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| Arsenic And Old Lace [1944] | ![Arsenic And Old Lace [1944]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51K6JXBAN5L._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Director: Frank Capra
Actors: Cary Grant, Josephine Hull, Jean Adair, Raymond Massey, Peter Lorre
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: £12.99
Buy New: £4.98
You Save: £8.01 (62%)
New (13) from £4.28
Avg. Customer Rating:  19 reviews
Sales Rank: 2297
Format: Black & White, Dubbed, Full Screen, Pal
Languages: English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Italian (Subtitled), Danish (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), Portuguese (Subtitled), German (Subtitled), Romanian (Subtitled), Bulgarian (Subtitled), English (Original Language), German (Original Language)
Rating: Parental Guidance
Running Time: 113 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 7321900650250
ASIN: B000056BB9
Theatrical Release Date: September 23, 1944
Release Date: May 7, 2001
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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Amazon.co.uk Review
In 1941, when Frank Capra filmed Arsenic and Old Lace, he was in the midst of his string of social-concern pictures. So this uncharacteristic property must have seemed like a vacation; it's a straight farce, played at full tilt and closely adapted from the Broadway play. Almost all of the action takes place on a single set: the old home of the Brewster sisters (Josephine Hull and Jean Adair), those dear, dotty old ladies who mix up a very special elderberry wine. Very special. As their nephew Mortimer (Cary Grant) discovers on the eve of his wedding, the two ladies have been spiking the wine with poison and sending lonely gentleman callers off to the great beyond. More specifically, they've been burying them in the cellar with the help of nutty Uncle Teddy, who thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt (and thus digging the Panama Canal down in the basement). The ominous happenings are made more sinister with the arrival of another menacing relative (RaymondMassey) and his quack doctor (Peter Lorre), who look and act like refugees from a horror movie. Played completely over the top, this movie offers up lots of bracing slapstick, with Grant run to near exhaustion by the galloping insanity of his family. Although Capra shot the film in 1941, prior to his making military films during World War II, the film was not released until 1944; the contract stipulated that the movie not come out before the play ended its enormously successful run. --Robert Horton
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| Customer Reviews: Read 14 more reviews...
 Screwball fun April 4, 2008
Entertaining, but also contrived and overdone. Cary Grant's manic zeal is ultimately tiresome. NB Screwball comedies of the 40s are an acquired taste.
 A funny premise but a flawed execution (pun intended) August 12, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Mortimer Brewster (Cary Grant) has a problem. He's a newspaper critic known for his complaints about marriage, who just got married. Before the news breaks he wants to tell his two nice, elderly aunts, but when he arrives at their home he discovers the aunts have a combination hobby and charity. They poison lonely old men, then have them buried in their basement by their addled brother who thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt. "Teddy" is concerned about all those yellow fever deaths, but digging the locks for the canal provides a logical burial place. When Mortimer discovers his aunts' 13th work of charity in a window seat, his troubles are just beginning. Showing up unexpectedly is Mortimer's criminal brother, Jonathan (Raymond Massey), an escaped psycho who, thanks to the botched facial surgery of his partner, Dr. Einstein (Peter Lorre), now resembles Boris Karloff. And wandering in and out are some great character actors, including Jack Carson as a play-writing cop, James Gleason as a police superintendent, Edward Everett Horton as the head of a home for the insane, and Grant Withers as a bemused clergyman.
What could not be funny with such a setup and with such actors? Well...Cary Grant, in my view, nearly does the movie in. Grant (or Frank Capra) seems to think playing farce means squatting and walking like a chimpanzee, talking as loudly and fast as possible, and mugging broadly for the camera at every opportunity. There are many good things in this movie, but, for me, Grant overacts, something he rarely did in his other films. I suppose the blame rests with Capra.
Hull, Adair and John Alexander who plays Teddy originated their parts in the stage presentation. One of the funny conceits was that playing Jonathan on Broadway actually was Boris Karloff. I've been told that when the movie was filmed the stage play was still doing good business. The producers let the three take six weeks to make the movie, but wouldn't release Karloff. They thought he was too important for ticket sales. It's too bad. As good as Raymond Massey is in the role (he shows a real flair for deadpan humor), having the real Karloff become enraged because his surgeon botched the operation and made him look like Karloff would have been unusually funny.
 Its Capra..but not as i know it ! April 27, 2007
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
I bought this film on the strength of Capra's back catalogue of great titles such as It's a Wonderful Life, It Happened One Night and Mr Smith Goes to Washington. I did not know the story and what to expect and was quickly enchanted by this masterpiece. Funny, at times pleasantly spooky, great performances from every actor involved (and a Karloff look-alike to boot), and a cracking screenplay from the Epstein brothers (Casablanca) all combine to create one of the best comedies ever made.
Feather In His Capra October 1, 2006
7 out of 10 found this review helpful
This must rank up there as one of the funniest movies ever made; certianly one of Grant's best; it slick black humour and slapstick comedy is the driving force behind its appeal; it never lets up on the laughs from begining to end; a pure delight to watch again and again.
....mind over matrimony... July 16, 2006
7 out of 9 found this review helpful
I don't think I am able to express in words how I feel about this picture..It has everything a great comedy movie should have;
wonderful actors with impeccable timing...a tremendous script... Max Steiner's superbe score.. and although it mainly takes place in one room of the house, it is NEVER boring!
If you want to watch a piece of classic cinema comedy, this is it...
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