1944 Directed by Frank Capra
Mortimer Brewster, a newspaper drama critic, playwright and author known for his diatribes against marriage, suddenly falls in love and gets married; but when he makes a quick trip home to tell his two maiden aunts, he finds out his aunts' hobby - killing lonely old men and burying them in the cellar!
Cary Grant Priscilla Lane Raymond Massey Jack Carson Edward Everett Horton Peter Lorre James Gleason Josephine Hull Jean Adair John Alexander Grant Mitchell Edward McNamara Garry Owen John Ridgely Vaughan Glaser Chester Clute Charles Lane Edward McWade Hank Mann Spencer Charters Sol Gorss Lee Phelps Raymond Walburn Spec O'Donnell Leo White
Arsen und Spitzenhäubchen, Arsenicum en oude kant, Arsénico y encaje antiguo, 砒霜与烈酒
me in 1944 when i try to distract myself from the horrors of WWII by going to the local Cinema to see the latest Cary Grant Picture and realize it’s about how Women Be Poisoning: gee ........... hope this doesn’t ..... awaken anything in me ...........
cary grant shows all seven stages of grief on his face in the span of 60 seconds and can do more with his left eyebrow than every actor in hollywood put together
for film club
(archibald leach was a young boy with a rough upbringing and demons. his wife said that his childhood made her cry. his older brother died, his father was an alcoholic, and his mother suffered from depression.)
cary grant was smirks and surprise and wide eyes. he was charm with a dash of a rogue and a sprinkling of a scoundrel. he was funny and more than a bit of a clown but he never forgot the hints of sadness buried deep underneath. he was slicked back hair and a suit and a tie and perfectly pressed shoes. he was flirting with the ladies late at night, leaning against the table, skipping down the road. he was dashing and he was exciting and he was perhaps the greatest movie star we've ever seen.
(somewhere along the line, archibald leach changed his name and the legend began.)
this movie confirmed that my ideal man looks exactly like cary grant and has a long (and i mean LONG) history of mental illness
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 have adopted a macabre new hobby!
Also featuring Raymond Massey as Mortimer's estranged brother Jonathan with a penchant for sadistic behavior! Whom decides to have an unannounced family reunion with his bug eyed sidekick Doctor Einstein (Peter Lorre) in tow!
Comedy, chaos and escalating mayhem ensues in this wonderful black comedy compliments of Director Frank Capra!
"What I mean is... Well... This is developing into a very bad habit!"
I don't know what I expected of this film, but I certainly wasn't anticipating a Halloween screwball comedy about two aunts poisoning old lonely men, an uncle who's convinced he's Teddy Roosevelt, and Cary Grant looking shocked and flustered 90% of the runtime.
3.75/5
"I'm thinking even the cat's in on this."
Based on Joseph Kesselring's puzzlingly successful 1941 stage play of same name, Frank Capra's “Halloween tale of Brooklyn” Arsenic and Old Lace weaves awkwardly between three poorly integrated stories of varying appeal. The most compelling of the trio is naturally the lascivious one in which newlywed minister's daughter Elaine (Priscilla Lane) becomes increasingly agitated as uncommunicative hubby Mortimer (Cary Grant) desperately slow-walks their honeymoon (and consummation) while attending to the film's leaden subplots. The more bearable of the two involves Mortimer's dotty aunts (Josephine Hull and Jean Adair reprising their Broadway roles) who are in the habit of murdering lonely boarders, though as sweet old ladies they of course regard this pastime as…
