Released in 1944 and directed by , Arsenic and Old Lace is a definitive dark comedy and screwball classic. Though filmed in late 1941, its release was delayed for three years due to a contract with the original Broadway production. The film is celebrated for its macabre humor, frantic pacing, and a career-high (if eccentric) performance by Cary Grant. Plot Overview
as Mortimer Brewster: Grant famously disliked his own performance, calling it "over-acting," though critics often cite it as a masterclass in physical comedy.
The story follows (Cary Grant), a drama critic and famous bachelor who finally gets married on Halloween. When he returns to his family’s ancestral Brooklyn home to tell his aunts—the sweet and seemingly charitable Abby and Martha —the news, he makes a grisly discovery: a dead body hidden in the window seat. Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
The film features a mix of Hollywood stars and original Broadway cast members:
: Mortimer’s brother who believes he is Theodore Roosevelt and is busy "digging the Panama Canal" (burying the aunts' victims) in the cellar. Released in 1944 and directed by , Arsenic
as Dr. Einstein: Jonathan’s nervous, enabling companion.
as Elaine Harper: Mortimer’s increasingly frustrated new bride. Key Themes and Production Plot Overview as Mortimer Brewster: Grant famously disliked
Mortimer soon learns that his aunts have been "charitably" poisoning lonely old men with elderberry wine spiked with arsenic, strychnine, and cyanide. Matters escalate with the arrival of: