This week’s Disc Dive keeps us in both the Criterion Collection as well as the state of New York. We’re heading over to Brooklyn, hoping to avoid a trip to Happy Dale, in Arsenic and Old Lace.
Title: Arsenic and Old Lace
Director: Frank Capra
Released: September 23, 1944 (Theatrical – United States)
Runtime: 1 hour 58 minutes
Disc Format: Criterion Blu-ray
Mortimer Brewster (Cary Grant) is a theater critic and author who has notoriously turned his nose up at the idea of marriage. Well, that was the case up until he married his neighbor, Elaine Harper (Priscilla Lane). After applying for their marriage license, the newlyweds are ready to set off on their honeymoon to Niagara Falls. Just one quick stop first: Elaine wants to tell her father the news, and Mortimer wants to tell his aunts who raised him.
While Elaine runs next door, Mortimer breaks the news to Aunt Abby (Josephine Hull) and Aunt Martha (Jean Adair). Mortimer also has a younger brother, Teddy (John Alexander), who lives there with the aunts. Teddy believes he is Teddy Roosevelt, speaking in character and regularly reenacting the charge up San Juan Hill any time he runs upstairs, complete with a bugle.
After he breaks the news, Mortimer starts looking around for the notes he took for his next book. As he lifts up the window seat, he finds the last thing he could’ve expected… a dead body.
Initially, he thinks Teddy finally completely snapped and his delusions led him to kill someone. Though the truth is, Aunt Abby and Aunt Martha are the ones responsible. They even gleefully own up to it. It turns out that this isn’t the first time either. They’ve happily killed twelve men. They lure in old single men with a “room for rent” sign and then “end their suffering” by serving up elderberry wine that has been spiked with arsenic, strychnine, and cyanide. The aunts tell Teddy that the men have died of yellow fever at the Panama Canal. Teddy then goes to the cellar, digs a grave, and buries the bodies.
Mortimer is flabbergasted but determined to protect his aunts, no matter what it takes. The best way he knows how, though, involves sacrificing Teddy. He’ll need to have Teddy committed to the Happy Dale asylum.
If push came to shove, who would believe that two sweet old ladies could be responsible for murdering twelve men?
I had seen portions of Arsenic and Old Lace over the years, but never actually all the way through in one sitting. So I guess you could say this was only a partially blind buy. All it took was one complete viewing and Arsenic and Old Lace became an instant favorite of mine.
It is based on a play of the same name and the set design gives the film the feeling of a play. Despite running almost two hours, it also feels lean. There’s not a lot of fluff or filler here. The writing is smart while also being incredibly funny. Every joke serves a purpose and helps keep things moving.
The dark humor is easily my favorite aspect of the film. I particularly loved the nonchalance of the aunts when they admit to the killings, especially when Mortimer confronts them about the body in the window seat. Abby and Martha just no-sell it, insisting they’re entitled to their own secrets. Teddy is hilariously manipulated into helping them, using his condition to their advantage to hide the bodies.
Jonathan (Raymond Massey), Mortimer’s older brother, and Dr. Einstein (Peter Lorre) are a fun addition and twist to things. Here we have two people who appear nefarious, and are up to the same evil-doings as two sweet little old ladies. Their constant banter further highlights the dark humor at play. And for what it’s worth, I’ve yet to see a bad performance from Lorre.
While everyone is great in their respective roles, it is Cary Grant who steals the show. He is just delightful here no matter who it is he’s interacting with. From discovering Mr. Haskins to being tied up in a chair, Grant serves up some all-time facial expressions. The expressions, the zaniness, the quick-fire dialogue, all combined with charming good looks. It’s everything everyone loved about him all in one performance.
I can’t believe it took me this long to watch this all the way through. But I’m sure glad I finally did.