  Grant's other eccentric relatives include a brother who thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt and an estranged killer brother (Raymond Massey) who travels with his own murderous doctor (Peter Lorre).  All is resolved happily when Cary discovers that he is adopted and none of these people are actually his relatives, so he is free to marry cute Priscilla Lane and be off to Niagara Falls.

Jean Adair and Josephine Hull in "Arsenic and Old Lace"

Why watch it:  This is a classic comedy - very funny in a slapstick, over-the-top fashion.  Based on a successful stage play, the movie was filmed in 1941 but was not released until 1944. It was a great hit and Cary Grant and the little old ladies were beloved by audiences at the time.

From "Screenland" 1942

Fun Facts:

• The movie was filmed in 1941, just finishing up when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7th. It wasn't shown until 1944 because according to their contract, Warner Brothers wasn't allowed to release the movie until the play had finished its run on Broadway.

  
  

• Frank Capra enlisted in the U.S. Army Signal Corps as a major right after Pearl Harbor. He applied for an extension so he could finish editing this movie and he eventually reported for active duty in February of 1942.

  

  Raymond Massey, Cary Grant, and Peter Lorre

• Jean Adair and Josephine Hull were both appearing in their roles on Broadway and took time off from the play to film the movie. Boris Karloff played Raymond Massey's part on stage and was upset that the producers of the play wouldn't let him out of his contract to appear in the movie.

  
  

• In the play, Boris Karloff's role of Jonathan received top billing. The movie had to be adusted to make Cary Grant's part larger and justify top billing.

  
  

• One of the tombstone's in the graveyard outside the Brewsters' house has the name Archie Leach, Cary Grant's birth name.

Cary Grant and Priscilla Lane

• Cary Grant disliked his over-the-top performance in the film. Frank Capra allegedly hoped to re-shoot some scenes during the editing process but was rushed and unable to do so because he went off to serve in WWII.

From "Photoplay" 1944

For more reviews from the time, go to the Fan Magazine Reviews page.

Featured Cocktail:

Daiquiri

Daiquiris came to the US from Cuba in 1909. Characters in Fitzgerald’s This Side of Paradise (1920) order them, showing the spread of the drinks popularity. By the 1930s, “it was possible to order this superb drink almost anywhere on the planet.” Marlene Dietrich was known to drink them at the Savoy’s American Bar in London.

2 oz (60 ml) white rum

1 oz (30 ml) lime juice

1 Tbsp (15 ml) sugar syrup

Slice of lime for garnish

Add all ingredients to a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with lime wheel.

Cheers to the Classics!