Retrospective Film Review

Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) • 80 Years Later — murder and mayhem in cinema’s craziest family

A Brooklyn writer risks his reputation after he decides to tie the knot, and then things grow complicated when he learns that his beloved maiden aunts are serial killers.

You think your family is crazy? Try walking a mile in the shoes of Mortimer Brewster (Cary Grant). He has an uncle who believes himself to be Theodore Roosevelt. His estranged, criminal brother has undergone facial reconstructive surgery three times. And perhaps strangest of all, his sweet, doddering old aunts murder lonely, elderly men — as an act of charity.

Insanity doesn’t just run in Mortimer’s family — “It practically gallops!” And on this Halloween, he discovers sides to his family he had no idea existed. Though he’s written thousands of words against the institution of marriage, he’s finally tied the knot with his new wife, Elaine (Priscilla Lane). But as Mortimer reveals the news to his family, a few other surprising revelations come to light…