Review of Arsenic and Old Lace

Introduction

Mortimer Brewster is New York’s most famous (and jaded) theatre critic. He has also written a series of outspoken anti-marriage books. Thus, it comes as quite a surprise to him when he marries the girl next door – the minister’s daughter.

Unfortunately, it seems that Mortimer’s time for surprises has come. On the day he gets married, he discovers that his sweet aunts have become (well intentioned) mass murderesses – doing away with lonely old men with a zeal that would put Lizzie Borden to shame. And, if that wasn’t enough to deal with, his psychotic jailbird brother has just got into town.

Video

For a 60 year old film, this looks pretty good. It is black and white, of course, but the transfer is of a high quality. Other than an acceptable amount of grain, the image is blemish free and a credit to Warners.

The film is based on a play and its theatrical roots show in the sets which are mostly static interiors. Everything looks great though, especially the occasional shot of the Brooklyn Bridge in the background. This, in conjunction with the Halloween paraphernalia, gives the film a distinctive sense of place and time.

Audio

Although this is a basic mono soundtrack, it is clear and noise-free.

The film is dialogue driven, with a witty rapid-fire script, and the dialogue is perfectly reproduced. The music by Max Steiner is bold and theatrical and is an ideal fit for the playful mood of the piece. This is also reproduced as well as you could expect.

All in all, this sounds as good as it possibly could and, actually, probably better than it did in the cinemas 60 years ago.

Features

Other than two text pages listing the cast and crew, the only extra is the original trailer. I usually tend not to consider trailers as a worthwhile extra (and also tend not to watch them). However, this trailer comes from an earlier, more inventive time, when a comedy trailer didn`t simply string all the best joke together and throw a pop song on top of it. This trailer is a nice piece of cinema by itself, capturing the mood of the film perfectly. I not only watched it, I watched it twice.

Shame there`s nothing else. The original theatrical script would have been nice, for example.

Conclusion

Based on the stage play of the same name, this Frank Capra film is one of Hollywood’s best loved comedy. And rightly so. It has a witty script, pacy direction and an appealing set of characters.

Cary Grant (as Mortimer) is the star, of course, and he gives a lively, almost manic, performance. For a while Grant was Hollywood’s master of farce (witness Bringing Up Baby) and he is on top form here, firing his lines off like a pro and blessing us with some of cinema’s greatest double-takes (the scene where he first discovers the body in the window seat is a classic).

The supporting cast is also great. Priscilla Lane was one of the prettiest starlets of the 40s and is at her sweetest here. The homicidal aunts are played with an apple-pie wholesomeness by Josephine Hull and Jean Adair. Raymond Massey is great as brother Johnny who, through cocked up plastic surgery, looks remarkably like Boris Karloff. Stealing the show though is Peter Lorre, doing his best worm turn. He stalks around the scenery whining “Johnny, Come Here”.

The script is equally great – sly and witty and full of classic lines such as “Insanity runs in my family. It practically gallops”. It makes for an enjoyable two hours of escalating farce which is guaranteed to leave a smile on every face.

A weak disc but the film more than makes up for it. If you’re tired of today’s gross-out comedies, check out one of the real classics.