Arsenic and Old Lace

Starring: Cary Grant; Raymond Massey & Peter Lorre Director: Frank Capra

DVD Features:

Audio:

• Dolby Digital Mono - English

Additional Release Material:

• Interactive Menus
• Scene Access

Text/Photo Galleries:

• Production Notes

Description by OLDIES.com:

Cary Grant and a stellar cast romp through this classic farce based on Joseph Kesselring's 1941 Broadway hit and breezily directed by Frank Capra. Frazzled drama critic Mortimer Brewster (Grant) has two aunts (Josephine Hull and Jean Adair) who ply lonely geezers with poisoned libations, one sociopathic brother (Raymond Massey) who looks like Boris Karloff, one impatient new bride (Priscilla Lane) - and only one night to make it turn out all right. In this circus' center ring is Grant, twisting his face into a clown's gallery of flabbergasted reactions and transforming his natural athletic grace into a rubber-legged comic ballet. You'll die laughing.

Product Description:

Beware nice old ladies offering elderberry wine! A mild-mannered drama critic discovers the shocking truth about his two elderly aunts: The seemingly harmless old ladies have the most disagreeable habit of poisoning their gentlemen callers and burying them in the cellar. One of the all-time great black comedies.

Plot Synopsis:

A couple leaving on their honeymoon must put aside their plans when the groom finds that his spinster aunts are killing people in their pleasant little house and burying the bodies in the cellar. To their credit, the aunts believe they are just being kind and they hold touching funeral services for all of their victims. The plot is complicated by a somewhat dotty elderly relative who is convinced that he is Teddy Roosevelt.

Plot Keywords:

Black Comedy | Classic | Comedy | Drama | Murder | Recommended | Stage Play | Suspense

Production Notes:

• According to various sources, the Epsteins wrote the screenplay "with help" from Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse.
• The film was made in 1942, but not released until 1944.

Cast and Crew: