Friday, October 30, 2020

My Review of Arsenic And Old Lace (1944)

 


Written by Julius J. Epstein & Philip G. Epstein
Directed by Frank Capra

Mortimer (to Elaine): "I probably should have told you this before but, you see, well... insanity runs in my family. It practically gallops."

I've waited a while to review this one and with Halloween around the corner, of course it would make sense to review a movie actually set around the occasion itself. Of course, Halloween doesn't really play too huge a role in this film but I appreciate that setting nonetheless.

The film adapted from a play of the same name, see newlyweds Mortimer Brewster (Cary Grant) and his new bride Elaine (Priscilla Lane) finding their first night marriage in disarray when they head back to the former's old home and reunite with his delightfully scatty aunts Abby (Josephine Hull) and Martha (Jean Adair), who confess to having bumped off at least twelve different people and burying them in the basement.

Despite the trailers and promotional almost making this movie look like a screwball romantic comedy, Elaine isn't as focused as expected with her largely being absent during certain big scenes and reacting quite badly when faced with some other characters throughout the movie.

The other characters in question would be Mortimer's psychotic brother,  Jonathan (Raymond Massey)  and drunk plastic surgeon Dr. Herman Einstein (Peter Lorre) with the former also being a serial killer and in a moment that's played both for laughs and horror gets Mortimer bound and gagged to a chair with the intention of taking out his critical brother.

Cary Grant definitely gives one of his most interesting performances in this movie with Mortimer being a pithy enough protagonist reacting to the absolute insanity of his family (a family that also includes another brother who thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt, but he's the more harmless member) while also trying to stay alive and becoming a captive audience for an amateur playwright police officer in arguably the funniest scene of the whole film.

It's a madcap adaptation of a classic play, both terrifying in parts and absolutely daft in others and at the same time, never suffers as a result. Raymond Massey in particular perfectly captures that duality of Jonathan being genuinely menacing and then hilarious during the moments where his whole great scheme comes undone through a series of mishaps.

Similarly the aunts of the piece are  amusing too. Two dotty older women who look like they wouldn't hurt anyone, yet have quite the body count while there's a delightfully exasperated performance from Peter Lorre's Einstein. It's only really Priscilla Lane's Elaine who feels a tad short served by this film, which is probably the only negative I can give to an otherwise hugely enjoyable movie.

- The movie made quite the point (as did the original play it's based on) that Jonathan looked a lot like Boris Karloff along with Mortimer inadvertently predicting his own bondage fate.
- The most prolific female serial killer - Amy Archer-Gilligan was an inspiration for this play and movie, mainly as her weapon of choice was of course, Arsenic.
- This film was made nearly three years before it's actual release, though it did get showings in 1943.
- Chronology: Given it's setting, I'm going to assume the early 1940s for this to coincide with it's own release.

Arsenic And Old Lace is a perfect watch for the Halloween period if you want something a little madcap with also the right bits of horror into the mix. It's a career best performance for Cary Grant, it's incredibly funny at the perfect moments and it's gorgeously shot. An absolute classic of a movie. 

Rating: 10 out of 10

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