Better Luck Next Week!

I’m pretty sure that in about 90% of the screwball comedies made in the 40s there is a character named Johnny. When I first saw Arsenic and Old Lace years ago, its over-the-top zaniness caught me completely off guard and I absolutely, positively hated it. This time I was committed to go into this with an open mind and try my best to enjoy it for what it is, even if comedy does age like milk. The first time I watched this it was Cary Grant’s performance that really turned me off but this time however, I realized that he is probably the best thing in it and is putting forth quite the effort. Regardless, I…

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Film #15 of "Scavenger Hunt #3" Challenge!
Task #24 : A Black Comedy!
letterboxd.com/naughty/list/scavenger-hunt-3/
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Mortimer Brewster (Cary Grant) is wishing the old adage "You can choose your friends, but you can't choose your family" wasn't true right about now because his family is proving to be nuttier than a fruitcake! As the family antic's come to a head on Halloween Mortimer (Cary Grant) is slowly losing his own sanity!

Cary Grant was absolutely brilliant! His facial expressions were hilarious! His comedic timing was impeccable! Of course he had a strong supporting cast which include the likes of Josephine Hull and Jean Adair whom knocked it out of the ballpark in their roles as the lunatic spinster aunts whom…

I don't know what it is about the leads in Hitchcock films that make me dislike them until I see them out of Hitchcockland. It happened with James Stewart, who I found rather annoying in Rear Window, but when I saw him in It's a Wonderful Life I immediately got his wonderful appeal. And yes, it happened with Cary Grant in North by Northwest, but I now see why he was a superstar.

I didn't get the appeal of North by Northwest. And although he could really wear a suit, I just didn't like Cary Grant. Perhaps it was the tan. Or just the fact that he was the lead in a Hitchcock film I didn't like. Either way, I…

Film #13 of Project 40

”CHAAAAAAARRGE!”

This is as manic, exaggerated and congested a comedy can get. Biggest surprise of Arsenic and Old Lace is its director, here Frank Capra who is better known for his sweet, lighthearted and humble comedies creates something that can only be matched by Dr. Strangelove when it comes to cynicism and sarcasm of dialogues and the out of control nature. Put Boris Karloff, Teddy Roosevelt, Dr. Einstein and a Cary Grant who is swinging between mental stability and insanity in one single room and you’ll have it, an erratic comedy that is funny and frightening at the same time.

Arsenic and Old Lace is a movie that step by step drags you into its…

Mortimer Brewster: "Look I probably should have told you this before but you see... well... insanity runs in my family... It practically gallops."

This was a completely different side of Cary Grant that I've got to know from Notorious, North by Northwest, and Charade. I now completely understand the comparisons between him and George Clooney - both in a smooth dramatic performance and especially now in a manically comedic role such as this one. His cartoonish facial expressions and slapstick comedy make for a perfect fit for this crazy hilarious story from the twin Epstein brothers and director Frank Capra.

Known for his stance against marriage, popular author Mortimer Brewster (Grant) and newlywed wife Elaine Harper (Priscilla Lane) arrive at…

The least discussed film of the timeless and iconic Frank Capra masterpieces, Arsenic and Old Lace is in another way, a perfect representation of how The Golden Age of cinema conquers the modern industrialized world of cinema. A comedy like very few others, Arsenic and Old Lace is an absurd comedy, and a brilliant one too, to say the least. Where many film viewers separate the early era of cinema to the more modern in terms of accessibility of comedy, Arsenic and Old Lace fails to meet the expectations of certain viewers and eliminates any possibility of alienating its viewers.

Mortimer Brewster returns to the residence of his two kind and seemingly sane aunts following his marriage to Elaine Harper.…