Second Viewing: Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)

This remains one of my favorite movies to watch around Halloween. It’s a pitch-black comedy with great writing and an incredibly goofy performance from Cary Grant as Mortimer Brewster, longtime bachelor who’s just been married.

Grant is…well, he’s a bit much. I think a lot of people will find him kind of offputting in this role. Hell, he hated his performance.

And yet his incredible energy really adds a lot to the film. The movie has a completely different tone when he’s missing from the action for a good portion about 90 minutes in. And I like when he’s gone. But I also like when he’s there. He’s incredibly goofy, sort of like a cross between Jim Carrey and Jerry Lewis. But for me, anyway, it works.

He stops by his two kindly aunts to say goodbye before he leaves for his honeymoon with his wife, Elaine (Priscilla Lane), but things get a little weird when he discovers a dead body in the window seat. Before too long, he learns that his two aunts (Josephine Hull and Jean Adair) are serial killers, and this is their twelfth victim.

Of course they don’t view it as murder. They think they’re performing a service for lonely old men who stop by. But Brewster’s understandably thrown off by it, and tries to keep it all from his wife.

Things get more complicated when his long lost brother, Jonathan (Raymond Massey), shows up with his assistant, Dr. Einsein (Peter Lorre).

Jonathan is a serial killer who is looking to hide a body, only to find that there are already twelve buried in the cellar.

The movie utilizes dramatic irony to outstanding comedic effect. There’s also some really fun wordplay, like in the most famous line of the movie, which I think is one of the greatest comedic one-liners ever performed.

All in all, it’s a really entertaining watch. It’s sort of a noir comedy. While Grant’s performance is quite goofy and the plot is ridiculous, it also tries to be serious and ominous at times, and with some great cinematography and a solid performance from Massey, it works pretty well there, too.

I do have a few complaints, though, as it’s not quite a perfect movie, despite how much I enjoy it. It’s a bit long. The scene in which we’re introduced to the two aunts in particular could definitely be trimmed down a bit. And also the character of Elaine is severely underwritten. I mean the story’s not about her, so maybe it’s not a big deal. The Teddy Roosevelt stuff is definitely good for some laughs, but not nearly as many to justify the amount of time spent on it. Oh, and also Jonathan obviously should have been played by Boris Karloff. It’s my understanding that he was busy performing the same role on Broadway, though, so he couldn’t shoot the film.

Rating: 9/10