Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)

There’s really no way around it. Arsenic and Old Lace, directed by Frank Capra, is a certified REEL CLASSIC as the crazy situations get cranked up on one Halloween in Brooklyn, New York.

With Cary Grant leading a wildly talented cast - which includes Raymond Massey, Peter Lorre, Priscilla Lane, Jack Carson, Edward Everett Horton, Josephine Hull, Jean Adair, and John Alexander as Teddy Brewster - and Capra’s confident direction, the black comedy running throughout Arsenic and Old Lace is timeless, unforgettable, and a sure-fire hit from beginning to end.

"absolutely nothing about this black comedy gets old and tiresome"


I can’t even begin to tell you just how many times - especially around Halloween - I have watched this comedy, with every time being better than the time before. Few films are like that but absolutely nothing about this black comedy gets old and tiresome, especially Grant’s asides and his exaggerated reactions to the wild situation unfolding as he, as the recently married Mortimer Brewster, learns that the aunts who raised him in the old family home are actually serial killers, offing old and lonely bachelors with poison.

Yes, it’s even a family affair as they have Mortimer's brother, Teddy, who believes he is Theodore “CHARGE!!!!) Roosevelt, dig plots in the basement to bury the bodies. He believes them to be victims of yellow fever and, together, the three Brewsters hold services for the gentlemen who dine and died at their table. It’s all very proper, you see. At least, in their minds it is.

But Mortimer, who is quickly coming unglued upon finding a dead body in the window seat, is having none of it. He’s just gotten married and can’t believe that his loving aunts are secretly killing lonesome gentlemen.Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)

But things get worse when an unfamiliar face - one straight out of Frankenstein - makes its presence known. Trying to get Teddy (Alexander) admitted into a sanatorium and still wanting to run off to Niagara Falls with his bride (Lane), his world is one of constant turmoil as the night he learns all of this is also the night that his serial killing brother, Jonathan (Massey) arrives with his alcoholic accomplice, plastic surgeon Dr. Herman Einstein (Lorre). Now that the family is all gathered, the bodies begin to pile up. These two have their own body to dispose of!

This is the family that slays together! Could things get any nuttier for Mortimer? Or is he, too, going insane? Find out in the Criterion Collection’s handling of Arsenic and Old Lace, newly restored in 4K on blu-ray.

5/5 stars

 

Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)

Blu-ray Details

Home Video Distributor: Criterion
Available on Blu-ray
- October 11, 2022
Screen Formats: 1.37:1
Subtitles
: English SDH
Audio:
English: LPCM Mono
Discs: Blu-ray Disc; single disc
Region Encoding: Locked to Region A

Frank Capra adapted a hit stage play for this marvelous screwball meeting of the madcap and the macabre. On Halloween, newly married drama critic Mortimer Brewster (Cary Grant, cutting loose in a hilariously harried performance) returns home to Brooklyn, where his adorably dotty aunts (Josephine Hull and Jean Adair, who both starred in the Broadway production) greet him with love, sweetness . . . and a grisly surprise: the corpses buried in their cellar. A bugle-playing brother (John Alexander) who thinks he’s Teddy Roosevelt, a crazed criminal who’s a dead ringer for Boris Karloff (Raymond Massey), and a seriously slippery plastic surgeon (Peter Lorre) are among the outré oddballs populating Arsenic and Old Lace, a diabolical delight that only gets funnier as the body count rises.

Video

Criterion Collection, with a 1.37:1 aspect ratio, presents Arsenic and Old Lace with a glorious 4K transfer that sweeps away sour memories of watching the old DVD copies of the film. Thank goodness! This crisp transfer absolutely crackles with depth, definition, and details as we get looks at the Brewster’s family home. There are bodies piling up everywhere in this pitch-black comedy. Just don’t look in the window seat. The black-and-white photography here sizzles and the blacks and grays are handled expertly by the transfer.

Audio

You’ll be heard laughing over the uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray which accompanies this film.

Supplements:

Commentary:

  • Charles Dennis, author of There’s a Body in the Window, provides an excellent session that fans of the film will love.

Special Features:

With new art by artist F. Ron Miller, the newly remastered (in 4K) print of Arsenic and Old Lace can be yours to own. There is also an essay by critic David Cairns.

  • New, restored 4K digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
  • New audio commentary featuring Charles Dennis, author of There’s a Body in the Window Seat!: The History of “Arsenic and Old Lace”
  • Radio adaptation from 1952 starring Boris Karloff
  • Trailer


Blu-ray Rating

  Movie 5/5 stars
  Video  5/5 stars
  Audio 4/5 stars
  Extras 4/5 stars

Composite Blu-ray Grade

4.5/5 stars


Film Details

Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)

MPAA Rating: Unrated.
Runtime:
118 mins
Director
: Frank Capra
Writer:
Julius J. Epstein; Philip G. Epstein
Cast:
Cary Grant; Priscilla Lane; Raymond Massey
Genre
: Comedy | Crime
Tagline:
WARNER SHOW OF THE YEAR! BEATS THE STAGE PLAY BY 500 LAUGHS AND 5000 SHIVERS!.
Memorable Movie Quote: "No, no. I'm not a Brewster. I'm the son of a sea-cook! Ha! Ha! Chaaaaarrrge!"
Theatrical Distributor:
Warner Bros.
Official Site: https://www.criterion.com/films/29005-arsenic-and-old-lace
Release Date:
September 23, 1944
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
October 11,  2022.
Synopsis: On Halloween, newly married drama critic Mortimer Brewster (Cary Grant, cutting loose in a hilariously harried performance) returns home to Brooklyn, where his adorably dotty aunts (Josephine Hull and Jean Adair, who both starred in the Broadway production) greet him with love, sweetness . . . and a grisly surprise: the corpses buried in their cellar. A bugle-playing brother (John Alexander) who thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt, a crazed criminal (Raymond Massey) who's a dead ringer for Boris Karloff, and a seriously slippery plastic surgeon (Peter Lorre) are among the outré oddballs populating Arsenic and Old Lace, a diabolical delight that only gets funnier as the body count rises.

Art

Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)