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    Arsenic and Old Lace

    • 19431943
    • Not RatedNot Rated
    • 1h 58min
    IMDb RATING
    8.0/10
    66K
    YOUR RATING
    • Cast & crew
    • User reviews
    • Trivia
    • IMDbPro
    Cary Grant and Priscilla Lane in Arsenic and Old Lace (1943)
    Watch {VideoTitle}
    Trailer2:50
    2 Videos
    61 Photos
    ComedyCrimeThriller

    A writer of books on the futility of marriage risks his reputation when he decides to get married. Things get even more complicated when he learns on his wedding day that his beloved maiden aunts are habitual murderers.A writer of books on the futility of marriage risks his reputation when he decides to get married. Things get even more complicated when he learns on his wedding day that his beloved maiden aunts are habitual murderers.A writer of books on the futility of marriage risks his reputation when he decides to get married. Things get even more complicated when he learns on his wedding day that his beloved maiden aunts are habitual murderers.A writer of books on the futility of marriage risks his reputation when he decides to get married. Things get even more complicated when he learns on his wedding day that his beloved maiden aunts are habitual murderers.A writer of books on the futility of marriage risks his reputation when he decides to get married. Things get even more complicated when he learns on his wedding day that his beloved maiden aunts are habitual murderers.

    • Director
      • Frank Capra
    • Writers
      • Julius J. Epstein(screen play)
      • Philip G. Epstein(screen play)
      • Joseph Kesselring(play)
    • Stars
      • Cary Grant
      • Priscilla Lane
      • Raymond Massey
    Top credits
    • Director
      • Frank Capra
    • Writers
      • Julius J. Epstein(screen play)
      • Philip G. Epstein(screen play)
      • Joseph Kesselring(play)
    • Stars
      • Cary Grant
      • Priscilla Lane
      • Raymond Massey
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 298User reviews
    • 64Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
    • Awards
      • 1 nomination

    Videos2

    Trailer
    Trailer 2:50
    Trailer
    Official Trailer
    Trailer 2:50
    Official Trailer

    Photos61

    Edward Everett Horton, Jean Adair, and Josephine Hull in Arsenic and Old Lace (1943)
    Peter Lorre, John Alexander, and Raymond Massey in Arsenic and Old Lace (1943)
    Cary Grant and Priscilla Lane in Arsenic and Old Lace (1943)
    Cary Grant, Jean Adair, and Josephine Hull in Arsenic and Old Lace (1943)
    Cary Grant and Priscilla Lane in Arsenic and Old Lace (1943)
    Cary Grant, Peter Lorre, and Raymond Massey in Arsenic and Old Lace (1943)
    Cary Grant, Jean Adair, and Josephine Hull in Arsenic and Old Lace (1943)
    Cary Grant, Jean Adair, and Josephine Hull in Arsenic and Old Lace (1943)
    Jean Adair, John Alexander, and Josephine Hull in Arsenic and Old Lace (1943)
    Cary Grant, Jean Adair, Josephine Hull, and Priscilla Lane in Arsenic and Old Lace (1943)
    Cary Grant and Priscilla Lane in Arsenic and Old Lace (1943)
    Cary Grant, Jean Adair, and Josephine Hull in Arsenic and Old Lace (1943)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Cary Grant
    Cary Grant
    • Mortimer Brewsteras Mortimer Brewster
    Priscilla Lane
    Priscilla Lane
    • Elaine Harperas Elaine Harper
    Raymond Massey
    Raymond Massey
    • Jonathan Brewsteras Jonathan Brewster
    Jack Carson
    Jack Carson
    • O'Haraas O'Hara
    Edward Everett Horton
    Edward Everett Horton
    • Mr. Witherspoonas Mr. Witherspoon
    Peter Lorre
    Peter Lorre
    • Dr. Einsteinas Dr. Einstein
    James Gleason
    James Gleason
    • Police Lt. Rooneyas Police Lt. Rooney
    Josephine Hull
    Josephine Hull
    • Abby Brewsteras Abby Brewster
    Jean Adair
    Jean Adair
    • Martha Brewsteras Martha Brewster
    John Alexander
    John Alexander
    • 'Teddy Roosevelt' Brewsteras 'Teddy Roosevelt' Brewster
    Grant Mitchell
    Grant Mitchell
    • Reverend Harperas Reverend Harper
    Edward McNamara
    • Brophyas Brophy
    Garry Owen
    Garry Owen
    • Taxi Cab Driveras Taxi Cab Driver
    John Ridgely
    John Ridgely
    • Saundersas Saunders
    Vaughan Glaser
    • Judge Cullmanas Judge Cullman
    Chester Clute
    Chester Clute
    • Dr. Gilchristas Dr. Gilchrist
    Charles Lane
    Charles Lane
    • Reporteras Reporter
    Edward McWade
    Edward McWade
    • Gibbsas Gibbs
    • Director
      • Frank Capra
    • Writers
      • Julius J. Epstein(screen play)
      • Philip G. Epstein(screen play)
      • Joseph Kesselring(play)
    • All cast & crew
    See production, box office, & company info

