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Video Review:
Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
by
Karl Bowman
In this day
and age, director Frank Capra is best known for his enduring Christmas
movie It's a Wonderful Life, but he was the Steven Spielberg
of the 1930's and 40's, producing a string of box office hits that
inspired the masses. After the groundbreaking screwball
comedy, It Happened One Night, and the haunting adventure,
Lost Horizon, came Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, You
Can't Take It with You, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and
Meet John Doe. Ever unafraid to explore the
depths of goodness while uplifting his audiences, Capra's films
earned the label "Capra-corn," but America loved him for it. Somewhere
amongst his more socially-minded classics is a much crazier, but
fantastic, Halloween movie: Arsenic and Old Lace.
Famed theatrical
critic, Mortimer Brewster (Cary Grant), is an avowed New York bachelor.
After writing several diatribes against marriage, he has met the
girl of his dreams and is engaged to be married. When
he goes to break the happy news to his family, he learns that his
elderly aunts (Josephine Hull and Jean Adair) have been poisoning
lonely old men with elderberry wine. Before Mortimer can solve this
crisis, his shady, long-lost brother, Jonathan (Raymond Massey),
determines to use his aunts' old mansion as a base of operations
for his evil deeds. Mortimer is forced to deal with all
the skeletons in his family closet before he can embark on his honeymoon.
Joseph Kesselring's
original stageplay is a hilarious farce from beginning to end. In
translating the tale to celluloid, screenwriters Julius and Philip
Epstein successfully set up the madcap tone with a title card: "This
is a Halloween tale of Brooklyn, where anything can happen-- and
it usually does." The movie cuts to a brawl at Ebbets
Field between the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers. Meanwhile,
back in the "United States proper," Mortimer Brewster tries to apply
for a marriage license without revealing his identity. The
film then establishes the old Brewster mansion in Brooklyn (adjacent
to a creepy cemetery) and another title card warns the audience:
"From here in you're on your own."
Josephine Hull
and Jean Adair as the batty old aunts and John Alexander as Mortimer's
eccentric brother, Theodore, reprise the roles they perfected on
Broadway in this film version. Hull and Adair are hilarious as "two
of the dearest, sweetest, kindest old ladies that ever walked the
earth." This conceit is what makes their wicked habit
all the more insane. Mortimer tries to explain the seriousness
of their situation: "It's not only against the law. It's
wrong!" But they are convinced that they are not harming
anyone. On the contrary, they are helping miserable men
find peace--just in the next life.
Theodore Brewster
is a more verifiable crackpot, insisting that he is Teddy Roosevelt
and sporadically charging up the stairs as if he were attacking
San Juan Hill. But the farce doesn't stop there. The
aunts perform Christian burials for their charity cases in the basement
and the way they enlist Teddy's help is by telling him that instead
of graves, he is actually digging locks for the Panama Canal. The
dead men he buries are unlucky "victims of yellow fever!"
Agitating this
dangerous mix is Jonathan Brewster --another live wire. After
many long years engaged in faraway crimes, the sinister killer drops
in on his aunts to dispose of a body in the trunk of his car. He
is played by Raymond Massey, but looks remarkably like Boris Karloff,
the famous actor who portrayed Frankenstein and originated the role
of Jonathan on stage. Apparently Karloff wasn't released to do the
film and Capra and his screenwriters turn this fact into a big inside
joke. Jonathan has had several plastic surgeries to escape
the law and everyone who sees him remarks that he looks just like
Boris Karloff. This always makes Jonathan really, really
mad. Peter Lorre, another superb character actor, plays
Jonathan's mousy traveling companion and plastic surgeon, Doctor
Einstein.
If these reasons
aren't enough to inspire you, watch the movie for Cary Grant. He
has played many comic roles, but in Arsenic and Old Lace
he pulls out all the stops. His asides, double takes,
pratfalls, and facial contortions are way over the top, but you
won't be able to look away. Of all the luminaries in the Hollywood
firmament, Grant may be the quintessential "star." Whether playing
serious drama or madcap farce, his debonair looks, confidence, and
endless charisma holds audiences captive.
One humorous
scene has Mortimer attempting to explain to his sweetheart (Priscilla
Lane) the truth about his family:
Mortimer:
Darling, I love you so much I can't go through with our marriage.
Elaine:
(drawing back) Have you suddenly gone crazy?
Mortimer:
No, no, I don't think so. It's only a matter of time. Look, look
darling. You wouldn't want to have children with three heads, would
you? I mean, you wouldn't want to set up housekeeping in a padded
cell. Oh, it would be bad.
Elaine:
What are you talking about?
Mortimer:
Well, I don't quite know, Elaine. Look, I probably should have told
you this before, but you see, well, Insanity runs in my family.
It practically gallops.
With Arsenic
and Old Lace, Frank Capra takes us on a silly romp through
the darker side of humanity. If you're in the mood to
escape the world for a few moments of pure entertainment, this is
the movie for you.
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