ARSENIC AND OLD LACE

(September 1944, U.S.)

Frank Capra was one of the truly great directors of the 20th Century. His name traditionally conjours up films of uplifting inspiration like MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (1939) and IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946). Turns out, though, the man could also make a great screwball comedy like this one. And Cary Grant? Forget what you traditionally know of his dramatic work - the man was a screwball genius! In films like BRINGING UP BABY (1938), MY FAVORITE WIFE (1940) and MR. BLANDINGS BUILDS HIS DREAM HOUSE (1948), he could portray wild emotions of surprise, shock, awe, confusion and bewilderment at such a level that could only make you crack up with laughter.

In this film, he's running around stir crazy trying to protect his two kind aunts from the law (they have this very bad habit of committing mercy killings against lonely old men by giving them elderberry wine with poison in it and burying the bodies in the cellar) and protect himself and his new wife from his escaped, demented (and VERY Boris Karloff ugly!!!) brother. On top of that, he's also got another crazy (but harmless) brother who's convinced he's Teddy Roosevelt. I challange you not to laugh out loud every time Teddy runs up the house stairs yelling, "CHARGE!!!"

ARSENIC AND OLD LACE is not just funny, but it's what I like to call "escapist funny" - the kind of comedy that is so laced with lunacy and insanity (but not the stupid teenage kind that plagues the screen today!) that you simply loose yourself in the process of watching it.

Favorite line or dialogue:

Mortimer Brewster: "Yes, operator, I'd like the Happy Dale Sanatorium, Happy Dale, New York. Come on, operator, what's taking so long? They're just across the river. I could swim it faster! No, I don't want the Happy Dale Laundry. I want the Happy Dale Sanatorium. Sanatorium, sanatorium, sanatorium. Yes, yes, like a broken record. Hello - what? They're busy? Busy? Look, they're busy and you're dizzy. No, I am not drunk, madam, but you've given me an idea."