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    Storyline

    Edit
    Mortimer Brewster is a newspaperman and author known for his diatribes against marriage. We watch him being married at city hall in the opening scene. Now all that is required is a quick trip home to tell Mortimer's two maiden aunts. While trying to break the news, he finds out his aunts' hobby; killing lonely old men and burying them in the cellar. It gets worse. —John Vogel <jlvogel@comcast.net>
    new york cityreference to theodore rooseveltillegitimate soncult favoriteeccentricity186 more
    • Plot summary
    • Plot synopsis
    • Taglines
      • She Passed Out On Cary ! No Wonder . . . She's just discovered his favorite aunts have poisoned their 13th gentleman friend !
    • Genres
      • Comedy
      • Crime
      • Thriller
    • Certificate
      • Not Rated
    • Parents guide

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Some 20 years before filming this movie, actress Jean Adair had helped to nurse a very sick vaudeville performer named Archie Leach back to health; by the time she was asked to reprise her Broadway "Arsenic and Old Lace" role as Aunt Martha for this film, Adair and Leach, now known as Cary Grant, were old friends.
    • Goofs
      The movie opens with the Brooklyn Dodgers winning a baseball game on Halloween, weeks after the end of baseball season. This is a gag to suggest that the only time the Brooklyn Dodgers could win is on Halloween, similar to saying when pigs fly.
    • Quotes

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

    • Crazy credits
      This is a Hallowe'en tale of Brooklyn, where anything can happen -- and it usually does. At 3 P.M. on this particular day, this was happening. [Scene of Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Yankees baseball game, irate fans and brouhaha between teams on the field, then...] While at the same time across the river in the UNITED STATES PROPER there was romance in the air. [Scene of cruise ship on the river with NY City skyline in the background, then...] And now, back to one of Brooklyn's most charming residential districts -- [Scene of old gabled Brewster house next to a cemetery, then...] -- From here on you're on your own.
    • Alternate versions
      Also available in a computer colorized version.
    • Connections
      Featured in The 42nd Annual Academy Awards (1970)
    • Soundtracks
      There Is a Happy Land
      (uncredited)

      Music by Leonard P. Breedlove

      Arranged by Max Steiner

      [quoted in score]

    User reviews298

    Review
    Top review
    8/10
    Hilarious Screwball Comedy by Frank Capra
    On Halloween day, the writer and drama critic Mortimer Brewster (Cary Grant) secretly marries his next door neighbor Elaine Harper (Priscilla Lane) and they decide to travel to Niagara Falls in honeymoon. Mortimer has written many books criticizing the institution of marriage and his weeding would be a scoop for the reporters and paparazzos.

    Mortimer and Elaine take a taxi to Brooklyn to bring their luggage and Mortimer visits his adorable elderly aunts Abby (Josephine Hull) and Martha Brewster (Jean Adair), who raised him and are considered Good Samaritans in the neighborhood, renting rooms and giving meals to the poor. His aunts live with his insane brother Teddy (John Alexander), who believes that is Theodore Roosevelt and is digging locks for the Panama Canal in the basement of the house. When Mortimer is ready to go, he finds a dead body hidden in the window seat and his aunts explains that they have murdered the poor men for charity to stop their suffering serving wine spiked with arsenic and other poisons. Then Teddy buries the corpses in the locks believing that they had yellow fever.

    Mortimer decides to send Teddy to the Happy Dale Sanatorium but things get worse when his other insane and cruel brother Jonathan Brewster (Raymond Massey), who had disappeared twenty years ago and has the face of Boris Karloff, unexpectedly appears in the house with his alcoholic partner, the plastic surgeon Dr. Einstein (Peter Lorre), expecting to find a place to dispose the corpse of his victim. The place transforms in a nuthouse.

    "Arsenic and Old Lace" is a hilarious screwball comedy by Frank Capra based on a theater play. The plot and the characters are very funny with Josephine Hull and Jean Adair performing two innocent serial-killers believing that the death of their victims is charity. Cary Grant exaggerates in his reaction and he seems to be crazier than his insane relatives, but the result is wonderful. My vote is eight.

    Title (Brazil): "Este Mundo é um Hospício" ("This World is a Sanatorium")
    helpful•17
    4
    • claudio_carvalho
    • Jun 23, 2012

    FAQ10

    • Is 'Arsenic and Old Lace' based on a book?
    • Where does the title come from?
    • How closely does the movie follow the play?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • September 21, 1944 (Uruguay)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Languages
      • English
      • German
    • Also known as
      • Frank Capra's 'Arsenic and Old Lace'
    • Filming locations
      • Stage 19, Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA
    • Production company
      • Warner Bros.
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $1,164,000 (estimated)
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 58min
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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