Arsenic and Old Lace Director: Frank Capra Cast: Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane, Raymond Massey, Jack Carson
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- DVD Release Date: 08/29/2000
- Original Release: 1944
- Rating:
- Sales Rank: 734
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Scenes
Features
Interactive menus; Scene access; Subtitles: English & Français
Full Product DetailsScene Index
Side #1
0. Scene Selections
1. Credits. [1:09]
2. A spree grows in Brooklyn. [:51]
3. What Mortimer's come to. [3:10]
4. The Brewster house. [7:23]
5. One thing at a time. [4:09]
6. The two nicest aunts. [2:04]
7. Murder will out. [2:03]
8. Their little secrets. [2:53]
9. An even dozen. [2:37]
10. Gone to Panama. [2:54]
11. Where Elaine stands. [3:06]
12. A new gentleman. [3:08]
13. Another Roosevelt. [3:30]
14. Jonathan and Dr. Einstein. [7:52]
15. Disagreeable. [2:41]
16. Just the right size. [2:45]
17. Lights-and bodies-out. [5:16]
18. Elaine's bad timing. [3:59]
19. A touching reunion. [3:08]
20. What's the matter with Elaine? [2:28]
21. Who can that be? [2:24]
22. Window-seat worries. [1:52]
23. O'Hara drops in. [3:13]
24. If you tell, I tell. [2:01]
25. Tie score. [3:02]
26. Galloping insanity. [4:09]
27. The Melbourned method. [2:24]
28. Big dope. [3:52]
29. To my dear dead brother. [2:42]
30. O'Hara's opus. [3:13]
31. Third-act brawl. [3:44]
32. Rooney on the scene. [3:44]
33. Teddy's term expires. [3:57]
34. Bodies everywhere. [3:54]
35. Sign, Dr. Einstein. [1:41]
36. True confessions. [3:14]
37. Not themselves; Cast List. [1:34]
Editorial Reviews
Arsenic and Old Lace is director Frank Capra's spin on the classic Joseph Kesselring stage comedy, which concerns the sweet old Brewster sisters (Josephine Hull, Jean Adair), beloved in their genteel Brooklyn neighborhood for their many charitable acts. One charity which the ladies don't advertise is their ongoing effort to permit lonely bachelors to die with smiles on their faces--by serving said bachelors elderberry wine spiked with arsenic. When the sisters' drama-critic nephew Mortimer (Cary Grant) stumbles onto their secret, he is understandably put out--especially since he has just married the lovely Elaine Harper (Priscilla Lane). Given the homicidal tendencies of his aunts, the sinister activities of his escaped-convict older brother Jonathan (Raymond Massey) and the disruptive behavior of younger brother Teddy (John Alexander)--who is convinced that he's really Theodore Roosevelt, and runs around the house yelling "CHAAAAARGGGE"--Mortimer isn't keen on starting a family with his new bride. "Insanity runs in my family," he explains. "It practically gallops." Further complications ensue when the murderous Jonathan Brewster arrives home, with his snivelling accomplice Dr. Einstein (Peter Lorre) in tow. When Jonathan learns that his darling aunts have killed twelve men, he is incensed--they're challenging his own record of murders. Though the movie rights for Arsenic and Old Lace were set up so that the film could not be released until 1944, director Capra shot the film quickly and inexpensively in 1941, so that his family could subsist on his $100,000 salary while he was serving in World War II. Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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